Critical Recap: Critical Role C4E18 “Vindicta and Vale”

Hello and welcome to Critical Recap! I’m Jared Deiro, the Critical Role Junior Lore Keeper. Let’s dive into Critical Role Campaign 4 Episode 18 Vindicta & Vale!

DIMMED

A day or two after Candle Feast, a young Lux of the Candescent Creed, Lux Osley Cufflund, welcomes Wick into his humble mountain shrine. This was the first Candle Feast Wicander Halovar had not celebrated with his loved ones. Wick asks the Lux for a candle to light while he confesses.

Wick asks Osley, aside from his teachings, as to what he would advise if he knew someone he loved was wrong and the only way to make them right again was to punish them? Wick is at a crossroads; he’s turned his back on his family and done bad things in the name of good, fearing he will continue out of necessity. Mostly, Wick feels he has lied about many things lately. Including his faith.

While the Lux speaks to Wick, in the freezing mountain cold, Wick notices there is no hot breath leaving the young man’s lips. Osley tells Wick he had Bellow’s Fever a while ago. Wick casts protection from good & evil and notices a scroll reacting to the spell. They are Holy Orders of the Lux – his ordained papers. Before Wick walks out, he uses his mage hand to successfully swipe the holy papers.

THE DEAD SEA

Meanwhile, on the day of Candle Feast, deep underground within the Barrowdell of the Eternal Night, Vaelus holds the skull of Pascard Velmonte. Thaisha and Vaelus’ eyes turn cloudy as they step into the realm between the Veil. Vaelus approaches the spirit who stands at the beginning of a path. Pascard is relieved to know Thaisha is alive, but saddened to hear she did not make it to Thjazi in time.

The three speak for some time, learning about Alogar arresting Pascard and Pascard being of the Drowned Men; they also learn Pascard had spoken with Thjazi’s ally Mara, who told Pascard some important plan had gone terribly wrong while she was heading to “The Tear in the World”.

Mara is a powerful druid with the ability to venture into the underworld and return safely, but lately she had somehow been prevented from crossing the boundary. Mara told Pascard that ‘the fate of all of Aramán was at stake,’ and that she needed to go to Dol-Makjar immediately, while the Drowned Men needed to go to Tannesar to destroy an obelisk. When the Barrowguard and the apprehended Drowned Men arrived in Tannesar’s courtyard, the Tachonis had already taken over, and a fight ensued. Pascard believes Alogar slipped further into Tannesar.

They learn the Tachonis left a scar on Pascard’s body, a way of compelling servitude after death. But fortunately for him, Pascard made a foolish decision when he became a Drowned Man; Vaelus sees sylvan runes glowing on his back. Pascard is a warlock – and he has sold his soul.

As Pascard turns onto the path and begins walking, sigils written in Celestial with the emblem of House Tachonis begin to snake towards him. A Tachonis-like spectral voice echoes in the void, “Your soul is ours.”

“Yours?” Pascard says, “My soul isn’t even mine.” Then suddenly, a dark wave crashes onto him, and sucks him out into a jet black sea – vanishing before the Tachonis tendrils reach him.

DISRUPTED DESECRATION

After Thaisha and Vaelus return to the group, Occtis shows them the map he found of the excavated sites throughout Tannesar. Occtis believes calcidian is the bones of celestials, and calcidial prosthesis is a way to graft celestial bones to people (like what happened to him), and apparently the Halovars are immune. As they head to the obelisk chamber, Julien slices the stinger off of Saharkis’ dead body, tossing it to Occtis.

Entering the Obelisk chamber, Occtis recognizes the cavern from his vision – this is where he saw Alogar fighting against the undead. Julien examines the chamber, seeing the echoes of the fight – a group of about eight Barrowguard rushed in and attacked, but no other Tachonis sorcerers joined the fight; only the undead attacked. Two tried to close the stone door. One stood in the doorway waiting for the onslaught of the undead to come, while the other Barrowguard came and wrecked crystals around the obelisk.

As Occtis approaches the crystals, they hum and buzz with divination magic. He sees a corroded brazier used for burning a heart in offering to Tansul that has been defaced by Tachonis’s sorcerous magic, while the name of the Shaper has been replaced with the emblem of House Tachonis.

Occtis thinks back to the line from a missive he read earlier, “If the obelisk holds fast in Tannesar, does the sacrifice itself need to happen IN Tannesar?” That’s when it hits him, Occtis didn’t get a vision of Alogar – he got a vision of THIS room and what occurred therein.

While the Seekers continue to explore Tannesar, they untangle bits and pieces of the process of creating a celestial, coming to the overall conclusion that it is a COMPLICATED process that requires many steps and chambers. In the Apotheon Vindicta, they realize the ritual was foiled and disrupted when Thaisha told Occtis to step off the path. It fundamentally ended when he removed the Stone of Nightsong from his body – Occtis never crossed “the gates”.

THE DEVA, THE DAME, AND THE DRUID

Within the Sepulchral Veil, they approach the altar where the Deva Vindicta is supposed to be created, as they look into a deep well of orcish blood, the shriek of a winged creature tears through the silence behind them. They turn to see Tertia Tachonis, the failed Deva Vindicta, who had been recklessly corrupted by her sorcerous blood.

Thaisha immediately showers Tertia with firebolt after she swoops down, and kills Dame Seremai within a matter of seconds. Thaisha looks around the well and senses the remnants of a pass without a trace spell cast by a druid of the Old Path, and near the foot of the well, she finds a falcon’s feather and a Dol-Makjar street food wrapper.

Occtis manages to charm Tertia into fearing him while Julien and Thaisha climb behind ballistas and fire ballista bolts at her. Occtis tethers a witchbolt to Tertia while Vaelus wraps the chain of her censer around her neck, and in one swift motion – Tertia is decapitated. Occtis wraps Tertia’s head in a spare shirt and finds angelic remains within her abdomen.

The Seekers regroup and gather all of the information, remains, books, missives, gems, and everything they need to bring back to Dol-Makjar. On their way out, they deface the runes and destroy as much as possible – preventing the Tachonis from (hopefully) ever doing this again.

That is it for Episode 18 of Critical Role!

FINAL THOUGHTS

• “Yours? My soul isn’t even mine.” – I need more Pascard Velmonte. Dani, can we get a comic series of the Drowned Men, PLEEEEEEASSEEEEE??
• This was such a lore-heavy episode. Did YOU get all that? We definitely tried to!
• Deva Vindicta Tertia was SICK!! But who is this Mara the Wing that keeps coming up? Hmmmm…

Catch Episode 19 of Critical Role Campaign 4 on Thursday, March 19th (whoa, that’s weird) 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 in two parts on our podcast. Is it Thursday yet?