"Targeted" (4x25) is the twenty-fifth episode of the fourth campaign of Critical Role, and the final episode of this arc featuring the Schemers table. When two political figures are attacked at the gala, the Schemers must jump into action to save as many lives as they can...

Synopsis

Cold open

The Seekers are in the barrowdell of the Eternal Night, the morning after Occtis and Vaelus used Speak With Dead on the skull of Tertia Tachonis. They tell the others what happened, and Occtis speculates that his family has precautions in place to keep anyone from talking about their plans. They also share the contents of the papers they acquired in Tannesar: There were a significant number of House Tachonis troops stationed at the Golden Orchard as well as more recently around Houndsport in Timmony. Occtis notes that Aniko Seremai mentioned learning a trick at "Obrimus". Vaelus finds a sprig of holly that grows in the Mournvale in a bag of documents and when Thaisha casts Speak with Plants on it, it expresses joy at being held once more in the hand of a Sister of Sylandri and she realizes it was a conduit for a Locate Object spell. Lastly, Occtis finds a letter to his uncle Segundus Tachonis from his sisters Petra and Ryah. They say they are going to Dol-Makjar, and from there to board the Moray and travel beyond the Sea Door. They don't understand their father's sudden hurry to complete the ritual using Occtis and mention the family forces now in the fey-aligned Telmora. Univere and Doset Tachonis have been reassigned from "harvesting" to "retrieve the stolen calcidion", but they believe the Path is a more worthy target than the Golden Orchard, and that killing the king of Timmony is more urgent. Two-thirds of the Council is on their side and without its interference, they could double access to the barrowdells and solve "the Kahad problem".

Part I

As the battle begins, Bolaire and Azune are looking down the hallway through which King Augustus and the Photarch have gone seeking a private room for discussion, followed by an Invisible Murray. The Photarch's son Filoneus Halovar stands at the door with his two war dogs. Also in the room are Gus' attendant druid, Sir Marten and Cavalier (Hounds of the King), and two of Gus' knights, as well as an attendant Lux of the Photarch. Meanwhile, Halandil is in the main gala chamber where he notices the door close behind Gus and the Photarch, and sees the masked Argosian nama Lord-Minister Gorson Brightmane excuse himself and move away muttering under his breath, and enter a quiet private room in which Hal's daughter Hero had been working on catalogue cards for the museum.

Inside the room where Murray is hiding, she sees Gus hand his goblet to his attendant druid, who checks it magically and tells him it's clean. After Gus drinks, however, his voice immediately changes and he slowly collapses out of his chair. Murray realizes the druidic magic was a fake, and that the druid's eyes are vacant. Outside, Bolaire breaks his spell glyph of See Invisibility and Azune casts the same spell on himself. Inside, six black-cloaked armored assassin knights rush around the corner shooting dust-laden crossbow bolts that incapacitate all the Hounds in the room, while one carefully fires a black crossbow bolt directly into the Photarch's chest. She collapses to the ground and lies still.

Murray invisibly gives Gus a healing potion, but he just hides it under a nearby table. The Photarch is making death saving throws, and fails her first one with a natural one, giving her two failures. Halandil casts Disguise Self on himself to create the illusion of an imposing guard patrolling wearing an intimidating mask of Azgra, then follows the nama Lord-Minister into a now-deserted room to find him apparently giving the command "Remove the sword and cast it aside" to a distant person through a magic spell. When Hal enters, the nama pretends to be feeling ill, but Hal closes the door behind himself as he enters and uses Unsettling Words. Meanwhile Bolaire runs down the hallway toward Gus and encounters the assassins. He Commands one to drop his sword. Inside, Gus struggles to draw his sword, but the controlled druid removes it from his hand and tosses it away. Filoneus tries to open the door, but it is being held magically shut. Azune summons a Flaming Sphere against the assassins and hears Varen Kadorn summoning the other security guards, apparently having realized something seriously bad is happening.

