Deals in the Dark

is the eighth episode of the seventh chapter of Critical Role. After Keyleth scares off her would-be attackers, Vox Machina continues their trek through the City of Dis, and Percy makes a deal with the devil Ipkesh to assassinate Utugash. Their mission takes them to the pit fiend's abode, where they also encounter and rescue a new ally in Tova. Will they fulfill the deal, or will Percy's soul be forfeit?

Pre-Show

 * The updated Critical Role fan art appreciation gallery was shown.

Announcements

 * Liam is Skyping in from New Jersey.
 * Laura is late due to work, but will be here in the next thirty minutes or so.
 * Tonight's sponsor is Loot Crate.
 * The cast open the recent Loot Crate with the theme of "Primal".
 * Sam reads his Loot Crate announcement as "SAM 5000", a futuristic robot here to make sure that humans make the right choices for the timeline by subscribing to Loot Crate. This month's theme is "Investigate".
 * There's a survey up on the Geek & Sundry website to learn about what the Critical Role fanbase is like and what kind of merchandise they would like to see in the store. The survey can be taken at geekandsundry.com/CRsurvey.
 * The cast will be at WonderCon this Saturday, April 1st for the Talks Machina live panel. The panel will be recorded and aired on Twitch and Alpha that Tuesday in place of the normal Talks Machina episode.
 * Taliesin says that they don't have a subject yet for next week's Wednesday Club, so they're taking suggestions from Twitter and the chat room.
 * Matt reminds everyone that the new show Roundtable is up on Alpha, where a bunch of GMs talk about tabletop gaming.
 * A ringtone of the Signal Boost theme has been released. They've also released a free screensaver because they thought it was funny.
 * Will Friedle, player of Kashaw Vesh, will be at the Wales Comic Con in the UK on April 8th and 9th.
 * Matt, Marisha, and Taliesin will be at MomoCon from May 25th to 28th in Atlanta, Georgia.
 * Talks Machina is Tuesday nights at 7pm Pacific time on Twitch and Alpha.
 * Liam has one last announcement: his father is hiding six feet away from him off-camera (he rolled very high on his stealth check). While Liam's father may not understand what his son's career is, he does believe that he has one.

Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina, in tying up loose ends after the end of the Chroma Conclave and the completion of Keyleth's Aramenté, they knew that there—out there somewhere in the Hells—an infernal being, a rakshasa known as Hotis that they had encountered previously in the past, and was going to eventually claim vengeance on them if they did not get to it fast.

"As such, through research they found that it most likely seemed to reside on the second layer of the Hells: Dis, ruled under Dispater, one of the archdevils. After gathering [their] materials [and] doing a bit of prep, [they] transitioned into the actual plane of the Nine Hells of Baator, into the City of Dis.

"Upon wandering the streets and trying to blend in through various alterations to [their] physical forms, [they] eventually found [their] way—after avoiding a couple of possible confrontations in the street—to a tavern-like location, where [they] decided not to order the meats that were being devoured by a couple of devilish entities, and instead the other thing, which involved both Taryon and Keyleth having their first taste of soul; then eventually Percival on the way out too.

"They encountered the owner of the establishment, a dark-haired, red-skinned, horned gentleman, wings folded against his back, who was eager to rent [them] a place to stay for the time being. [The party] decided to figure out what [their] plans were. At which point "Freddie" and "Greg"—Percival and Grog—went downstairs to have a conversation with this entity, where they revealed themself to be named Ipkesh and was interested in possibly working out sort of a crisscross, quid-pro-quo type negotiation with [Vox Machina].

"After returning to discuss the possibilities of this up in [their] chambers, Keyleth made her way out to locate the possible location of Hotis as a workaround. As she exited the front exterior of the establishment and went into an alleyway to attempt to transform, she found herself followed by a chain devil and some sort of a somewhat scarred and mutated-looking dwarf.

