Labenda Awaits

is the twentieth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role.

Announcements

 * Tonight's sponsor is the consistent and amazing: D&D Beyond! Sam lets us know that Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes is now out, and can be obtained through the D&D Beyond website. Sam then starts doing a Rhody Slater skit, before stopping half-way, unable to continue. He feels like he can do so much more, and that at this point in his career, he would be doing "serious shit, like Ibsen or O'Neill". He also worries about all of his skits being on the internet forever, and that his kids will watch them later and think he is a loser. At that point, he gets a phone call from his agent, where he finds out that he has booked a two-spot local radio campaign for Lord of the Wings, the new wings place in Chatsworth. This revitalises him, as he is now "a real actor again", and he launches back into his Roder Slater persona, finishing strong.


 * The hardcover collection of Vox Machina: Origins will be on sale next week, May 31st. It is so shiny and beautiful, and Sam rebukes Laura for putting her fingerprints on it. Marisha says that it smells so good, which everyone else agrees with. All information on the sale of the comic can be found at critrole.com.


 * The Stream of Many Eyes, hosted by D&D: Wizards Coast, is coming up June 1st through 3rd, which a bunch of the cast will be going to. All information and tickets for the event can be found at dnd.wizards.com/some.


 * A reminder to those with Amazon Prime accounts: you can connect it to your Twitch account with Twitch Prime and get a free monthly subscription to the Twitch channel of your choice.


 * Talks Machina will be talking about tonight's episode next Tuesday (May 29, 2018) at 7:00 pm PDT, once again hosted by the fantastic Brian Wayne Foster. Ashley gives a very quiet woo-hoo, as she is currently distracted by "hiding" the Vox Machina: Origins comic book under her shirt. The others call her out on it, with Travis saying "The Cube 2.0". Ashley counters that "this is [her] body, leave me alone". Liam comments that she looks very "boxy".


 * The Critical Role Live dice set, as well as the Vox Machina d20 die, are both back in stock in the store for a limited time.
 * A partnership with Stack Up was announced at the beginning of the game. They are a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping veterans and those in active duty. They will be giving away specific Critical Role challenge coins, as well as art by the fantastic Critter artist, Amy King. All other information can be found at critrole.com.

Previously on Critical Role
"Last we left off, The Mighty Nein, after spending quite some time in the central city of Zadash had found that war had made its way to the Empire with the far eastern region of Xhorhas and the Kryn dynasty. Upon this conflict, you decided that perhaps it would be best to leave the central urban environment. 

"You decided to dodge a few opportunities brought to you, especially that by the Lawmaster of the city, and instead went and made a conversation with your friend The Gentleman beneath the city in his Underworks. There, he offered two possible work opportunities in which you accepted both. The first of which is going to send you towards the swamp town of Berleben, to the north-northeast. Then from there, head far northeast to Shadycreek Run to converse with and retrieve an ally of his that he had not been able to do business with in a while. 

"So, you gathered your materials, got your wagon and horses, made your way northward on the Bromkiln Byway towards the Labenda Swamp. Along that path, you managed to encounter a shack-living hermited orc of some unknown background. 

"Continuing northward, you slept in a cluster of trees where you were ambushed by a wandering troupe of goblins and ogres. Upon escaping their clutches and defeating most of them - only one, I believe, got free - you gathered what information you could. Managing to keep out of the rain, you slept beneath your cart and awaited the next morning."

Waking up and drinking
Everyone wakes up cold except for Jester, who is seemingly unaffected by the cold and wanders around, crunching the frost. Fjord asks Nott for a swig from her flask and the group discusses Nott's new bottomless flask for a while, with Jester wondering out loud if it always completely full, or just half full. Nott replies that she does know, but that they could probably perform an experiment to find out. The rest of the group ask what type of alcohol is in the flask, and we find out both that it is always full of Nott's favourite whiskey - the type that gets you good and drunk - and that this was chosen when the enchantment was placed on the flask by Pumat Sol.

