Critical Role Campaign 4’s first arc explained

Critical Role has been doing things a little differently in Campaign 4. After a four-episode overture that introduced Critters to the history, people, and lore of Aramán, Dungeon Master Brennan Lee Mulligan split the 13-player cast into three tables. The Soldiers, Seekers, and Schemers have been off on their own adventures, but on May 21, the three groups converged in episode 26, “Council of Heroes.”

Despite the West Marches-style approach, which usually encourages players to share information about what’s going on outside of playtime, the chaotic episode instead spent most of its time letting players catch up on the shenanigans each table has been up to. The result of this information sharing, however, is that it’s now clearer than ever that the next arc for Critical Role is going to be intense and potentially life-threatening for our heroes.

If you’ve not been able to keep up with the latest campaign from Critical Role, don’t worry — here’s everything you need to know about Campaign 4’s latest arc.

The Sundered Houses meet up

The Sundered Houses, powerful families once allied with the gods that survived the end of the Shaper’s War and established themselves as the ruling powers in Dol-Makjar, are scheduled to have a meeting on Trader’s Day, one day away in‑game time.

While the contents of the discussion have not yet been revealed, the political unrest surrounding Dol-Makjar —following the attempted assassination of Timmony’s king, the false resurrection of Yanessa Halovar, leader of House Halovar and the Candescent Creed — suggests that the Sundered Houses gathering could significantly disrupt the city’s current order.

House Halovar, House Tachonis, and House Cormoray, in particular, have proven themselves to be major antagonists to watch out for. The Halovars’ employment of demons to bolster their charitable and religious image, along with their use of celestial blood from an angel kept beneath their stronghold, the Villa Aurora, is part of a fabricated religion that fuels zealotry and bigotry.

Then there is House Tachonis, who we learned, via the Seekers’ adventures, was planning to use the death of Occtis Tachonis (Alexander Ward) to create a celestial monster to use against other houses, namely House Royce, a noble house with close ties to the fey. Last but not least is House Cormoray, which has shown it is willing to kill to obtain the Pariah Blades, ancient weapons capable of killing gods.

Yet the biggest indicator that something amiss is bound to happen is Yanessa Halovar’s speech during “Council of Heroes,” where she calls for a motion of no confidence against the Revolutionary Council, the main governing body of Dol-Makjar, which has already proven to be passive when compared to the power of the Sundered Houses in the Chamber of Lords-Advisory.

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The only other House that could potentially surprise Critters by becoming an ally—apart from Royce, who has effectively been slaughtered during the Palazzo Davinos massacre and won’t attend the meeting—is House Einfasen. While the House has had some incredibly shady moments throughout the campaign so far, it’s uncertain whether that’s due to House Einfasen being in league with Halovar, Tachonis and Cormoray, or whether they are just being led astray.

Even so, Lord Harondous Einfasen, the Knight-Lord in Dol-Makjar, has called upon Azune (Luis Carazo) to provide evidence of wrongdoing at the Palazzo Davinos. Could Azune’s evidence be the key that will sway House Einfasen to go against their fellow Sundered Houses — or is Einfasen playing a game that will get Azune and the rest of the Campaign 4 crew killed? Only time will tell.

The opening night of KoTher’ai

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Trader’s Day will also see the opening of Halandil Fang’s (Liam O’Brien) theatre production of KoTher’ai — a play about an orcish rebellion — at the Hallowed Round. But there is a lot more going on here behind the scenes.

Before his death, Hal’s brother Thjazi Fang left Hal magical paints. The Schemer table uncovered that these paints were rendered from celestial blood to create things that aren’t real, such as dreams and figments of imagination. The paint has since been used in the production of KoTher’ai. Given that the Hallowed Round was previously a ritual site before the Shapers War, we can’t help but wonder whether KoTher’ai will be used to perform a ritual that Thjazi set up before his death.

That is, if Hal even gets to see his play performed. Critters have been aware that Yanessa Halovar has been pushing Hal to visit Villa Aurora, but it was only after cornering him at the Archanade’s Gala that we learned why: to review the KoTher’ai contents prior to the opening night. Considering the last time someone went to the Villa Aurora, they ended up with their shadow almost getting cut in two, let’s hope Hal’s visit isn’t quite as terrifying.

Campaign 4 of Critical Role is stepping on the gas, with big events and sinister plots converging soon. What unfolds next will depend on the roll of the dice and the players’ prior decisions. Regardless of what happens, the events set up promise to be truly unforgettable.

Campaign 4 of Critical Role is available to watch live on Twitch, YouTube, and Beacon.tv on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. PDT. If you can’t catch the episode live, don’t worry — Critical Role posts the episode to YouTube the following Monday at 3 p.m. EDT/12 p.m. PDT.