"They confronted [her] and were asking about their interest in "the white one"; seemingly speaking about one of [her] companions, Vax, who had taken on the form of an albino tiefling when [they] entered the plane."

Part I
Keyleth stands in the alleyway behind the tavern as the chain devil and strange dwarf begin to flank her with violent intentions. The chains on the chain devil begin moving rapidly and from underneath the dwarf's skin, wormlike tendrils begin to appear.

Returning to her original plan, the druid casts Shapechange to become an erinyes. Her skin becomes pale white, her eyes turn dark red with burning gold pupils, and giant dark red wings unfold from her back.

The chain devil and dwarf immediately stop advancing and take a few steps back.

Thoroughly intimidated by the higher-ranking devil, the chain devil's chains fall limp to its sides and it take another step back, apologizing for the intrusion. Keyleth persists with her threatening tone, saying she would like to add the two of them to her collection.

The chain devil bows its head and backs out of the alleyway, the dwarf following behind it, both of them with very submissive body language. Keyleth taunts them one more time before turning around and very quickly and nervously walking in the other direction.

She glances up and sees an imp wearing gold armor watching her from above. She looks at it and slowly nods. It doesn't respond, still just watching her. Keyleth changes back to tiefling form and returns to the tavern, the two beings that had confronted her now nowhere in sight.

She heads back upstairs, rejoins the rest of Vox Machina, and tells them what happened. They debate for a minute whether the devils were interested in Vax because of his connection to the Raven Queen or just because he looked like an albino tiefling. Vax himself doesn't think an albino tiefling is all that odd; they have met Lillith after all.

Vax asks what the plan is for now. Keyleth still has about fifty-five more minutes before her Shapechange spell ends. She shows off her erinyes form again, which greatly impresses Taryon. Grog asks why she didn't just continue her original plan of locating Hotis if the other devils were so scared of her; she explains how she can only concentrate on one spell at a time, so she had to drop her Locate Creature spell.

Keyleth tells them about the golden-armored imp that had been watching her. Vax remembers that they met an imp over a year ago when they were investigating the home of Sir Gregory Fince, although that one had not been wearing golden armor.

Grog suddenly remembers that he kept a ring from one of the devils they killed in the basement of that house. Keyleth and Percy convince him to pull the ring out of the Bag of Holding so they can take a look at it. Tary casts Identify on the ring, but it does not have any magical properties. It's a signet ring, with a symbol that Percy recognizes as the symbol of Asmodeus.

Percy tries to determine if the ring is meant to signify rank or some other meaning, but he can't really tell. Neither can Tary. Percy reminds the group that Asmodeus is the ruler of the Nine Hells, so carrying his symbol around could be useful.

Grog and Tary ask if Vox Machina is going to accept the deal proposed by Ipkesh. Vex'ahlia requests more details about the deal before they accept anything. Percy tells her that the owner of the tavern works for a man he doesn't like, and is curious what would happen if his boss was no longer around. Vox Machina would probably be arrested if they did everything right, which would bring them closer to Hotis. Percy then cautions the group to be careful what they say, due to the potential surveillance all over the city.

Keyleth doesn't think they need to make a deal with a devil in order to get arrested; she's gotten arrested on her own several times before. Grog points out that the deal involves getting help from within the prison once they've been arrested. They debate whether or not to take the deal for several more minutes.

Going back to an earlier topic, Vex reminds them that Ipkesh said the imps in the gold armor are basically the guards of the city, so they should be avoided. Keyleth says that taking the first deal offered by the first devil they talk to in the first tavern they find seems a little too convenient.

Grog eventually calls for a vote. Tary, Percy, and Grog want to sign the contract. Keyleth, Vax, and Vex would prefer to wait another day before agreeing to anything. Tary offers up Doty as the tiebreaker. Vex counters with Trinket. Tary suggests they arm-wrestle. Vex agrees.

