Thjazi Fang’s execution was the clear catalyst for the story of Critical Role Campaign 4. It was because of Thjazi Fang’s death that our 13 new Critical Role characters all came together to begin this new adventure. But the death of Thjazi was just the spark that started the flame. What will keep the story going? In the first episode of Critical Role Campaign 4, we are introduced to a mysterious new artifact that will play an important role in the plot as it evolves. What is Critical Role Campaign 4‘s Stone of Nightsong, and how has it impacted all of our characters so far? Let’s dive into everything we know about this Elven relic.
What Is Critical Role Campaign 4‘s Stone of Nightsong and What Does It Do?
In Critical Role Campaign 4 episode one, we get a thorough explanation of what the Stone of Nightsong is from Ashley Johnson’s character Vaelus. Vaelus, an elf from the Mournveil, claims the Stone of Nightsong was stolen from her by Thjazi Fang. She arrives at his funeral to reclaim it. But, of course, none of the other characters know what she is talking about. However, through a successful Religion Check rolled by Taliesin Jaffe’s Bolaire, we learn more about the Stone of Nightsong.
Critical Role Campaign 4‘s Stone of Nightsong Was Created to Ease the Passing of the Elves
Brennan Lee Mulligan reveals that the Stone of Nightsong was an artifact created by a celestial, a servant of a god. In this case, the celestial was a servant of Sylandri, the shaper or creator of the elves. It is also mentioned that Sylandri is the goddess of life in the woodland.
Sylandri granted immortality only to her children, the elves. Elves won’t ever die of age or infirmity; they will live forever unless an accident or injury befalls them. But the goddess Sylandri wanted to make a contingency plan even for those elves who died of unnatural causes—and so she created the Stone of Nightsong.
Critical Role Campaign 4‘s Stone of Nightsong essentially eases the passing of the elves who meet death. The Stone allows the spirits of elves to be brought to peace beyond in the garden of the spirit kept for her without hardship. Mulligan explains that when travelling to the beyond after death, there is an unpleasant realm spirits must pass through called the Tenebral Reaches—where there is a brief night before bright dawn. That brief night, of course, is not brief, but, of course, the Underworld, the realm of the dead.
Not Even in Death Are the Elves Made to Feel Pain
The Stone of Nightsong makes it so that elves and their immortal spirits will not even have to touch the ghastly realms of darkness, but will be ferried by a spirit of song and night swiftly through the darkness and back into the light of their pleasant afterlives. Sylandri, the goddess of life, so loved her elven children that even in catastrophe, the destruction of their bodies, their immortal souls would not ever have to know darkness or pain.
The Stone of Nightsong Can Bring People Back From the Dead, But Not Alive
In Critical Role Campaign 4, episode four, we learn that the Stone of Nightsong is actually capable of bringing people back from the dead. After Alex Ward’s character, Occtis Tachonis, is murdered by his brother, and his heart is replaced by the Stone of Nightsong, something extraordinary happens. The Stone, helped by magic from Taliesin Jaffe’s Bolaire and Marisha Ray’s Murray Mag’Nesson, allows Occtis to come back to life again, reversing the magic of bringing a soul from life to bring it back from death. Despite this, Occtis is not alive, his body is dead, he is simply “kicking.”
After the Stone of Nightsong brings Occtis back to life, a drop of his blood that falls from it also stitches his physical body back up, mending him, if not healing him.
What Does the Stone of Nightsong Look Like?
Ashley Johnson’s character, Vaelus, flippantly describes the Stone of Nightsong as a small, simple stone. However, we learn from the religion check that it was created after the original guardian spirit, an immortal celestial that had the wings of a Nightingale and appeared almost as though a “Night Angel.” The Stone of Nightsong was created after that Celestial’s destruction in the Shapers’ War.
Elsewhere, the pixie, Thimble (played by Laura Bailey), Thjazi Fang’s closest companion and friend, remembers that the Stone of Nightsong was black and had some kind of wings on it and that it was “super f*cking magical.” Thimble goes to draw the Stone of Nightsong for her companions, and Brennan Lee Mulligan reveals that it is a carved spherical stone that has a perpendicular embrace of wings on it. Ultimately, from all these sources we learn that the Stone of Nightsong is a carved, black stone that looks like a nightingale embracing itself with its wings to create a sphere.
Why Is the Stone of Nightsong so Important in Critical Role Campaign 4?
Thjazi Fang Stole the Stone of Nightsong From the Elves, Perhaps Leading to His Death
We don’t exactly know why the Stone of Nightsong is so important, but we do know that it appears to be somehow linked with Thjazi Fang’s death. After all, Thjazi Fang and Thimble collected the stone only a couple of months before he was arrested, and it was the last big adventure they went on. (Ostensibly to the Mournveil where Vaelus hails from.) And now, our attention is purposefully drawn to the fact that in addition to disrupting the rescue mission for Thjazi Fang, someone who clearly knew of the stone’s existence also stole it back from Thjazi. Could Thjazi Fang’s arrest in Critical Role Campaign 4 have been an elaborate scheme concocted by someone who wanted the Stone of Nightsong for themselves?
