Critical Recap: Critical Role C3E11 “Chasing Nightmares”

Hello! Welcome to Critical Recap! I’m Dani Carr, the Critical Role Lore Keeper. Let’s dive into our recap of Critical Role Campaign 3 Episode 11 Chasing Nightmares!

FEY PLOTS

The Nightmare King, or Ira Wendegoth, questions the group as to what they’re doing in his lab. They’re here for Gurge, but Ira tells them that Vali Dertrana is simply an overseer and ‘Armand’ is the one footing the bills, so they’ll have to take up Gurge’s imprisonment with him. Ira asks for volunteers to continue his work, his goal of sowing chaos. Imogen tries to read the fey king’s mind, but hears only static and a voice warning her not to peek. Ira breaks a blue gem on the ground and the furniture comes to life.

Faced with Ira, a table, and some chairs, the group launches into a fight. Gurge breaks out of his cage and transforms into a werewolf as the furniture is destroyed. Chetney, who has been steadily undressing throughout the fight, transforms into a white furred werewolf, revealing his status as a lycan blood hunter. FCG is polymorphed into a turtle and both Dorian and Orym are knocked unconscious, but both return swiftly back to life with dual Natural 20 death saving throws. Ira recognizes Fearne’s scent, saying she smells like home – like Calloway.

Ira fey steps away from the group and flicks a switch on the machine he was tooling with when Chetney entered, which appears to be some kind of massive arcane power source. He summons some acidic looking energy, but looks to Fearne and lets the energy dissipate. Instead, he takes a chest and informs them that while he hates to leave work unfinished, he was paid half and has other ventures to pursue. Ira tells Fearne that she’s as resourceful as he hoped. Then he dimension doors away.

TOPPLED TOWERS AND LYCAN LORE

The group has just enough time to grab some papers from Ira’s desk before the arcane machine begins to crackle and Ashton ushers everyone out. They escape to the courtyard, where wolf!Chetney terrifies a guard who sees them. The group races away from the Moon Tower just as it explodes in a massive flash of blue and purple energy. They run straight to the cable cars and retire to the Weary Way Tavern for rest and explanations from Gurge and Chetney.

Gurge is a ‘retired wanderer’ who has been living in Marquet for a decade. Originally from Wildemount, he was part of the Claret Orders – fringe society monster hunters. He was bitten and came to Marquet to find someone to help him control his wolf form. He found the Gorgynei, a group of intelligent werebeasts. He joined them for a time but eventually fell out with the leadership and became a lone wolf once more. When Chetney found him, Gurge planned to direct him to the Gorgynei.

Chetney is a relatively new lycan. He was chased out of Uthodurn after a disagreement with his employer and was bitten by a creature in the woods. Gurge refuses to help Chetney anymore, but directs him to Ajit Dayal for more information about the Gorgynei. As for his experience with Ira, Gurge was forced to bite three volunteers. He describes Armand, the other boss, as a fancy individual before going to bed. Chetney opens up to the others about wanting to stay with them. He apologizes for his deceit but the group isn’t too bothered by it. He promises he’s good at controlling the wolf part of himself, though he does want to find someone to teach him more. The silver moon Catha can drive the change, while the red moon Ruidus can alter it. Catha’s zenith is in a couple weeks while Ruidus’ zenith is a couple months away.

PLANS UPON PLANS

In the morning, Ashton goes over the possible job for Jiana Hexum – retrieve whatever item she’s looking for and wipe out Ashton’s debt. The Heartmoor Hamlet is a few days travel away, but Eshteross’ ball is in a week. Gurge leaves and the party meets with Eshteross, letting him know what happened at the Moon Tower. Armand sounds like Armand Treshi of Mahaan Treshi and someone Eshteross has long believed to be a member of the Quorum. Eshteross has little love for this man and likes the idea of undermining his influence at the upcoming ball.

Eshteross will work on securing invites for everyone. He lets Orym know that he can go speak with Oshad Breshio at House Lumas whenever he wishes and gives Imogen a letter to gain entry to the Starpoint Conservatory. The group ponders Mahaan Treshi’s possible reason to be researching monsters and sowing chaos in Jrusar. Maybe to instate Paragon’s Call and have complete military control of the city. Mahaan Treshi is one of the five most powerful houses. House Lumas has less power, though the matriarch Ginang Ela Lumas did have dealings with the Quorum. She is facilitating Orym’s meeting with Oshad.

OSHAD’S STORY

The group heads to the Diamond Horizon bathhouse in the Lucent Spire, getting massages and cleaning up in the luxurious baths before going to House Lumas and meeting with Ginang Ela Lumas and Oshad Breshio. Orym had learned of Oshad’s attack from Jarett Howarth, an old friend of Oshad’s. The Lumas Twins were Balan and Zeyar – they were scholars at the Conservatory, studying the celestial bodies and the crystal fauna of the Heartmoor.

The attack occurred in the Heartmoor Hamlet while visiting a friend and retired astronomist, Estani. There were three attackers, masked and dressed in black leather armor. They were skilled, precise, and fast, wielding envenomed weapons and working in unison. When Oshad killed an attacker, their body melted away into sludge. Oshad recommends they speak to Estani in the Heartmoor, as they were responsible for the investigation that followed.

As the Heartmoor holds potential answers for Orym and Jiana’s job, they decide to head there after the ball. They stop by Hexum Manor to meet Jiana, but she’s out for the day. When speaking with a servant, Ashton refers to the group as ‘The New Nobodies’, a name that the group rather likes. They encourage Imogen to go to Starpoint Conservatory and begin her long-desired research. Apparently, she received her telepathic powers after the strange storm dreams started, so she assumes they are connected somehow.

RED STORM RESEARCH

The letter does grant Imogen access to the knowledge of the Starpoint Conservatory, but only she is allowed within its halls. The group waits in the courtyard while Imogen studies inside. She searches for hours, looking through books on red storms, the manifestation of telekinetic and telepathic powers, and prophetic dreams. She learns that the study of dreams is ancient and that there are multiple theories as to their origins – the subconscious, representations of the soul, connecting to the divine, past lives, glimpses into the future.

Dreams of red storms are sparse, but she does find one study that was spearheaded by Professor Kadija Sumal. It focused on a pattern of individuals across Exandria who all share a recurring dream where a red storm chases and consumes. The dreams tended to swell during the celestial solstice, which is on a rough 30 year cycle. However, the dreams have grown with time. Theories around the dreams involve worry about spiritual or psychic connections being manipulated by fiends, Ruidus corruption, elemental flares.

The rest of the pages of the study have been torn out, but Imogen does find a list of names of people that took part in the study as contributors and subjects. One of these names is Liliana Temult – Imogen’s mother.

That is it for Episode 11 of Critical Role!

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Y’all Chetney is a WEREWOLF! Finally Travis’ dreams have come true.
• Speaking of dreams, Imogen’s mother might have been having the same dreams! But why were the pages torn out?
• Lots of reasons to go to the Heartmoor – hopefully they won’t have to skip the ball!
• Why did Ira recognize Fearne? Does he know her grandmother? Are the Calloways Fey Realm Famous?

Anyway, catch Episode 12 next Thursday, February 3rd at 7pm Pacific on twitch.tv/criticalrole and on youtube.com/criticalrole or a week later on our podcast. Is it Thursday yet?