Tiny Tina's Wonderlands One-Shot

is the 66th special episode of Critical Role. Bunker Master Ashly Burch guides players Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Robbie Daymond, and Ify Nwadiwe through a Bunkers & Badasses one-shot, inspired by Tiny Tina's Wonderlands!

Part I
After the disappearance of the queen, a band of vault hunters decide to search for her in the hopes of making money and begin their search in the Moxxi's Grogg tavern in Flamerock Refuge. The proprietress Mad Moxxi points them at the queen's bodyguard Eleanor, who is devastated at her failure. Metta and Sandy are able to get Eleanor to explain that the queen ventured alone into the Forest of Being Eaten Alive by Trees to undo a curse set upon the land by the Handsome Sorcerer, who seeks to destroy the kingdom.

The group sets off into the forest, which smells of blood and is lit red by the sun shining through the leaves. They hear creatures rustling in the leaves and notice the trees are moving and eating unfortunate visitors. Sensing the group's presence in the forest, the trees move to defend their home because they dislike anyone approaching them. Ramsey fails to sneak around the trees, drawing attention to herself. The others outright attack the trees, and a lengthy combat ensues. Through the Hand of God, the forest catches fire, pushing the group to kill the hostile trees more quickly or flee. Sandy convinces one of the young trees, who wishes that his father was more like Sandy, to leave the fight. Immediately after, Ramsey kills the tree's father, who tells her to tell his son that he loved him. With the fire extinguished, the group debates their next move. The young tree returns to give Sandy a gift. Ramsey delivers his father's message, but this prompts the tree to ask where his father is so he can give him a hug. The group awkwardly lies that his father went to the Grand Tree Headquarters, leaving him in charge of defending the area. They try to instruct the young tree to no longer kill anyone, but he excitedly runs off without listening.

Further in the forest, they find Claptrap and Torgue sitting by a campfire near their downed blimp. Claptrap and Torgue explain that they've spent the past few days looking for the queen and ended their search because the blimp crashed. Claptrap takes a liking to Metta, and Dewey and Sandy offer to help look at the blimp. Torgue is disinterested in getting the blimp airborne again and simply wants the supplies locked inside. After Torgue explains that they cannot open the doors because Claptrap is not a good AI, Kill-Pro uses the AI inside her rifle to open the door. As a reward, the group receives Torgue's gun and a vial of unidentified liquid. He additionally tells them that he believes the queen went to the Vitality Grove in the Immortal Woods to lift the curse and gives them instructions on how to get there. He warns them the Handsome Sorcerer is likely nearby.

Part II
Entering Vitality Grove, which is spookier than the Forest of Being Eaten Alive by Trees, the group notices that the Tree of Life has been made unwelcoming by the curse and is surrounded by six ominous pillars. They see a Torgue in the grove, though something appears to be off. He casts a spell and supplicates the god of the old magics to allow him to undo the curse cast upon the Handsome Sorcerer. Torgue reveals himself to be the Handsome Sorcerer in disguise. He vanishes in a flash of smoke, leaving behind animated skeletons led by a skeleton king attacking the group.

The party fights off the first group of skeletons. Metta strikes the Tree of Life, discovering that something sentient is inside of it because the tree reacts with pain. After successfully killing the skeleton king, the pillars immediately summon a second skeleton king, accompanied by another group of skeletons. Ramsey is felled in the second wave of skeletons. Dewey attempts to revive her with a potion, but he uses the incorrect potion and causes her body to spit bullets out at anyone nearby instead; Metta successfully revives her. They eventually defeat the second skeleton king, but this prompts the pillars to summon a third skeleton king, though this one is alone.

Realizing that there must be a way to stop the skeletons from appearing, Kill-Pro searches the area with the help of Ramsey's bird companion Davey. They discover that the Tree of Life is leaning away from one of the pillars. She and Sandy further investigate the pillar, and Kill-Pro realizes that it is the only pillar that does not contain a spirit of a skeleton king; this pillar is a portal that channels the spirits, and if it is destroyed, it will stop summoning skeleton kings and dispel the death and decay inside Vitality Grove. At Kill-Pro's instruction, Metta and Dewey destroy the pillar, banishing the skeleton king, the remaining skeletons, and the ominous energy in the forest.

The group hears the Handsome Sorcerer whining his disappointment that they were not killed. A vault behind the tree opens and frees Queen Butt Stallion, a horse entirely made of diamond. She casts a spell over the Tree of Life, lifting the curse. They all return to Flamerock Refuge riding atop the queen.

Player characters

 * Dewey D. Duty
 * Kill-Pro Z21V.2
 * Mateo Sandoval
 * Metta Hardly
 * Ramsey Finnigan

Quotations
Bar Patron: Look, I didn't like the cut of your jib before, but I think any reasonable person would not like their drink being spit into. So I do think we got a problem. Ramsey: I beg to differ. Character: You like people spitting into your drink? Ramsey: It depends on who it is, but yes. I sure do. Metta: (leans over and tongue wiggles) Melelelelele! Mad Moxie: Y'all are a weird bunch. Laura: Oh no! Ashly: And predictably, it smells of bark and blood. Laura: Aaaaaah! Ashly: It's getting sexual. Ashley: With a bayonet on the end that's nice and long. I'm going to take aim and I'm going to shoot this tree. Ashly: Davey looks at it with some jealousy, which suggests that there's maybe a love triangle that's only in his mind. Ashley: Well, maybe not just in his mind. I spend a lot of time alone.
 * Ramsey: Sir, do you have a problem with this man spitting in your drink?
 * Ramsey: Hey Metta. My drink is missing a little something. (holds it out). Get on, get in there, get in there. Get in there!
 * Ashly: You travel into the forest and an unease sets upon your adventuring party. Because this, which Eleanor neglected to tell you, is called the Forest of Being Eaten Alive by Trees.
 * Ashley: I'm going to pull out my beautiful, gold-plated sniper rifle! Beautiful!

Trivia

 * Elements of the one-shot's plot is taken from Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, a DLC for Borderlands 2 in which Tiny Tina runs a TTRPG game-within-a-game. This DLC is the basis for Tiny Tina's Wonderlands.
 * The one-shot is run on the Bunkers & Badasses system developed by Nerdvana based on the Borderlands game-within-a-game.