The assassins continue to block the hallway as Bolaire and Azune's attacks are ineffective. Inside, Cavalier and a Timmony knight are attacked and the Photarch's attendant lux is killed. Murray holds her action, and when the Photarch must make another death saving throw, uses her portent die to cause her to fail. However, she learns the Photarch is not really dead, and her apparent assassination was an act. Meanwhile, Hal casts Shatter on the nama, significantly wounding him, but he retains concentration on the spell controlling King Gus' druid and successfully orders the druid to throw Gus' shield out of reach. Hal breaks his Shield glyph to avoid the subsequent counterattacks. In the room with Gus, Filoneus is banging on the doors frantically calling for help. Azune attacks and seriously wounds one of the assassins with sword and the Flaming Sphere before noticing an invisible spellcaster in the room keeping the three doors to the room magically closed. Bolaire casts Crown of Madness on the executioner, telling him to attack the Argosian behind him, but the attack misses.

Some of the assassins move to surround Gus while splashing poison onto their swords, while a Timmony knight seriously wounds an assassin. With a poisoned blade, an assassin attacks Azune and crits, with two strikes knocking him unconscious.

Part II

With Azune unconscious at the far end of the room, the Invisible Murray kicks King Gus' sword and shield toward him, unnoticed, then stays close to him with a Shield glyph at the ready. Meanwhile, Halandil uses Unsettling Words before casting Shatter on the Argosian nama, breaking his concentration on the Dominate Person controlling King Gus' druid. The druid immediately Removes Poison from the surrounded Gus, who stands and attacks the assassins around him. The nama, meanwhile, breaks a Dimension Door spell glyph and disappears. Bolaire feeds a healing potion to Azune, bringing him back to consciousness, then attacks and kills an assassin. Azune stands and attacks another assassin with Booming Blade, but misses. He opts to use Desperate Measures to succeed on the attack, pushing his opponent away from him and killing him. Varen and the Magpies security team arrive at the locked main door and join Filoneus beating on it in vain.

Murray is able to break the Shield spell glyph on King Gus as he is attacked by the three surrounding assassins causing him to suffer only two hits from their six attacks, taking 70 points of damage but leaving him still on his feet. Murray uses a portent to keep the executioner under the Crown of Madness, then casts True Strike on an assassin's throat and drops her Invisibility to attack him, but although on death's door he remains standing. Halandil starts running to join them. The druid heals King Gus slightly and Gus immediately kills one of the assassins. Bolaire cast Mind Sliver on the invisible mage holding the doors shut and does minimal damage but breaks his concentration and the doors fly open. Azune moves forward chugging his healing potion and the mage casts Dispel Magic on the executioner. The Magpie guards rush in and Varen shouts, "Azune, what's the mission?" As he does, one of the assassins looks up sharply. When the executioner runs toward Azune, poisoned sword raised to strike, the assassin interposes themself and takes the full damage, turning to look at Azune, who sees a pair of sunset eyes like his own. She drops to the ground, and the helm clatters off to reveal the face of Mayali Nayar, Azune's sister.

One assassin remains with King Gus. Murray casts Musical Migraine on him, causing damage and incapacitating him before Gus shortly thereafter finishes him off. Hal arrives, sprinting and panting, but can only see chaos in the room. Filoneus Halovar rushes to the body of the Photarch while the druid Removes Poison from Sir Marten who then bites the throat out of another assassin. The spellcaster uses a glyph to vanish, leaving the executioner as the only active enemy in the room but Bolaire casts Phantasmal Force on him. Azune holds Mayali's hand, giving her all of his paladin healing. Her eyes open, and he realizes that she was the one who fired the crossbow bolt at the Photarch. She looks worn and joyless, but forces a face not accustomed to it into a smile, saying, "I remember." She tells him she'll likely never know a moment this happy again before cracking a Dimension Door glyph and disappearing.

Bolaire uses Command to calm the frantic Azune and keep him from attacking the one living assassin (still under Phantasmal Force) so that he can be questioned. The assassin lurches forward and attacks Filoneus, who is holding his mother's body. A Timmonish knight knocks the assassin prone, and Filoneus raises his weapon to attack, but Murray realizes his rage is manufactured and he is trying to kill the only possible witness to the plot. She attempts a Hold Person but fails, and calls out that Filoneus is trying to hide evidence. Bolaire immediately drops the spell making the assassin attack Filoneus while Hal (still disguised) stands over the assassin to prevent Filoneus striking. However, Filoneus's filament tattoos alight and in a blast of wind and light he is able to behead the assassin. Holy radiance fills the room as the guards and guests continue to rush in. Yanessa's body rises from the ground as light cascades into her chest, and all present behold the resurrection of Yanessa Halovar.

