Found & Lost

 is the twenty-sixth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein wake up to missing members, meet a stranger who could possibly help them, and find that some plans... have a high cost (with guest Ashly Burch).

Pre-Show
This is the first episode in Critical Role's new, independent studio!

Announcements

 * Tonight's sponsor is D&D Beyond!
 * Sam has written an audio drama re-enacting the birth of Travis and Laura's child. Taliesin narrates, Sam plays Travis, Marisha plays Laura, Liam plays the doctor, and Matt plays himself and the baby. Travis pops in chat to announce that their revenge will be swift and exacting.
 * Wyrmwood giveaways are back! The keyword for the giveaway should be entered into the chat for the Critical Role Twitch chat, which is hosting the stream from Geek & Sundry.
 * Talks Machina is every Tuesday at 7:00 pm PDT, talking about last week's episode of Critical Role with host Brian Wayne Foster.

A New Ally
Nott, Beau, Molly, and Caleb wake up to find that Jester, Fjord, and Yasha are gone. After searching for their missing friends, the four encounter an armored dwarven woman. The new arrival and Beau begin shouting at each other almost immediately. Eventually everyone calms down enough for the stranger to introduce herself as Keg. After the remaining members of the Mighty Nein explain their situation, Keg reveals that the Iron Shepherds, a dangerous group of slavers, were the ones to kidnap their friends. She explains that the slavers are based out of Shadycreek Run, and that she is headed there to kill the Shepherds.

Keg makes a deal with the group: that she will lead them to their friends. In return, they must help her kill the Shepherds. Without any other choice, the four head out with Keg to find and rescue their missing party members. Beau asks about the reason the Mighty Nein were going to Shadycreek Run to begin with- The Gentleman's contact Ophelia Mardoon. Keg does not know Ophelia, but knows that the Mardoon family are rivals of the family that employs the Iron Shepherds. The group packs Jester's haversack, shield, and everything else their kidnapped friends left behind. They decide to leave their cart and one of the horses (Loaf) so they can travel faster. Keg borrows Molly's giant tapestry of The Platinum Dragon to wrap around herself as a disguise.

Reaching the outskirts of the Crispvale Thicket, Nott asks Caleb (as the leader) whether they are following the road around the forest or the faster path that goes right along the edge of the forest. Molly, irritated with Nott's repeatedly insisting Caleb is in charge, cuts off a debate over whether Beau or Caleb is the leader by starting down the faster path.

Further along the path, the group finds an abandoned house and briefly stop to check the inside.

Ankheg Ambush
While looking through the house, Beau and Keg notice the horses outside starting to get nervous. Beau feels subtle vibrations in the ground and yells for everyone to get off the ground. The rumbling grows louder. Beau, Caleb, and Molly run towards the treeline intending to get into trees. Nott hides inside the house while Keg stands her ground. One of the horses, WC, while running away from the vibration gets sprayed with green acid and falls over.

Two ankhegs, eight to nine feet long cockroach-like creatures, burst out of the ground. The ankheg that sprayed acid at WC and another one scuttle out of hiding. During the ensuing battle, the horse named Loo also is severely injured by acid spray. The group destroy all four ankhegs, with Beau getting the final blow on the last one.

Keg realizes they are unable to heal Loo and mercy kills the horse with her axe. Nott finds the living horses that had run and WC lying on the ground. Not realizing WC is still alive, Nott cuts out the horse's tongue and kills them. Keg wss disturbed, even more so when Nott eats the tongue raw. Beau carves up one of the ankheg bodies and manages to extract a basketball sized sac of acid. Nott carefully punctures the sac to funnel acid into the three empty vials she took from the Evening Nip. Beau, Keg, and Nott each take one.

With only three horses left, the party is forced to double up to continue. They continue for another hour along the road until dusk then set up camp. Caleb and Molly take first watch. Molly notices another campfire somewhat near them. They decide not to wake anyone else up yet. Caleb casts Find Familiar to change Frumpkin's form from a falcon into an owl.

Break

 * Announcement of Critical Role at New York Comic Con
 * D&D Beyond ad
 * "Additional Knowledge Acquired": Marisha tells the Critters about Twitch Prime
 * "Loremasters: Legends" ad
 * Spellslingers gag reel for "Day[9] vs. Ari Stidham"
 * "How To Play with Becca Scott": Becca teaches us how to play "Coup"
 * Previously on "Good Fornight Kevin": a parody of sitcoms set in bars
 * Fan art reel

Guiatao Clan
Frumpkin (in owl form) flies quietly towards the campfire. Looking through Frumpkin, Caleb sees an old woman and a small child, both firbolgs. He wakes up the rest of the party. They move stealthily towards the campsite. Beau approaches first, and the adult reads her mind to assess if the party are a threat. Her fears assuaged, she introduces herself: Jumnda of the Guiatao Clan. The child Ombo with her is not her son, but one of the children of her clan that was saved from being kidnapped.

