Critical Recap: Age of Umbra E3 “What Is Gained, What Is Lost”

Hello! Welcome to Critical Recap! I’m Dani Carr, the Critical Role Lore Keeper. Let’s dive into our recap of Age of Umbra Episode 3: What Is Gained, What Is Lost!

DESPAIR

A shocked Brixton rushes to the two murdered Pyrekeepers, Rohmand and Corbin, as Idyl attempts to reach the smiling Eryn – but she’s already gone. Her body shifts and slivers as tendrils and tethers rip from her mouth. A Limbwreath tears itself from Eryn’s possessed and deceased body. It drops tentacles that attack the party, but the group fights valiantly through the shock. Finally, Snyx kills the Limbwreath by kicking it into the burning embers of the extinguished Sacred Pyre.

Ghosthook arrives and the group explains what happened. Brixton makes a funeral pyre for Eryn as her father Garrick mourns. The people of Desperloch wail as the knowledge that the pyre is extinguished ripples through the town. There is now no light to protect them from the Umbra’s shadows. Triarch member Beryl Spearbore urges them to remember they are the Enduring and they will survive this danger as they have done before – together.

THE NEXT RIGHT THING

The group heads to the Forum with the other Triarch members and community leaders to discuss their next steps. Idyl explains what happened to Eryn was not her fault and everyone agrees to keep her memory unsullied. The Umbra winds are coming in the next few weeks and if the Pyre flame is not relit, they are likely to all perish. No one knows where another blessed branch could be, but the Scholars will research the histories. In the morning they will reconvene. No matter what, Idyl wants to be on the frontline in Eryn’s honor – it’s what she would do.

Brixton is unnerved by how shaken Emberwarden Sheena is. The Emberwarden feels like she failed them all. She tells Brixton that her service is not finished and that she hopes Brixton will be Desperloch’s hope and burn bright. This is Brixton’s home, the only one she has ever known, and this affects her deeply. Everyone leaves to rest, with Snyx curling up with a collar and Brixton with the items of Rohmand and Corbin.

Misty attempts to relight the Pyre with her own fire magic, but fails. August approaches and comforts her, while warning her to be careful. “She” can likely find them now. Misty keeps watch over the Pyre like the statue she is. Idyl is comforted by Garrick and told that Eryn’s death isn’t his fault. She burned brighter than any of them. Idyl still wants to settle the score. Garrick tells him to make it suffer. As they sleep, more visions arrive – a golden face in the clouds, a burning body on a stake, a cathedral of purple light, and a distant crown of promise.

PLANS OF PURPOSE

In the morning, a strange mist creeps into the town, putting everyone on edge. There were a few bestial incursions in the night that were dealt with, but all are armed and trained. Desperloch is alight with protective purpose. The group reconvenes in the Forum with the Scholars of the Luzal and the Triarch. They have found some potential locations of blessed branches – the Gilded Shambles (a lost caravan in the Gilded Spires) and the Barrow of Blind Repose (a sealed tomb of the Heretic Saint Evelyar).

Two groups will be sent with the hope of retrieving a branch – Ghosthook and a few of the Vigil will go to the Gilded Shambles and the group of Idyl, Brixton, Snyx, August, and Misty will go to the Barrow. The Barrow is high in the Idol Hollows near the Astrofoundry and north of the Amber Reach. Snyx can guide them, in theory. It should take about a week or two of travel. The Umbra winds have not returned for seven months, but they arrive every six to twelve, so it could be any moment.

They will travel across the Sunken Rampart to Volkoru, an elven trade settlement that may be able to offer assistance, then north through the Screaming Forest to the Amber Gate of the Amber Reach. They must then travel across the Drowned Sprawl and through the city of Amber Reach to the Astrofoundry and then to the Barrow. Snyx has not gone past the Drowned Sprawl due to the dangers of Amber Reach – there are fiendish creatures at the base of the Ashcall Quarter and the Cinnabar Quarter is home to a number of marauding factions.

SWORDS AND SKULLS

Ghosthook and his three Vigil prepare to leave and as they do, Ghosthook pulls Idyl aside. He knows that Idyl has some sort of power that he doesn’t understand and that power and passion can lead to corruption. Ghosthook believes that Idyl could be Desperloch’s savior or its doom and when they return, Idyl will have to prove which side he is on. Idyl respectfully challenges him to return with the branch first. They both hope that when they return, it is in celebration and not in strife.

August talks with Thalia, a trustworthy member of the Scholars. He removes his hat and jacket, showing her the extent of his spider self as a show of trust and devotion to Desperloch. He also reveals that he is an aetherweaver. August shows her the skull and band from the reliquary and she explains that the skull is that of Oshathu, the Broken Coal. He leaked blasphemy to the faithful and infiltrated the halls of Luzal and the Cinnabar Quarter before he was tried and sentenced to execution. During the execution, shadows protected him from the blade. In the conflict, Oshathu was struck down and bound in this unsettling ritual to ensure that the shadows were sealed.

Brixton receives some supplies from a guilt-ridden Truvo the Hedge and Snyx collects his collar, wearing it like a belt and apologizing for not saving his buddy. The group leaves Desperloch together as the townspeople watch with hope, Snyx leading them through the jungle.

FIRST STEPS

August informs Misty that their former home is the Screaming Forest and that they will have to be careful when they move through it. The temple where August met Misty is a catacomb of amber where creatures worship the Queen Mother. She is unhappy that the two of them got away, as she likes to play with her food. This is where August’s moth came from.

Misty can just barely remember the temple. She thinks she was there with another family at one point. They traveled with her and she doesn’t know why. August found Misty because Mother always sent him into the temple to look for treasures and trinkets. He somehow woke up Misty and she got them both out, escaping Mother.

They keep traveling through a drizzle until they come upon a rushing river with a destroyed bridge. They have to cross, so they tie a rope around their waists to stay connected. The crossing is perilous, but eventually they all make it. They edge along the cliffside and spot the beginning of the Sunken Rampart. This region lies mostly underwater and is jagged and broken, but still the safest path to take. They decide to push through the encroaching night as they exit the jungles and spot the light of Volkoru’s Pyre in the far, far distance.

That is it for Episode 3 of Age of Umbra!

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Poor Eryn. At least she was already gone when she transformed.
• Hope must return to Desperloch! And a blessed branch is the only way to make sure that the Enduring… Endure.
• Wow, the Screaming Forest is home to something scary? That’s really surprising (it is not surprising).

Catch Episode 4 of Age of Umbra on Thursday, June 19th at 7pm Pacific on beacon.tv, where Beacon members get access to the entire episode, podcast included! The episode will also release on twitch.tv/criticalrole and on youtube.com/criticalrole and a week later on our podcast. Is it Thursday yet?