Critical Recap: Wildemount Wildlings E2 “Into the Wilde”

Hello! Welcome to Critical Recap! I’m Dani Carr, the Critical Role Lore Keeper. Let’s dive into our recap of Wildemount Wildlings Episode 2: Into the Wilde!

KID CORNER

Game Master Sam Riegel works with his group of kids to populate a spooky maze. The kids offer ideas such as the maze appearing differently for different people, incorporating their favorite food, and the appearance of a lecturing businessman. For a swarm of beasts, the kids create monsters like the Half and Half (a possessed bunny doll), the Sonic Scream, a Vycan (lycan and vampire hybrid), a nice shark with legs, and a bad therapist.

CURFEW CREATURE

Beau and Yasha are stuck inside the mouth of Gub Gub the Flying Pig, who has wandered off deeper into the camp. Yeza finds Sky and Jessep in the throes of depression thanks to Gub Gub’s tracks. Yeza runs off to utilize the string can phone system while Sky and Jessep shake off their woes and look for Kai and Padmund. The OLGA cabin reunites and Padmund immediately wants to run away for help, believing that they can do nothing to save members of the powerful Mighty Nein.

Kai convinces Padmund to be brave, as saving Beau and Yasha will make him a legend deserving of his own holographic card. Jessep recalls a strange warbling effect around Gub Gub, as if light was warping around the monster. They wonder if staying out past curfew would cause Mishi to come after them – then they could have Mishi and Gub Gub fight each other.

The kids go to Mishi’s tower, where Kai first attempts to fool her with his disguises, but Mishi reminds him that she is always watching. However, she can’t tell them where Gub Gub went in the camp because she respects everyone’s privacy. Kai, knowing that Mishi is very greedy and vain, offers her a rare future holographic card for Padmund’s card game, Mysterium. This card will be OF Mishi herself. Mishi, flattered, agrees and sends them in the direction of the camper’s cabins before reminding them that curfew is in three hours and fifteen minutes.

FUR AND FOOD

In a cutaway, Beau and Yasha wake up in a dark room, having passed out inside Gub Gub’s mouth. They are tied together in a strange cat fur rope. Yasha tries to break the rope and the cat dander poisons them. They know they can wait out the effect, but worry about the unattended kids. They’ve both grown fond of the kids, with Yasha relating to Sky’s desire to use magic rather than her muscles. The kids are all so interesting and different. They decide to scream for help, hoping the kids are looking for them.

Back with the kids, the OLGAs go to the camper cabins. The cabins are now covered in food, becoming a Maze of Yums. Each kid sees their own favorite food – Kai sees red meat, Sky sees shepherd’s pie, Jessep sees kimchi, and Padmund sees shoofly pie. Padmund recognizes the pie as his mother’s special recipe, but he knows she would never make the time to come here and thus knows this is an illusion. Padmund tries a bit of pie and gains three temporary hit points but is overcome with homesickness, needing to taste more inside the cabin.

MAZE OF YUMS

Padmund goes inside the cabin, seeing tunnels going left and right. He hears gub gub noises and ventures down a tunnel, Kai coming in behind him. Jessep eats the kimchi and also goes down the tunnel, Sky following her. They pick another tunnel and the floor falls out underneath them. Padmund and Jessep fall and magma begins to fill the chamber. Padmund is trapped in a flashback, remembering his wealthy parents discussing how his father did not want Padmund to join him at sea for summer, so Padmund came to camp instead.

Via rope, spells, and items, the kids eventually get all four of themselves out of the hole. They hear Gub Gub and spot an exit, but are waylaid by a businessman who complains the kids interrupted his meeting. Padmund, knowing that a businessman anywhere except an office is a red flag, immediately attacks the man, disintegrating him into invoices. Padmund now understands the camp – violence has its place in making a better world! The kids finally escape outside. They are at the edge of the Magic Meadow, where Gub Gub’s tracks lead inside.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

Back with Beau and Yasha, the poison effects are beginning to wane. They notice a table with the Swear Jar. It contains a clue that urges them to communicate, as their true feelings will set them free. Beau and Yasha discuss Beau’s emotionless front being a coping mechanism for her self-doubt and how Yasha fell in love with Beau’s big heart. It was always a survival mechanism.

They discuss their desire for kids and Beau realizes she has drowned herself in work because raising a child scares her. They love taking care of the people in their lives and could provide a child with shelter, but would they raise a good child? They don’t have good parents to use as examples and Beau worries about passing on generational trauma. Yasha thinks she would be better than that. They can teach kids what not to do and lean on their support network, taking time for each other at the same time.

It’s a part of life that would be fun to explore together. Beau and Yasha have done almost every adventure together – except this one – and they agree that they wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else. The ropes begin to glow and weaken as their honesty grows.

MAGIC MEADOW

The OLGAs are at the edge of the Magic Meadow, where magic is taught to the aspiring magic wielding campers. A wall and an arcane barrier now surround the meadow and multiple beasts roam the grounds. The Half and Half, a vycan, a Sonic Scream (a floating being made of sound waves) and a therapist with creepy eyes sitting in a chair, as well as two Nice Sharks near the entrance. They see the arcane shed with a broken door. The creatures seem to be protecting it. That same gray warping effect that Jessep noticed earlier surrounds the shed.

Kai distracts the Sonic Scream by throwing a bell over the wall. Padmund panics, but casts detect magic on the shed, then unseen servant. He sends the servant to collect some items and calls out to the sharks to distract them. Padmund compliments the shark’s hat, but the sharks refuse to let him come in. The servant returns with numerous items like a potion of healing, a jug of lard, a spider pill, and a box of tea. It also brings a torn piece of paper – one of Yasha’s flower pressings.

The kids now know that Beau and Yasha are likely in the shed. They convince the Nice Sharks that they are hat makers, so they are allowed in for head measurements. Instead, the kids race to the shed, with Kai destroying the Half and Half as Sky is attacked by the vycan, but they make it inside the shed to safety.

INNER STRENGTH

Beau and Yasha are trying to break out of the weakening ropes when Gub Gub returns. They dodge his attack and the ropes fall away as the couple declare their love for each other. To their surprise, a door behind Gub Gub opens and light pours in as a giant fork spears him. The defeated Gub Gub is pulled into the bright room. Beau and Yasha smell breakfast cooking, but they hear Padmund and Sky. It’s time to save the kids and give them their badges!

However, the kids enter the shed and there is no sign of Beau and Yasha. The shed is much bigger inside and very smashed up, but they find a potion of greater healing and a mask of x-ray vision. Kai asks Padmund why he is so strong and Padmund reveals that one day, he forgot his belt and so broke into this same shed and stole a belt for his pants. To his surprise, it was a belt of hill giant strength and now he is super strong.

They find another page from Yasha’s notebook caught on the hinge of a trapdoor, but the Sonic Scream enters the shed. Sky, with her friends’ encouragement, breaks open the trapdoor. Sky and Kai leap down as the Sonic Scream releases a blast of noise, knocking out Jessep and Kai. Padmund grabs Jessep and hops down, joining the others in a strange hallway of yellow wallpaper and the smell of bacon, the trapdoor closing behind them.

That is it for Episode 2 of Wildemount Wildlings!

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Poor Padmund is slowly losing it and frankly, I would be the exact same way as a child in this situation.
• Jessep and Kai are knocked out and Beau and Yasha haven’t shown up, so they’re definitely going to arrive and save these babies, right??? Healing Hands??? Potions?

Catch Episode 3 of Wildemount Wildlings on Thursday, April 17th 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?