The clan was attacked three days ago while having a coming of age celebration. The attackers killed some of the clan. Others were wrapped up in nets and dragged away. The attack made no noise even though the firbolgs being taken screamed and fought back. Another member of the clan named Nila was away when the attack happened. When she came back to find out her son and mate were taken, Nila left to get them back on her own. A few of the clan besides Ombo are alive in the remnants of the village further into the forest but still badly injured. Jumnda has been trying her best to heal them. Jumnda allows the group to stay with them for the night and offers them herbal tea. They accept.

When the group wakes up, Ombo is cooking squirrel-like creatures over the fire. Smiling, she offers the group each a skewer of meat. Jumnda gives the group specially prepared medicinal moss that can be used to heal wounds. She asks the group to please bring Nila's body back if they find her so the clan can give her a proper burial. Molly promises to do their best. Nott asks Jumnda if she knows Pumat Sol. The rest of the group point out that assuming all firbolgs know each other is like assuming Nott knows every goblin. The party say goodbye to Jumnda and Ombo and continue on their way.

As Nott rides on the back of a horse with Caleb, she flips through Jester's sketchbook. There are caricatures of each member of the Mighty Nein and several people they have encountered through their journey. Besides short notes in Common, there are longer notes written to The Traveler in a language Nott cannot read (likely Infernal). Over the next eight hours of fast paced travel, the party make their way around the Crispvale Thicket and reach the Glory Run Road.

Trading Secrets
Keg and Nott take first watch together. Nott offers Keg a drink, saying she thinks they got off on the wrong foot. She asks Keg who the Iron Shepherds took from her. Keg refuses to answer and becomes irritated that Nott continues to ask her personal questions. Keg then apologizes and says she realizes Nott was just trying to be nice. Nott responds that she wants to get information that could lead to the weaknesses of the Shepherds. Keg vaguely answers that she knows them well but denies having been one of them.

Nott tries to get Keg to tell her more by offering to play a game. They each tell one thing no one else knows and take a shot. Keg tells Nott that her friend is enslaved by the Shepherds. Nott responds by telling Keg she is a pretty good dancer. Keg and Nott start loudly yelling at each other. Keg thought they were talking about serious things. Nott says she thought they were going to start small and build. Molly loudly yells that he's trying to sleep.

Beau is also woken up by the argument. She and Molly take the next watch since they're now awake. Molly invites Beau to gamble and pulls out his tarot deck. You put a question on the deck, whoever draws the lower card has to answer it. Beau initially tells him she hated his tarot cards and wants nothing to do with them. However, she's intrigued by the question he offers to play on- "What's the best lie you've ever told?" Beau pulls the higher card. Molly reveales his best lie ever. He pretended to be reincarnated royalty from across the sea for three weeks as part of a scam. Beau decides to tell Molly the lie she's most proud of even though she won the game. She pretended to be a house hand to get blackmail material on a politician and his wife that she did not like. She found they were both cheating on each other and used that information to ruin their relationship and their lives. Beau thinks out loud as she tells the story that maybe she should not be proud of it. Molly is impressed and is sure the politician and his wife had it coming. Caleb takes third watch with Frumpkin. He wonders out loud why he's still with the Mighty Nein. Molly cannot help him. He's angry with himself that he told Beau everything to get into the Cobalt Soul library and he learned nothing useful there. Looking at Nott, he asks himself how he can expect Nott to help him with what he wants to do. Nott is as much as liability as she is a help to him. Caleb tells himself it is time to go, but sits the rest of his watch, waiting for everyone to wake up, and does not tell anyone what he had been thinking.

The next morning the group sets off again at a fast pace along the road. Without the cart, they are able to travel much faster. They catch up to a caravan about five hours later that Keg thinks looks like the Iron Shepherds. The group slow down and begin to plan. Caleb casts Suggestion on Keg, compelling her to tell them details she has been holding back that will help them. Although she feels weird about it, Keg tells the group the names of the Iron Shepherds: Lorenzo the human fighter (and the group's leader), Ruzza the half-elf sorcerer, Protto the halfling rogue, Dwelma the half-orc druid, and Wohn the human barbarian. The Shepherds transport their prisoners in carts with an enchantment to make it look like the carts are filled with normal trade goods instead of cages. Under the influence of the spell, Keg also confesses that she lied to Nott - she did work with the Iron Shepherds. Nott admits she lied as well- she is only an average dancer.

