‘Critical Role’ 3×20 Recap: The Bells Hells are “Breaking and Entering”
Someone call the locksmith!
Critical Role 3×20, Campaign 3, Episode 20, “Breaking and Entering”, Aired April 14, 2022
A bet at the Twilight Mirror Museum
The episode opens right as the Bells Hells are about to break into the Twilight Mirror Museum in search of the Wind Folly Earring. But don’t worry, our band of adventurers haven’t turned to a life of wanton crime.
The museum’s owner, Even Hytroga, knows they’re coming. You see he made a bet with the Bells Hells’ employer, saying his security was so tight that no thief could ever steal from him. Prove him wrong and return home with a massive payday. But the Bells Hells aren’t the only ones in on the bet. Another mercenary group– The Verdict– is gunning for the earring too.
When the clock starts, the Verdict immediately take off in different directions. Chetney decides to go after two of them, turning invisible and following them through an upper window. The rest of the Bells Hells decide to go left, scrounging around the building for an entrance.
Breaking and entering
They find a likely window on the ground floor. Managing to melt through the bars, the Bells Hells squeeze into the museum. Once inside, it’s an Indiana Jones style race through a house that looks more like a fantasy-setting House on the Rock than a staid gallery.
They creep through the rooms, mostly avoiding the many traps (looking at your shoulder-full of cutlery, Orym) when Ashton flips back a painting revealing a stairway leading below. With a stroke of inspiration, Fresh Cut Grass calls out for Chetney to join them, yelling about a doorway in the dining room. With a devious grin, the Bells Hells set a trap of their own, spreading ball bearings down at the base of the staircase.
Too bad Chetney is the first person to come down the stairs, falling on his back in a spectacular Home Alone-style homage to splayed limbs and bludgeoning damage. More than a little sore, Chetney joins back up with the rest of the Bells Hells, but as they walk down the staircase, they realize the Verdict– or at least some of them–are already ahead.
They creep down the stairs and into the room beyond. And come face to face with the most ancient and terrifying enemy Critical Role has ever placed on the field…
A locked door.
Locked doors and trapped floors
Despite setting off a trap of webs that would make Spider Man jealous, the Bells Hells make it through the door, coming to something of a crossroad. They know the Verdict headed right, so they once again go left.
The room appears empty, until a half dozen marionettes fall from the ceiling. This is the skin-crawling stuff of nightmares. But while the puppets don’t seem to deal any physical damage, their laughter temporarily incapacitates Chetney, Fresh Cut Grass, Imogen, Ashton and Laudna. Fearne and Orym manage to dispatch the puppets (don’t ask me how, I blacked out from terror when the puppets first dropped) and find a trapdoor in the floor.
They barely set foot on this next level when Chetney falls down a twenty foot slide that bottoms out onto some kind of acid monster-turned-floor. And it’s going to eat him alive. Using all of their rope–and becoming a human(ish) daisy chain–they save Chetney. Only he’s so injured, his werewolf half is now thirsting for blood. Imogen casts command to freeze him in place, while the other Bells Hells heal him- just managing to stave off the worst of his animal rage.
A golem rising
Definitely looking the worse for wear, the Bells Hells are more than ready to see the end of this Museum. And luck finally seems to be on their side. In the last massive room, they see the earring sitting beneath an innocent-looking glass box. But the moment they enter, the alcoves on either side of the earring light up.
Dirt fills the giant-sized outlines in the alcoves. The Bells Hells exchange panicked looks, dreading the golems that will be borne if they can’t get to the earring and get out. They hit the glass with magic and might… but nothing works.
And they’re out of time.
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To catch up on the campaign so far, check out this article!
Episode Highlights
- Laura Bailey dyed her hair Imogen purple, inspiring ten thousand fans to follow suit.
- The mirror above Evon’s bed… I guess that’s one way to flesh out a side character!
- Laudna creeping through the darkened museum foyer was so creepy, Liam said she looked like the librarian from Ghostbusters.
- One of the museum exhibits featured a broken beacon from Xhorhas (in an epic campaign 2 callback)
