Heart-to-Heartmoor

is the seventeenth episode of the third campaign of Critical Role.

Previously on Critical Role
''Last we left off, Bells Hells had seen their friend Dorian off with his brother Cyrus on Ariks Eshteross's airship to Tal'Dorei to keep them both safe for the time being. Upon looking to delve into some of the mysteries surrounding your recent ill luck in social endeavors here in Jrusar, you ran into the Green Seekers, a pair of well-known investigators here in Marquet and beyond. To build trust with them to absolve yourself of the growing mistrust they seem to have in encountering you, you together delved into the mines deep beneath the Smolder Spire in Jrusar, battled through shade creepers, and eventually stumbled upon on the trail of Lady Emoth Kade, the Shade Mother: a large misshapen entity that seemed to be the source of the ever-mutating shade creeper hordes that were tunneling through the city, stealing and thieving.''

''You managed to capture Lady Kade herself and roll her out while escaping the Shade Mother through the help of some ingenuity and the sacrifice of one magical rope into some drill machinery and left in the abandoned mine. After going your separate ways, you managed to gather yourselves and what strength you had left after a long, hard-fought battle. Bruised and battered a bit, you went and got rooms for the night there at the Soot and Swill, where you were looking over a glowing stone that you had discovered within the area of the shade mother's den, as well as you sleeping through an important date you had set.''

Part I
As Imogen drifts into sleep cradling the purple crystal from the Shade Mother's lair, she finds herself in her familiar dream of walking through a field surrounded by the iron-like smell of an approaching red storm and her mother's voice in her mind saying, "Imogen, run!" She glances down to see the small purple gem in her hand, which seems to offer a different means of escape. As the storm strikes, she runs, calling to her mother, but just as she reaches the safety of the farmhouse, she wakes up to find the purple crystal cradled in her arms. She wakes Laudna and tells her about the dream. Unable to sleep, Imogen goes downstairs, leaving the crystal with Laudna.

In the morning, FCG seems to have recovered from his glitching of the previous day. Laudna gives Imogen back the bundled crystal and FCG Identifies it as a shard of the Gnarlrock (from the Feywild) that causes things around it to mutate and change. Laudna asks Fearne about her past in the Feywild, and Fearne says she left to explore and to find her parents, whom she hasn't seen for a very long time. They left many years ago to travel the Material Plane. The last letter from them was from Aeor.

The party decides to pursue their interrupted plan from the previous day to take Jiana Hexum's job in the Heartmoor, first stopping by Zhudanna's to pre-pay rent. Once at Hexum Manor, Ashton introduces the party to Lady Hexum. She goes over the job again: steal a designated object from a "friend" of hers, Evon Hytroga, who owns and runs the Twilight Mirror Museum, before a team from another "friend" (Mistress Isha Sabanis) can do so. They will receive 500 gold apiece if they succeed, with a possible additional bonus of 500 apiece more if they really embarrass Evon in the process. She also pays them 300 gold for food and travel, which FCG requests and receives in the form of a diamond. Lady Hexum is very interested in FCG, speculating they could sell them for more than 20,000 gold.

The team splits into three. Fearne and Laudna tell Lord Eshteross all about their encounter with the Green Seekers, Emoth Kade, and the Shade Mother. He warns them to stay on the Honored Trails during their journey. Meanwhile, Ashton, Orym, and FCG head to Krook House where Milo inspects FCG, diagnoses a form of pent-up energy within their metal body, and is also able upgrade FCG so that switching arms is now included in their turn.

Meanwhile, Imogen and Chetney rent five carefully-selected horses and a small chariot-like cart. On the way back, Imogen tells Chetney about the red storm she sees in her dreams, and he suggests that it may be a memory of something that happened to her when she was very young. The thought terrifies Imogen.

As the party reconvenes, they buy supplies for the trip, then move through the Steps of Jrusar at the spires' base and head out into the jungle on the Honored Trails leading to the Heartmoor.

Break

 * The Griffon's Saddlebag Book Two is now available to order on Kickstarter.
 * A very important message from Jester and her duplicate about Critical Role's 7th Anniversary.
 * Merch Alert! Kiri plush and hanger in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia shops; The Legend of Vox Machina journal and sticker sets and Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep in the US; Campaign 3 face-mask two-pack in all five shops.
 * Critical Recap every Wednesday on CritRole.com.
 * Submit fan art and cosplay for possible inclusion in the weekly online gallery at https://www.critrole.com/submit.
 * 7-Year Anniversary Blooper Reel.

Bells Hells

 * Ashton Greymoore
 * Chetney Pock O'Pea
 * Fearne Calloway
 * Fresh Cut Grass
 * Imogen Temult
 * Laudna
 * Orym

Returning

 * Ariks Eshteross
 * Jiana Hexum
 * Milo Krook
 * Zhudanna

New

 * Willam, Lantern Spire stablemaster

Mentioned

 * Andy, a former crush of Laudna's
 * Anni Aughta
 * Armand Treshi
 * Dancer
 * Delilah Briarwood
 * Evon Hytroga
 * Master Faramore, Laudna's former employer
 * Gus
 * Isha Sabanis
 * Keyleth
 * Liliana Temult, Imogen's mother
 * Morri Calloway
 * Ogdes Friez
 * Oleander "Ollie" and Birdie Calloway, Fearne's parents
 * Olly
 * Orlana Seshadri
 * Shade Mother
 * Sylas Briarwood
 * Will, Orym's late husband

Quotations
Zhudanna: Very well, I'll be here when you return. Imogen: We hope so. Zhudanna: Goodbye! Laudna: Why do you keep licking it? Ashton: I don't know! Laudna: Can I taste it? [...] Oh, it's good.
 * Laudna: We'll be back in a few weeks.
 * Ashton: Tastes like rabbit saliva. Oof. Ugh.
 * Taliesin: I would wander into a forest for a flying gummy bear. Fuck yes.

Trivia

 * The party named their horses Sir Floppers, Rabbit, Loonch, Escargot, and Heart.
 * The RTA tattooed on Chetney's right shoulder stands for "Recognize the Alpha," his slogan based on old research on wolf packs that Matt emphasized was outdated and completely disproved.
 * This episode aired on 17 March 2022, and was designated as the 7th Anniversary Episode, celebrating Critical Role's first stream on 12 March 2015. The episode was also streamed live in theaters in both the United States and Brazil.