Tary orders Doty to arm-wrestle Trinket. Vex points out that the bear's arms don't bend the right way for this, but she encourages him anyway. They drag a table over to the center of the room. Doty gets into his arm-wrestling stance and Trinket walks up to the table curiously.

Vex tells Trinket to "put his whole body into it", so the bear rears back and takes a massive claw strike at Doty's hand, causing the arm to pop out of its socket briefly. Tary protests that Trinket didn't follow the rules of arm-wrestling. Vex points out that it wasn't fair to begin with because Trinket does not have humanoid arm joints. The artificer says she should have designed her robot bear with arms joints; Vex tells him Trinket is a real bear, which he does not believe. Vex tells Trinket to pee on Tary, which he does. The human is too scared to try and stop him.

With thirty minutes left of Keyleth's Shapechange spell, Vox Machina decides to go search the town. They head downstairs, Keyleth in her tiefling form and the rest not disguised. There is only one devil patron in the tavern, tearing into some of that strange meat. Ipkesh is at the same table he was previously, still holding a glass of wine.

Ipkesh nods at the group when he sees them. There is a piece of paper on the table in front of him. He requests that they read it and let him know if they need to make any revisions. Percy and Tary read the contract out loud to the rest of the group.

Only one person needs to sign the contract, and only the first pact needs to be completed; the second and third pacts can be triggered later by the recipient, but doing so is completely optional.

Percy thinks the first pact could use some more negotiating, and he would like to think it over a bit longer before signing anything. Ipkesh understands, telling Percy to come back when he is more certain of what he wants out of the contract.

Vox Machina exit the tavern and begin heading down the street. Keyleth says that if she has a piece of the prison, she can use Find the Path to figure out where it it. They look around for any sort of oddities shop and eventually find a building that seems close enough.

With only ten minutes of Keyleth's Shapechange spell left, they enter the store. A devil is slouched on a stool inside and offers to sell them "pretties". Keyleth asks if they have any items from the prison, which they do not.

Turning back into an erinyes, Keyleth begins coercing the devil into giving them any information about the prison. The devil doesn't know much because the city is constantly changing due to Dispater's paranoia. Pretty much only the devils that work in the prison know how to get into the prison. Keyleth continues pressing the nervous devil for information. He says that the chain devils would be better to ask about the prison.

Percy's asks the devil to show them what he sells. He pulls out a purple geode jutting with crystals. He tells them it carries pure condensed souls. Inside, dozens of faces can be seen pressing up against the crystal, similar to the orb they saw with the pit fiend earlier that day.

Percy asks if he has anything unique. The devil pulls out a partially-mummified, humanoid arm with a brass bracelet around the wrist. Tary identifies the bracelet as a divination beacon; it allows a secondary device to keep watch on it. Presumably the adventurer it came from was transmitting their journeys to someone else before they died.

Keyleth takes the bracelet and gives the devil twenty gold in return. Tary buys the purple soul geode for 1500 gold.

Vox Machina steps out of the store just as Keyleth's Shapechange spell expires. Some of those golden-armored imps fly overhead. Keyleth uses Alter Self to switch back to tiefling form. The twins keep an eye out for more imps; they see the shadows of hundreds of creature flying in the sky, many wearing gold armor and seemingly patrolling the area. A few of the imps are watching Vox Machina, but they are also watching anyone else out in the streets.

Vox Machina heads back to the tavern and up to their rooms. Keyleth, thinking that the chain devil she encountered earlier might have information, decides to try and scry on him. However the devil manages to resist the spell, which backfires on the druid by flashing in her eyes.

Grog decides to head downstairs to try some of that meat the devils have been eating. Vax follows him. There are four imps tearing into the meat at table that turn and look at the two new arrivals. Ipkesh is also present, sitting at the bar and talking with the bartender.

Grog asks for a bit of the meat. The bartender—after glancing at Ipkesh—gives it to Grog for free. The goliath examines the meat. It looks like really, really raw meat, purplish-red with jagged bone shards sticking out everywhere and seeping sludgy blood. Grog offers some to Vax, who declines but places a hand on Grog's shoulder.

