Critical Role's 4th Campaign is a big departure in many ways: it's not set on Exandria (with no suggestion that these even take place in the same universe - the mention of a magic item being the equivalent of a Vestige of Divergence was misconstrued by a lot of fans,) it's got a different Dungeon Master, there are several more players, and there are separate "tables" for different groups of characters on different arcs.
Indeed, as we found at the end of this first "convergence," in which the entire "party" came together, the tables aren't going to have fixed memberships, with some Schemers heading out as Seekers and some Soliders staying behind.
I'm going to get into some heavy spoilers here, so I'll do a cut, but I'm more interested in the broader speculation about what's coming down the line more than necessarily going over every shocking plot twist.
Anyway, spoilers ahead.
At this point in the campaign, it certainly feels as if Primus Tachonis is the campaign's "big bad." The patriarch and leader of the creepy necromancer House among the Sundered Houses, Primus has a truly apocalyptic ambition to basically create a vast army of the dead to dominate and control all of Araman.
And we know that he's no slouch in terms of power - among the shocking NPC deaths, Primus killed the druid Hannan with a Power Word Kill spell. I honestly think it's not outside of the realm of possibility that Primus is already a Lich and merely hiding this fact.
Certainly, his plots and intentions are the most clear and straightforward threats to the innocent and free peoples of Araman.
And yet...
So, Brennan Lee Mulligan is a master at crafting intricate plots. Basically all of his Dimension 20 campaigns are complex mysteries with lots of moving parts that link into all the PCs' own personal stories. Presented with a far more long-term and open-ended opportunity, I have to imagine that he's going super hard into crafting a true epic here.
And so, I think that Primus is probably not going to wind up being the biggest villain in the campaign. He's already a major one, don't get me wrong. But I think there are hints that he's not as in control as he projects himself to be.
Weirdly, one of the hints I find strongest is part of Kattigan's (Robbie Daymond) backstory. Kattigan is comically absent-minded and seems like the least invested in the plot, but when we discover his backstory: that is wife and daughter were murdered by a sorcerer, and one we later realize was Primus Tachonis, we discover that he might just be the one most deserving of landing the killing blow on this monster (though I think Occtis (Alex Ward,) being his own son who was murdered on Primus' orders, has good reason, as well as Julian (Matt Mercer,) whose father was killed in a truly horrifying way by the Tachonis patriarch, both have solid claim to that right).
The thing is, when we see this memory play out, the expression Mulligan gives Primus after the killing of Kattigan's family is one of unhinged madness, a glazed-eyed smile. What does that mean? Why was Primus so happy to do this?
As a powerful lord, Primus wears a thick mask of composure, but he also seems to panic easily. While he eventually manages to talk his way out of being punished for his attack against House Royce, it really seems like he just barely pulls this off (I don't remember if Mulligan rolled for his persuasion check, but it seems like it must have been a high one). However, after keeping his cool meeting with the other Sundered Houses, his return to Obramis Manor is one that seems defined by haste and panic, fleeing the city and killing Hannan rather than finding a more elegant way to cover his tracks. While his barbarous coercion of Wicander (Sam Riegel) to kill one of his own servants is some real intimidating villain shit, it also speaks to someone who is not really thinking long-term, and defaulting to horror and cruelty just to scare someone off.
So, who else might be major villains?
Photarch Yanessa Halovar certainly seems like another option. While she seemed to acquiesce to Primus' demand that Thijazi Fang be executed despite Wick's attempts to secure a reprieve, implying she was scared of House Tachonis, the truth is that she actually seems a lot better at playing the game of thrones, so to speak.
The Halovars also have some very powerful secret magic at their disposal, with the blood of a mad celestial being harvested, deals struck with a demon lord, and a spreading church entirely designed to keep the populace under the family's control.
Her gambit, faking her own assassination and then "miraculous resurrection," seems to have worked even if the Schemers knew it was fake. The only flaw in her plan, I think, was that King Gus wasn't actually killed in this attack (which was surely another intent in the plot). But she hasn't really paid any price for it, and has reaped a lot of benefits.
It's an interesting choice that Mulligan gives Yanessa a more lower-class Cockney accent when she's speaking to her family, and a much more regal and high-class accent in public. The Halovars are a very old house, so presumably she was born into aristocratic status. What it does, though, is reinforce the notion that she's a hypocrite.
Now, if she has any real end-goal other than the continual domination of culture and society, I don't know that we have a great sense of it. It seems possible that she's indebted to otherworldly forces, such as the demon lord Ksha'aravi, which could prove to be a weakness and potential downfall for her.
As for the other Sundered Houses, Royce seems to be the "good one," and of course is the one on the edge of extermination. I'm curious to see if there's a bit of a twist here, but given their state of being nearly destroyed by House Tachonis, I don't know that they're even in a position to take a real villain turn.
House Cormoray is the one that I really have the least sense of. Right now, the most interesting thing about them is that Lady Amariya, the heir to the House's seat, is possessed by Termina, one of the Panto masks like Bolaire (Taliesin Jaffe) who was though to have been destroyed but is now absolutely fucking crazy.
