‘Critical Role’ 3×30 recap: Reunion and Revelation
There’s no such thing as a happy reunion on Critical Role!
‘Critical Role’ 3×30 recap: Campaign 3, Episode 30 “Reunion & Revelation” Aired August 11, 2022
Highway Shenanigans
The Bells Hells head out with Fearne’s mother, Birdie to meet with Ollie and the Nightmare King deep in the wildlands of the Hellcatch Valley. Before they make it far outside the city they’re set upon by a crawler gang: The Fist of the Ruiner.
Their leader orders the Bells Hells to set down their belongings. So that’s exactly what Imogen does, setting a bag at the base of their giant crawler. A bag that just happens to be filled with a bomb.
When the explosion goes off… Oh who am I kidding? I don’t care about this fight. I just want to know what happens when Fearne comes face-to-face with her father and the Nightmare King!
Hideout
They drive deeper into the desert before finding the Calloway Layaway, a safehouse hidden in a cliff. Although subterranean, Birdie has transformed the space into a beautiful garden… thanks to the light of many glittering purple stones– eerily similar to the gnarlrock that Imogen once had (Critical Role 3×23). And where did Birdie get all these pretty baubles? Why from the Nightmare King, or course.
Birdie invites everyone to rest, but there is no chance of Fearne resting. Not when she’s so close to her long, lost father. She and the Bells Hells head into the laboratory together.
Celestial telescope
The laboratory space is almost consumed by an enormous arcane telescope, covered in wires and strange-looking baubles. A small elven man with fine-features is hard at work on the machine. It’s Ollie. He is overjoyed to see Fearne. And overwhelmed– remember, for Birdie and Ollie, it’s only been seven years. But the realization that for Fearne, it’s been ninety?
The knowledge hit Ollie hard… conspicuously harder than it hit Bridie. Ollie cannot fathom why Fearne grandmother, Morrie, would have stretched time this way. But the mention of Morrie reminds Fearne about the gift she has for them. A small green lens that Morrie told to give to her parents.
Which is when the Nightmare King comes, skittering down the side of the telescope. He takes the lens, and gets to work.
Tales told
The lens is called a Veilscatter Scope, and it is the missing piece of the telescope. Once installed, it will finally let Birdie and Ollie (and the Nightmare King) divine the true nature of Ruidus. It’s what they sacrificed so much for.
Remember after Fearne was born, when Ruidus first appeared in the Feywild, Ollie had a vision of the Fey being consumed by Ruidus. (Critical Role 3×29) And in the center of the storm was Birdie… or at least, who he thought was Birdie. But looking at Fearne now, Ollie isn’t so sure.
After having the vision they went to the Fey courts, but found no help there. Instead they overheard a meeting between the Unseely Court and Otohan Thull (accompanied by a mysterious, cane-carrying elven man… so, like. You know he’s evil.) The Unseemly Court was building a machine to harness the power of Ruidus– something Birdie and Ollie were not about to let happen.
Payment made
When they stole the Moontide Crown from the Unseelie Court– breaking the machine, they fled to Morrie. She agreed to make the Veilcatter Scope for them. But nothing in the Feywild comes for free.
Fearne looks at her father and asks the question on all of our minds: was she given to Morrie as payment for the Veilscatter Scope?
Ollie seems horrified by the realization, like knowledge just remembered. But he doesn’t deny it. Birdie is conspicuously absent at this point, and you just know she knew about the deal.
Through the looking glass
With Fearne still reeling from the unpleasant truth at the heart of her entire life, Chetney demands to know what the Nightmare King intends to do with the information he learns. The strange creature claims that it’s simply a matter of curiosity– that since the wars have ended in these lands, this was a useful way to occupy his mind. Sure, bro. Sure.
In a dubious gesture of goodwill, the Nightmare King invites the Bells Hells to look through the completed telescope. Imogen leaps at the chance, explaining about her dreams and her powers. Hondir nods to himself, says that she is likely Ruidusborn. More than that, there has been an unusually large number of Ruidusborn children pilgrimaging to Yios, searching for answers.
Imogen tucks away the information for later, and with the help of Orym and the Nightmare King, looks through.
The red moon is glittering with arcane magic. It crisscrosses Ruidus like links in a fence. But if it’s keeping something out, or caging something within, is anyone’s guess. The surface of the moon is covered in that strange swirling storm.
Imogen is about to lean back when she sees it. A glint of silver. A break in the storm.
A city on the moon.
Watch Critical Role Thursdays at 7pm PST on Twitch and YouTube! Check out last week’s Critical Role recap here, or watch me talk about all the highlights and theories here!
Critical Role 3×30 Highlights
- No one leave Laudna alone in the garden!!! What if Deliliah goes for more stones?
- The Nightmare King claims to hold no ill will toward the Bells Hells for destroying his lab in Jrusar, and in a really weird way, I believe him.
- What do you want to bet the Nightmare King was also working on the machine for the Unseemly Court.
- My heart is utterly broken by Fearne. She was trying so hard to convince everyone that she’s okay, but it struck me as really telling that she refers to her parents by their first names. Not mom and dad. Ouch.
- Can’t wait for the Bells Hells to ask the Nightmare King about his history with Otohan Thull! Gotta be a story there.
