CRITICAL ROLE CAMPAIGN 4, Episode 4 Recap: Masks, Murders, and Mayhem, Oh My!

Critical Role Campaign 4 is a massive and winding beast. It can be hard to keep track of what’s happening to whom and how. And so to try to make it easier for you to distill all the parts of one campaign episode (that’s 4-5 hours worth of information), we’re boiling it down to all the important plot points you need to know to keep up with what’s going on. Here’s our recap of Critical Role Campaign 4, episode 4, “Stone-Faced.”

Critical Role Campaign 4, Episode 4 Cold Open: Bolaire’s Mask at Work

Critical Role Campaign 4, episode 4 begins with Bolaire up to no good. Essentially, we learn that beneath Bolaire’s mask, there’s nothing but a husk of a body. And once the mask is removed, it enchants whoever is holding it to put it on. Once the mask is on your body, it essentially kills you, and the body becomes the mask, but more on that later. We also see here that Bolaire is basically ruthless; he doesn’t mind cutting a dead body up into chunks and leaving it behind without a backward glance.

Critical Role Campaign 4, Episode 4’s Major Scene Is the Battle at Palazzo Davinos, Where House Tachonis Tries to Destroy House Royce and House Davinos

The majority of Critical Role Campaign 4, episode 4, revolves around a major battle at Palazzo Davinos. In this battle, House Tachonis, a House associated with the powers of the Underworld, attacks House Davinos and House Royce with the intent to destroy them. They bring along an army of undead shades and ghouls. Occtis Tachonis’ father, Primus Tachonis, kills Julien Davinos’ father, pulling out his brain through his body, sending Matt Mercer’s character into a rage. Additionally, Vaelus, the Lady Aranessa, and Thiasha Lloy battle the shades and ghouls around them as the battle at Palazzo Davinos rages around them.

Critical Role Campaign 4, Episode 4 ‘Stone-Faced’ Sees Our Major First Character Death

Poor Occtis Tachonis, he barely survives a few rolls of the dice before he’s overwhelmed by his family and their forces. Occtis is knocked back onto a table and held in place by a ghoul with a garrotte. And then his brother Ethrand comes and guts him with a knife. Ethrand pulls out his knife and guts Occtis, then reaches out and pulls out his heart, replacing it with the Stone of Night Song. Occtis indeed meets his death on the table in the room. After his death, his brother and father flee, leaving their army behind to finish the job. And that bolsters the rest of the party with him to finally defeat the remaining forces before making their escape with Occtis’ body. Sadly, most of the vassals, merchants, and friends of House Davinos and Royce were totally obliterated, leaving only Julien and Aranessa behind.

Occtis’ death shatters Thaisha Lloy, who sees him as a son. But she is able to communicate with him in a kind of afterlife, where she pleads with him not to go to death, knowing that it’s not yet his time. Occtis pulls away from his family, urging him to go to a dark place, and turns toward life. But he pulls out the Stone of Night Song from his body and momentarily almost loses his entire soul. Occtis’ death seems to take, but Critical Role Campaign 4, episode 4 isn’t over yet.

Elsewhere, We Learn the Truth About Bolaire in ‘Stone-Faced’

We leave the shaken party and return to Azune, Halandil, and Murray at Halandil’s house for the next part of Critical Role Campaign 4, episode 4. Halandil gives Murray a letter from his dead brother Thajazi Fang that essentially contains notes on Bolaire that warn he is not to be fully trusted. Still, Murray likes him and thinks they should go to him to try to understand more about what’s going on and what happened to Thajazi Fang before, during, and after his death.

At the Archanade, the museum where Bolaire works, they confront Bolaire about his dealings with Thajazi Fang. Bolaire paints a surprising picture of their relationship, revealing that Thajazi Fang was cruel to him and blackmailed him into lying to Halandil and doing all kinds of unsavory things. He claims Thajazi Fang destroyed his profession and life.

When pushed, Bolaire finally comes clean about who, or rather, what he is in Critical Role Campaign 4, Episode 4. Bolaire reveals that he is not a person at all, but a “thing,” a mask. He was created to help destroy the god of the Halflings, the trickster god, Rauwyn, during the time of the Shapers’ War. He claims that he is worn, used, and then sleeps. When he is not on a person, he is asleep. But at some point after the war, he realized his purpose was done, and he was just running through the motions, so he ran away and started a new life.

Everything changed for Bolaire when he met Halandil, his first and only friend. And he appears earnestly loyal to Hal, saying that Hal matters to him more than anyone and that his words and art opened up Bolaire’s world.

This conversation gets tabled, though, as the group realizes all is not well at Palazzo Davinos. They notice all its lights are out in a striking way from the window. Knowing their friends are there, they rush over to see what they can see.

Bolaire and Murray Bring Occtis Tachonis Back to Life in Critical Role Campaign 4, Episode 4

At Palazzo Davinos, Bolaire, Hal, Azune, and Murray find the remains of a black candle that House Tachnois lit in the fight and seem to use to wield magic. We learnt that House Tachonis intended to
shred violently the fabric between Aramán and realm of death beyond it. The group uses magic to reconsitute the candle and that seems to undue some of the harm done.

After that, we head to the Lloy home and everyone reunites there. Using yet more magic, Marisha Ray’s Murray, who uses her portent, and Taliesin Jaffe’s Bolaire, who aids her by rolling a Nat 20, resurrect Occtis Tachonis. But that said, Occtis is not actually alive, he’s just retuned to the land of the living, but still dead. What this means exactly, we’ll surely learn in future episodes.

The Party Reclaims the Stone of Nightsong in ‘Stone-Faced’

Murray and Bolaire are able to remove the Stone of Nightsong from inside Occtis, and it appears to help bring him back to life. The Stone is, after all, designed to guide souls through the Underworld, so it makes sense it can guide them back. The Stone of Nightson also appears to heal Occtis’ physical form to some degree, stitching him back together. It even brings back Pin the fox. Importantly, our party also now possesses the Stone of Nightsong once again. Vaelus, who had sought it out so intently, does not immediately snatch it and leave, though. Instead, seeing it resurrect Occtis seems to deeply move something within her, and it feels like she wants to stay with the group.

And that’s all she wrote for Critical Role Campaign 4, episode 4.

We Still Do Not Know Who the Seekers and Schemers Are After Episode 4 of Critical Role Campaign 4

Although the first four “group episodes” have passed, we still don’t know which players are part of the Seekers’ table and which players are part of the Schemers’ table.

The Soldiers’ Table Does Not Feature in Critical Role Campaign 4, Episode 4, ‘Stone-Faced’

In Critical Role Campaign 4, episode three, we learned which five players made up the Soldiers’ Table. These players/characters are Teor Pridesire played by Travis Willingham, Thimble played by Laura Bailey, Kattigan Vale played by Robbie Daymond, Tyranny played by Whitney Moore, and Wicander (Wick) Halovar played by Sam Riegel.

The Soldiers headed north at the end of episode three and did not appear in episode four of Critical Role Campaign 4.

More Critical Role Campaign 4 Recaps Await Us

There’s plenty more Critical Role Campaign 4 to come and we’ll be waiting to give you the recaps you need when the episodes release.

Critical Role Campaign 4 premieres Thursdays at 7 pm PT on Beacon.tv and is streamed to Critical Role’s YouTube and Twitch channels at that time, with the VOD available for everyone the following Monday at 12 pm PT and podcast episodes available in two parts: the first one week after the premiere, and the second on the following Tuesday.