However, Termina's survival - she was meant to die while the Halfling Trickster God Rauwyn was wearing her - raises the possibility that Rauwyn herself might not be so dead. After all, if you could imagine any of the Shapers surviving for 70 years after the Shaper's War when everyone was convinced that the gods were all dead, it'd be the god of trickery, wouldn't it?
Truly, I could imagine Rauwyn as a real "final boss" of the campaign.
Now, House Einfasen is kind of fascinating. A hardcore "lawful neutral" house under Otto Einfasen, currently they seem like the most helpful allies that the party might have, and where we've left off, they're preparing for full-scale war on House Tachonis.
And yet, while they seem to be straight-shooters, they're also pretty draconian, and I do not see them embracing some sort of more democratic, free society should the party put a stop to the schemes of Houses Tachonis and Halovar. I basically see one of two things happening: either the Einfasen are surprisingly defeated by the villainous houses, or when Otto discovers that Azune (Luis Carazo) hasn't actually been his loyal man, but instead an ally of convenience, there might be some deadly reckoning to deal with.
I do think that Harondus, Otto's nephew who, as pointed out in the latest episode, was an adult before he realized he would not be Ottos' heir, could be a problem: Harondus seems more power-hungry and authoritarian, and he might resent that his young cousins are ahead of him in line for the House Seat, and seems inclined to avoid conflict with House Tachonis. Might he see the chance to rid himself of uncle and cousins if he works with the Tachonises?
Returning to the subject of King Gus: I don't see Gus going the villain route - he just seems too cool of a guy, and despite actually being of noble ancestry, he was raised among commoners and has a great deal of humility. He also loves dogs and made them a huge part of his reign. But the Halovars tried to have him killed once, and have their eyes on his territories. I think it will take a lot of work on the party of the party to keep him from getting killed.
All right, let's go through a few scattered theories I have:
Kattigan's Family:
Why would Primus Tachonis murder some random woman and a little girl? Is he actually just a deranged serial killer who got his shit together when he was older? Maybe. Or maybe Kattigan's wife was actually someone important. Might she have actually been a secret Tachonis, and the rightful heir to the House? Did Primus kill his sister or cousin (and niece/cousin once removed)? Killing the child would be necessary for him to claim the seat, and it also explains why he didn't bother killing Kattigan, who was just a commoner.
Azune and Dragons:
We found out that Azune's native language is the language of dragons. I'd actually wondered if, mechanically, he was a dragonborn (I suspect that the Einfasen are mechanically Goliaths, even if they're canonically human) but I think he's been getting the Human Heroic Inspiration thing. But also: in this world, we've seen that Sorcery is something that seems to always come with one of the Sundered Houses. And Azune is a Paladin/Sorcerer. Each of the Sundered Houses is associated with some kind of magical creature/source (Halovar: Celestials, Tachonis: Undead, Cormoray: Elementals, Royce: Fey, Einfasen: Giants). Might Azune belong to a lost "Sorcerous House" affiliated with dragons? I'm about 90% sure that if and when he hits 3 levels of Sorcerer (not sure if he's got that already, or if he put more into Paladin first) that he'll go with Draconic Sorcery. After the Dragon in the River Vrosh awoke, it really made me think about what role dragons play in Araman.
The Lion's Light:
Biggest spoiler here: RIP Teor (Travis Willingham), who agreed to split the party in a dungeon that was already kind of tuned for a higher-level party. It was especially sad for me to see both him and Cyd die against the monstrosity that was Raimond Davinos (who himself seemed like a good-hearted if flawed man in life). (Also, wish that he'd made us of the Cleave mastery on that greataxe to take down some of those zombies). Still, the real curiosity is how Paladins work in a world where the gods are all dead (maybe save one, see Rauwyn, above). We had two Paladins in the campaign, Azune and Teor. But Teor had this interesting connection to Wick, as he seemed to truly channel the light in a way that the Halovars are kind of faking. In his dying moments, he was able to send his holy symbol to Wick, which seemed to be charged with some kind of holy, leonine power.
I do really wonder if the Shapers are actually the only gods that Araman has ever had. Is it possible that they usurped the role of other, more primordial deities? What if there's some kind of holy lion spirit out there that has a greater connection to some divine truth? Luckily, it seems like Wick can continue to investigate this. (Also very curious to see what Travis' new character will be).
Also, just as a note, it was very satisfying to see Thimble (Laura Bailey) take down the corrupted Ramon. While she seemed nervous in the moment, she was actually mechanically really well-suited to fighting him safely - as a Swashbuckler, she could move in, attack, and then dash as a bonus action to get away from him without worrying about opp attacks.
Anyway, I've been really enjoying campaign four. It's been intense, but having listened to The Wizard the Witch and the Wild One from Worlds Beyond Number, I know that Mulligan can make things feel very intense and high-stakes.
Indeed, I think that it gives me a bit more appreciation for low-level D&D. There's so much more you can threaten your players with at low levels, and you also limit the options they have to deal with certain problems. You need player buy-in, because the game also promises something of a power fantasy, and I think that as a DM I'm obligated to give my players at least some of that (with proper challenges to make it feel earned).
We're actually a fair ways into this campaign, but if it's like other CR campaigns, we've still got probably years to go before it all resolves. And I suspect that things will look very different by the time this finishes (so much of the campaign has taken place in Dol-Makjar, so I wonder if the city will be fully left behind at some point).
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