Caleb asks if Nott could get it empty or close to empty if she tries, to which Nott replies that she could try. Jester reminds her that they are about to go to a swamp where they are about to fight people. Nott simply replies "Let's just see what happens!" before drinking a lot, resulting in her being very drunk. Fjord suggests that she throw up, and Nott asks someone to stick something down her throat to help her. Jester picks up a stick from the ground, and jams it into Nott's mouth, causing her to throw up all over the ground, where it steams in the early morning cold. Jester asks if she feels better, and she replies "No, not really". To test how sober she is, Caleb holds up four fingers and asks how many fingers he is holding up. Nott correctly responds "I think four" and Caleb goes on to ask "How many members of the Mighty Nein are there". Nott replies "Nine, but two are always gone", and Caleb says "She's okay". Yasha reveals that whenever she sees someone throwing up, it makes her want to throw up as well and she starts to gag. Jester asks if Yasha wants her to stick something down her throat, and Yasha declines, saying that she doesn't think it will do much to help her. [[Molly|Molly] asks if it is just the sight or someone throwing up, or if it is the sound as well, before making retching noises. Caleb, uncomfortable, pulls out their map and starts to figure out how much further it is to their destination.

Planning the journey and setting out
They figure out that if they move quickly, they could probably make it to Labenda Swamp around sundown. Fjord has concerns about being ambushed, given how early it is and says that they should go slowly. Fjord momentarily forgets the word "ambushed", saying "What do you call it when you get ... ambushed?", and Beau, Caleb and Molly all look at him and say "Ambushed", causing all in the group to laugh. Nott then mocks him saying "You're our strategy guy right?", to which Fjord replies "It's early in the morning, I-I'm not awake yet". Jester, Molly and Yasha say they can see if anything is coming for them from the main path and even if they are ambushed, that they can beat them.

Caleb counters, saying that if they go quickly, they would arrive at the swamp as night would be falling, which would then likely be full of "nasty things". The rest of the group agree that this is a really good point, and they all agree to camp out one more time and get there in the middle of the next day. Caleb remarks "You all are an enjoyable lot, it will be fun", and the others all comment on how believable and genuine he sounded. Caleb blushes at their remarks. Jester asks if she should drive the cart again, or if someone else wants to do it. Molly steps up and offers to drive, and they set out north-northeast on to the Bromkilm Byway once more at a medium pace - "not willy-nilly, not galloping pace", as Liam puts it.

The cart ride
Jester and Caleb watch the road ahead, with Jester standing up, steadying herself by holding onto Molly's horns. Yasha asks for Frumpkin, and Caleb clicks his fingers, sending him to her shoulder. Molly offers his large "relatively clean" tapestry in case anyone is cold. Nott asks if they could turn the tapestries into coats, and Molly replies that they can "have that conversation".

For the first half of the day, nothing in particular catches their eye, and the sun starts to break through the clouds, as the storm from the evening before has passed. It is a very relaxing ride, and they take a moment to appreciate what the Empire protects and what people are fighting for in the upcoming conflict. For the second half of the day, Beau and Yasha take watch and Jester finally sits down to give her ankles a rest.

As Beau watches, from the north-northwest she sees a large, dark shape come over one of the hills on the horizon, almost as if the hilltop has been covered in shade. Checking the clouds, she realises that this is no characteristic of cloud cover as it is darker than the other areas in shade. Beau asks if anyone knows anything about clouds, and Nott says that Caleb knows about clouds, due to his long time on the road. Caleb joins Beau in watching the dark shape.

After ten minutes of watching this shape, some sunlight passes over the shape, and it glints in places. They realise that they are looking at a legion - hundreds and hundreds of soldiers marching from the northwestern side of the Empire to cross over the byway, heading east. After reporting this to the group, they decide that they should speed up to try to pass the legion before they cross the road.

As they speed along, Matt gets Taliesin to make an animal handling check, and he gets a 7. Becuase of this, Molly finds it difficult to control the cart at the high speeds, and the wheels of the cart veer slightly off the road and into the grass. While trying to correct the cart, they hit a partially hidden stone in the grass which breaks their wheel, which now digs into the ground, tipping the whole cart backwards and Molly brings the cart to a stop.

Yasha's Dream
Lightning and thunder, oh my!

Post-Show

 * Matt announced that Mark Hulmes would guest on Critical Role on May 31st.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester
 * Nott
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf
 * Caleb Widogast
 * Yasha

New

 * Alexander
 * Dent Bonswallow
 * Febron Keyes
 * Kiri
 * Kord
 * Maximilian

Trivia

 * Sam's giant flask bears a message in this episode that reads "Do NOT follow @SideBySamuel", with a cartoon of a child.