Using one of the bone shards, Grog scoops up a bit of the meat and pops it into his mouth. It is warm and gamey with a strong taste of iron. The bones tear into his mouth, causing him a bit of damage. A bit of Grog's blood, redder than the blood from the meat, trickles down his chin.

Grog swallows painfully. The meat doesn't have any noticeable effect aside from a bit of numbness. Vax asks if he is okay, and also what it tasted like. Grog says it tasted like it would if "you took a bunch of rusty nails and shoved them in your thumb and then sucked on that for a while".

Grog continues eating the meat, taking a bit more damage. He compliments the chef, who turns out the be the bartender. Vax tastes a tiny bit of the meat and spits it out immediately. The two of them head back upstairs.

Not knowing what else to do, Percy says they should just take the contract. He offers to sign it himself, but he has some amendments to make first: they will need a guide as well as safe passage out of the prison and back to the Material Plane. Taryon requests to be the one to sign the contract. Percy immediately accepts the offer and Tary starts backpedaling as Vox Machina jokingly praises his bravery and heroism.

Percy assures his fellow human that they were only messing with him; Percy will be signing the contract, much to Tary's relief.

They all head downstairs. Ipkesh is back at his original table, no wine glass this time, but the contract paper still rests in front of him. Percy requests that a guide through the city. He then asks what happens to his soul if he dies during their assassination mission. Ipkesh says that if the rest of Vox Machina completes the contract for him, then his soul is fine. If the contract is not completed, then his soul belongs to Ipkesh; just Percy's soul, not the others'.

Percy confirms that Ipkesh will make sure they get into the prison unharmed and given access to Hotis. He also requests that the contract only be considered completed once Vox Machina is safely back on their home plane, but Ipkesh doesn't think that he should have to pay for their stupidity. The devil tells them that normally the jailers would confiscate their possessions upon their arrest, but Ipkesh can arrange for them to keep their items on their persons.

Ipkesh takes the contract and writes in the new amendments: Ipkesh will provide a guide to lead them where they need to go and he will make sure they do not have their equipment taken from them.

Grog shows Ipkesh the ring with the symbol of Asmodeus on it. Ipkesh tells them it is the signet of the Cult of Asmodeus. It doesn't mean much within the Hells, but on the Material Plane it is used to assert belonging.

Percy has one last question: how powerful is the devil they will be assassinating? Ipkesh says that Utugash is quite powerful and resides within his stronghold, which Vox Machina would need to enter. There are approximately a dozen devils guarding the stronghold. Ipkesh stresses that they enter unseen and unheard; if they run into any resistance, they must kill the guard before the alarm is raised. The guards are mostly bearded devils with maybe one or two bone devils.

Utugash himself is a pit fiend. He is strong, but he is slow, slovenly, and sluggish.

Percival de Rolo signs the contract with the devil Ipkesh.

The inks flashes and burns into the paper. Ipkesh takes the contract.

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot (absent; not mentioned)
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * Unnamed devil shopkeeper
 * Tova
 * Utugash
 * Vasa

Returning

 * Unnamed bartender
 * Taryon Darrington
 * Doty
 * Ipkesh

Mentioned

 * Asmodeus
 * Lillith Daturai
 * Dispater
 * Sir Gregory Fince
 * Hotis
 * General Krieg
 * Raven Queen
 * Syldor Vessar

Quotations

 * Taryon: "I say we take this deal, kill that employer, and...go to prison, oh my god." Vax'ildan: "Jeez, Tary, you've gone straight gangster in so little time." Taryon: "Well I just want to get the FUCK out of here and go back home so I can enjoy some wine."
 * Percy: "You know, it's entirely possible that there will be several creatures fighting over my body when I die—and my soul when I die—already." Vex'ahlia: "I'll be one them." Percy: "Bless you."