Again, we don’t know. We just know that at the moment when Thimble was meant to deliver a glyph to Thjazi Fang that would save his life from execution, she was attacked by sorcerers and the Stone of Nightsong was stolen from her and Thjazi Fang’s hideaway. It feels pretty interlinked to us.
The Stone of Nightsong Was Stolen and then Reclaimed
Ultimately, we learn that a man called Casimir, an old friend and war comrade of Thjazi Fang who betrayed him, broke into a glass case specifically to steal the Stone of Nightsong. And, it was critical enough that Thjazi Fang himself first stole it from the elves. That says to us, this is one stone that matters.
Ultimately, the Stone of Nightsong landed in the hands of House Tachonis. House Tachonis then attacked House Royce and House Davinos in an effort to destroy the other Sundered Houses. During that attack, Occtis Tachonis’ brother Ethrand, sought him out, killed him, pulled out his heart, and forced The Stone of Nightsong into his body in the space where his heart should be.
Ultimately, House Tachonis sought to do some ritual which would have resulted in the Stone of Nightsong’s destruction. But the presence of Thaisha Lloy and the rest of the Seekers prevented this ritual from coming to pass. Occtis stepped off the path laid out for him and came back to the world of the living. Then, thanks to some magic performed by Bolaire and Murray, combined with the power of the Stone of Nightsong, Occtis was able to come back to life in some sense of the word.
The Stone of Nightsong is Now Connected Inextricably with Occtis Tachonis
The Stone of Nightsong is not necessarily Occtis’ talisman, meaning his life force is not in it. However, we learn in Critical Role Campaign 4 that Occtis and the Stone of Nightsong are magically and permanently interwoven together. It is felt that Occtis shouldn’t touch the stone, but also that if it were destroyed, it would spell bad news for him.
Ashley Johnson’s Character Vaelus’ Connection to the Stone of Nightsong Back in Critical Role Campaign 4
In addition to Thjazi Fang and his foes, another character is set on finding the Stone of Nightsong, and that’s Ashley Johnson’s character, Vaelus. Of course, as an elf, it makes sense that Vaelus would want the Stone of Nightsong back to guide her people to gentle rest.
Ultimately, though, as mentioned, the Stone of Nightsong helps to bring Occtis Tachonis back from the dead. With the help of magic from Murray and Bolaire, the Stone is removed from Occtis and heals him. This indeed puts the Stone of Nightsong back in the hands of Vaelus. But in a stunning change of heart, she elects not to take it back north to the Mournvale, though she traveled halfway across the world to retrieve it. There she thinks, only mourning and sorrow await her. Instead, she is moved by the remarkable resurrection of Occtis and his new connection to the stone to stay with the group. Vaelus joins the Seekers’ table alongside Occtis.
Taliesin Jaffe’s Character Bolaire Knows Something About the Stone
It seems that Taliesin Jaffe’s Character Bolaire Lathalia also knows something about the Stone of Nightsong. That makes sense because Bolaire is a warlock who looks is very familiar with all kinds of magical objects. At the outset of the journey, Bolaire offers to discuss the matter of the Nightstone with Vaelus at a time other than a funeral. Though the Stone of Nightsong is now back with Vaelus, we are still curious to know how their conversation will go, should they ever have it. For now, Bolaire and Vaelus have parted ways, joining different tables in Critical Role Campaign 4.
The Sound of the Nightingale Is a Symbol of Death
Although not necessarily directly related to The Stone of Nightsong, the sound of the Nightingale has clearly come to represent death. As Occtis reaches a death point, he can suddenly hear the sound of Nightingales. And when Thaisha Lloy touches the mysterious artifact, Thjazi Fang requested before his death, a kind of halfling coffin, potentially of a celestial, she seems to die a little bit. And when she returns to life, she can hear the distant song of the Nightingale more clearly. It will be fascinating to see where this refrain goes.
We Feel Sure the Stone of Nightsong Will Be a Major Part of Critical Role Campaign 4‘s Story
Right now, though we know more about the lore of the Stone of Nightsong and we’ve seen some of its abilities in action, we still don’t know its full powers or purpose… And we remain in the dark about how it can be leveraged by different parties for good or ill. Why did House Tachonis seek to implant it in Occtis? What will happen to it now? There are many questions still.
But one thing we do know is that the Stone of Nightsong will be critical to Critical Role Campaign 4.
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 and podcast episodes available in two parts: the first one week after the premiere, and the second on the following Tuesday.
Originally published on October 7, 2025.