Realizing they have the advantage of speed, the party stay a good distance behind the Shepherd's caravan and wait until they stop for the night. After the caravan stops, the Mighty Nein push on for an hour ahead and rest for the night. They plan to ambush the Shepherds the next day. The party find a spot where the road is surrounded by two hills. The party place a fallen tree so the carts would be forced to go single file through the road.

Lesson Learned
Caleb casts Alarm across the road further back so they will know when the Iron Shepherds are approaching. When Caleb hears the signal from the spell, the party take their planned hiding places. Keg is hidden behind a tree on top of one of the hills. Nott hides inside a hollow place in the log blocking the road. Three carts approach. Protto is driving the first cart. Keg does not recognize the person driving the second cart, but she does recognize Dwelma, Lorenzo, and Ruzza walking alongside it. Wohn is walking alongside the third cart. Keg does not recognize the cart's driver.

As planned, the carts move into a single file line to get around the log in the road. When the first cart comes near the tree she's hidden behind, Keg chops it down so it falls right on top of the first cart. The cart comes to a stop. Lorenzo sees Keg and looked surprised. Before any of the Shepherds can react, Caleb jumps out of hiding and casts Slow on all of them. Dwelma and Lorenzo resist the spell, but the rest of the caravan is affected. Nott jumps out of her hiding place, darting past Lorenzo, and dumps her flask of oil all over him. She leaps onto one of the carts inside of the illusion. Inside of the area covered by the illusion, Nott is now able to see that the cart is packed with cages.

Beau and Molly come out of hiding and flank Dwelma. Ruzza casts Hypnotic Pattern towards Caleb, but the spell does not take effect right away because she is affected by Slow. Caleb's spell also prevents the cart drivers from shooting more than one arrow each at Beau. Lorenzo calls for his party to move aside and holds his hand out in front of him. Protto moves out of the way, hitting Molly with two arrows. The two cart drivers and Wohn back up as well.

Keg becomes frightened seeing Lorenzo again and runs away, putting part of a hill and one of the carts in between her and the battle. Dwelma casts Dispel Magic ending the effects of Caleb's Slow spell and moves away from Molly. Beau is able to stop her from completely running away, but she is now out of the range of Lorenzo's spell. Ruzza's Hypnotic Pattern takes effect because has Slow ended but Caleb is able to resist it.

With his allies out of the way, Lorenzo casts a Cone of Cold severely hurting Beau, Nott, Molly, and several prisoners in the cages. Nott attempts to unlock a cage with one man still alive inside but fails. Beau attacks Dwelma again, knocking her unconscious, then charges Lorenzo. Ruzza casts Hold Person on Beau and Molly, but both resist the spell. Seeing this, she hides behind the trunk of the chopped down tree on the hill.

Molly charges Lorenzo along with Beau. He uses his Blood Maledict ability, hurting himself to try to weaken Lorenzo. Unfortunately he takes enough damage to knock himself unconscious. Realizing he is about to die, Molly spits his own blood into Lorenzo's face. Lorenzo twists his glaive into Molly, ending Molly's life. Lorenzo tauntingly asks Beau if they have learned their lesson. Beau responds she has no respect for authority. Lorenzo responds "Then another life it is."

Keg moves back towards Lorenzo and asks him to make her the example. Nott, still under the cart illusion, tries and fails again to pick the lock on the cage. She gives up and runs out of the cart towards Caleb. Beau strikes her tinderbox and lights Lorenzo (still covered in oil) on fire, who seems unconcerned. Beau takes two more strikes with her staff towards Lorenzo then runs away towards Caleb. Lorenzo ignores her. Ruzza runs up to Lorenzo, casts Cure Wounds on him, and tries to put out the fire on him. He pushes her off.

By this time, the unconscious Dwelma has bled out and died. Lorenzo tells Keg they seem to have an "eye for an eye" scenario and asks if she really wants to be an example. Keg asks if he would let the others go. Lorenzo says he would. He raises his glaive in the air and calls off the attack. The rest of the Iron Shepherds take Dwelma's body and start to get the carts moving again. Still on fire, Lorenzo walks with Keg over to Beau, Caleb, and Nott. He tells them to tell everyone they meet what happened today. After pushing Keg to her knees, he whispers to her that killing her now would be too fast. She will have to live with the memory of what she has done. Only then does Lorenzo put the fire out. He leaves the party with one last threat to kill them if he ever sees them again.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Fjord (absent, mentioned)
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre (absent, mentioned)
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin (absent, mentioned)
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf
 * Caleb Widogast

