Best Laid Plans...

is the twelfth episode of the fourth chapter of Critical Role. Vox Machina confronts the darkness of Craven Edge and plans to retake Westruun. Scanlan infiltrates the city to set up a distraction and stumbles upon some old friends.

This episode is considered by Geek & Sundry to be the 50th episode, including and excluding. In celebration of the 50th episode landmark, this episode features the premiere of Critical Role&apos;s new opening sequence:  a live-action cosplay by the actors of the main characters in a dramatic combat scene. After gameplay, the cast opens Critmas gifts from fans.

Pre-Show
The following pre-show promotional video was shown on the Twitch stream, but it is not included on the final YouTube VoD:
 * Felicia Day's Paperback Book Tour 2016:  Formatted as a political attack ad against Felicia Day, this video ironically promoted Felicia's upcoming book tour to promote the paperback release of her book, You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost):  [A Memoir], with upcoming stops in:
 * Los Angeles, CA
 * Portland, OR
 * Denver, CO
 * Chicago, IL
 * Milwaukee, WI
 * Cincinnati, OH
 * Carrboro, NC
 * Albuquerque, NM

Recap
"Vox Machina, a group of adventurers currently on the path to try and usurp and destroy the Chroma Conclave, a collection of chromatic dragons that have torn through Tal'Dorei and currently reign supreme over the partially ruined cities that dot the landscape. The largest of them, and apparently the leader, Thordak the Cinder King, sitting in the main city of Emon, forcing the party to flee.

"They've currently gone about and discovered these artifacts, these legendary items known as the Vestiges of the Divergence—ancient magical weapons and equipment from the last great war, the Divergence—and these seem to be a key in which they can ascertain a level of power and a means of destroying these creatures. Upon seeking information about these, they traveled south to the Frostweald, where they battled a camp of orcs, freeing survivors from Westruun's attack, and managed to walk their way into the deep den of a forgotten Ioun temple, where Osysa the sphinx's mate resides.

"After traversing past traps and puzzles, they made their way to the main chamber, in which the nameless sphinx demanded they reveal that they had earned its name. During this battle, they traveled through portals to other elemental realms to seek out the information to hopefully devise the title of this sphinx before it was too late. During which, Grog had leapt through one of these portals into the Elemental Plane of Air, set adrift without a means of returning, took his Chain of Returning, attached it to Craven Edge, and threw it through the portal. It found purchase and he pulled himself through...face-to-face with Pike, with the blade embedded in her abdomen. The weapon, which had achieved its maximum strength potential from devouring the essence of others, transformed during this battle and has been in its rather intense and dangerous form since.

"The party managed to discover pieces of the name of this sphinx, at which point the battle ended, and it presented to them the information they required. It gave them the information of the Vestiges that still exist to its knowledge, and they were escorted via immediate sandstorm out of the temple and now stand at the edge of the Stormcrest Mountains in the Frostweald forest itself."

Part I
After Pike severed Craven Edge's connection to Grog with a Greater Restoration, Keyleth banished the evil sword the Dread Emperor's realm using Plane Shift. Due to the conflicting statements about the Dread Emperor's realm, it is unclear if Craven Edge is now in the Astral Plane, in a pocket dimension, or somewhere else altogether.

Quotations
Scanlan:  "I will grant you cock lightning."
 * Grog:  "If I do a pelvic thrust, will you do your...?"