Featured characters

Quotations

• Halandil: (to the Argosian nama) Either thou or I or both must die.
• Mayali: I remember. [...] I don't know that I'll ever know a moment this happy again.
  Azune: No, no, no, no, no, no.
  Mayali: My little brother.

Inventory

Adjustment	Count	Item	Source	Destination	Notes
Expended	1	See Invisibility spell glyph	Bolaire	Bolaire
Expended	1	Shield spell glyph	Halandil	Halandil
Expended	1	Shield spell glyph	Murray	King Augustus
Expended	1	Healing potion	Bolaire	Azune
Expended	1	Healing potion	Azune	Azune

Trivia

• Brennan confirmed that the hidden mage that was keeping the doors closed with Telekinesis was invisible thanks to a Potion of Invisibility.^[1]

References

1. ↑ CR Cooldown C4 E025 at 7:18 (subscription required) (Transcript).

Art:

1. ↑ Screenshot of the battlemaps from "Targeted" (4x25). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
2. ↑ Fan art of Murray using True Strike to help Gus, by Foxxology (source). Used with permission.
3. ↑ Fan art of Azune and Mayali, by Erandraws (source). Used with permission.
4. ↑ Fan art of the Photarch's "resurrection", by ImSoDon (source). Used with permission.

v • d • e   Campaign Four Episode Directory Arc 1: Overture "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) • "Broken Wing" (4x02) • "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) • "Stone-Faced" (4x04) • "Branching Paths" (4x05) Arc 2: Soldiers "Branching Paths" (4x05) • "Knives and Thorns" (4x06) • "On the Scent" (4x07) • "Fanged Revenge" (4x08) • "To the Hounds!" (4x09) • "Blood for Blood" (4x10) • "Make Merry" (4x11) Arc 3: Seekers "The Giant's Belt" (4x12) • "Seeking Sanctuary" (4x13) • "A Bridge Too Far" (4x14) • "Flight to Castle Torch" (4x15) • "Visions of Shadow & Stone" (4x16) • "The Place of Wings" (4x17) • "Vindicta & Vale" (4x18) Arc 4: Schemers "Hand & Wheel" (4x19) • "The Vanishing" (4x20) • "King of Cards" (4x21) • "The Point of No Return" (4x22) • "Buried Truths" (4x23) • "Good Tidings" (4x24) • "Targeted" (4x25) Arc 5: Convergence "Council of Heroes" (4x26) • "Complicated Questions" (4x27) • "Chasing Shadows" (4x28)

v • d • e Campaign Four Arc 4 People Parties Schemers • Seekers • Soldiers Player characters Azune Nayar • Bolaire Lathalia • Halandil Fang • Sir Julien Davinos • Kattigan Vale • Murray Mag'Nesson • Occtis Tachonis • Teor Pridesire • Thaisha Lloy • Thimble • Tyranny • Vaelus • Wicander Halovar Allies Demodus Blix • Lachmir Willows • Misha Undragor • Orus Blade • Shadia • Temelow • Varen Kadorn Antagonists Chamber of Lords-Advisory • Crow Keepers • Ethrand Tachonis • Filoneus Halovar • Harondus Einfasen • Kora Klepenvaisreck • Ophelia Seremai • Primus Tachonis • Trimus Tachonis • Yanessa Halovar Other King Augustus • Council of Alcalds • Hounds of the King • Duchess Lisabetta • Shapers (Azgra • Ilumi • Omra • Rauwyn • Sylandri • Tansul • Trozhna) • Termina • Thjazi Fang Places Aramán • Archanade • Argosia • Daridai Consortium • Dol-Makjar • The Hallowed Round • Helvar • Kavrosi Mountains • Penteveral • The Seven Stars Creatures Laumy Items Amulet of Vigilance • Bellows fever (disease) • Candle of Slaughter • Coffin of Olbalad • Liar's Blade • Magical Bug (spell) • Metamagic gems • Musical Migraine (spell) • Stone of Nightsong Factions Arcane Marshals • Candescent Creed • Council of Alcalds • House Davinos • House Halovar • House Royce • House Tachonis • Penteveral • Revolutionary Council • Revolutionary Guard • Sundered Houses Events Candle Feast • Dazharhaz • Falconer's Rebellion • Shapers' War • War of Axe and Vine