New

 * Dwelma
 * Jumnda
 * Keg
 * Ombo
 * Protto
 * Ruzza
 * Wohn

Returning

 * Lorenzo

Mentioned

 * Kiri
 * The Gentleman
 * Nila
 * Ophelia Mardoon
 * Pumat Sol
 * The Traveler

Quotations
Caleb: "You'd take the three beefiest of a group of strangers?" Nott: "Well, they took the three ugliest ones." Beau: "Well, they're the only people I've had in my life since my father, so, parents." Molly: "We don't leave people behind, and that's the deal." Keg: "You just gave me twenty gold." Molly: "Yes, that's how I know you can afford us." Molly: "Yes." Nott: "The subject seems to be exhibiting signs of distress or at least annoyance." Keg: "Annoyance!" Keg: "You have no choice?" Nott: "No! I have very thin lips, very long teeth, some would call them fangs. It's not my fault. When I smile it looks like I'm trying to bite your throat off." Frumpkin: (hooting) Caleb: (to Frumpkin) "I know. Don't worry, you're fine." (to himself) "She's as much a liability as anything else. You know you're fucking mad when you're gesticulating this much. You should just go. You have told too much. I am going to go. It's time to go." Liam: "He sits there for a solid five minutes. Then two hours. Wait for everyone to wake up." Nott: "I'd better get drunk then." Ashly: "I'm aroused and scared?" Beau: "You should know, I have no respect for authority."
 * Nott: "Maybe they weren't targeting anyone specific, just coming to grab folks, and those were the ones that were awake or closest to the road?"
 * Keg: "Ah, son of a dick. All right, let's get this over with." (when she notices Molly approaching her and Beau badly hidden watching her)
 * Nott: "I am the greatest detective of all times! I poured one drink, and I solved the case!"
 * Keg: (asking about Fjord, Jester, and Yasha) "How much do these people mean to you?"
 * Molly: (suggesting Keg hire the Mighty Nein) "Twenty gold."
 * Beau: (to Keg) "You don't fuck us, and we don't fuck you. Unless, like . . . you know . . ."
 * Keg: (to Nott) "You being a detective, is that just you hear other people say information and then you remark upon it? And then that's you saying you're a great detective?"
 * Sam: "I believe we're going to take WC, Loo, John, Crapper, and Toilet; but we're going to leave Loaf."
 * Ashly: "Keg is aroused."
 * Keg: (when Nott asks if she is related to ankhegs) "No, Nott. Keep trying, little detective. You'll get it one day."
 * Nott: (to Jumnda) "Do you know someone named Pumat Sol?"
 * Matt: (describing Jester's sketchbook) "It is absurd. There are sketches across the spectrum of silly-faced interpretations and caricatures of the people you've met, of each of you. There's little notes to The Traveler throughout. You see people that you've liked in the past looking beautiful, with tiny bodies. You see people who you've hated in the past getting stepped on by a poop monster. It's childish in all the delightful ways that you'd expect from Jester's capability."
 * Nott: "I have to bare my teeth at everyone! Look at these things- they're huge!"
 * Nott: (about Jester) "Together we were a dynamic duo of mystery solving. We could solve any mystery, find any criminal mastermind, no matter how nefarious. We had all the tools, all the insights, all the instincts. It was amazing. We were a well-oiled machine and then . . . she was taken. And now it's just me."
 * Molly: (to Beau): "You are a good friend to have and a terrible enemy to make."
 * Caleb: (out loud to himself) "Look at the lot of you. Look at these people. I should go right now. I don't know you at all. Look at this one. He's like a walking rainbow, what is this? Why are you with him? It makes no sense. He's a circus performer, he's not going to help you. This one you told everything to, to try to get into a library. You learned nothing. On your gamble, you failed. You're stupid. Smart as you are, you're stupid with this. She could cave in everything. This three that have been stolen: yeah, they're nice. Two of them. One's weird. One of them tried to kill you. The other one, she's adorable, but-- Stupid. This one here. What do you expect to do with her? How is she going to help you do what you want to do? She can watch your back--"
 * Ashly: (watching Beau do pull ups) "It goes without saying that Keg is aroused."
 * Keg: "You actually had a good idea for once."
 * Sam: (referring to Lorenzo) "He's covered in oil, which makes him kind of sexy."
 * Lorenzo: "It it time for another, or have you learned your lesson?"

Inventory

 * The party left Loaf and the cart given to them in Alfield behind along the Crispvale Roadway.
 * Loo and WC were severely burned by Ankheg acid spray then put down after the battle.

Trivia

 * Sam's giant flask says "Clean Me" on it.
 * Keg got natural 20s on both rolls for on a stealth check with disadvantage, the first time in Campaign 2 a PC has done this.
 * Keg was aroused five times in this episode.
 * The in-game date at the beginning of this episode was 19 Fessuran 835. Molly fell three days later, on 22 Fessuran.