"To the Hounds!" Critical Role Campaign 4 - Episode 9 Reaction (Part 1)

🎲 Critical Role Campaign 4 Episode 9: To the Hounds! | Fey Roads, Royal Conspiracies & The Hunt for Cyd

“To the Hounds!” is one of those episodes that slowly tightens the vice — layered with politics, prophecy, fey danger, and mounting dread as the Soldiers Table continue their search for Teor’s brother, Cyd.

We open on a chilling cold open:
Azune watches Lord Harondus Einfasen dismantle the Revolutionary Guard under the guise of generosity, while elsewhere a play depicting a failed rebellion echoes unsettling parallels to the present. Knives are drawn — on stage, and off.

Back with the Soldiers, tensions rise in the aftermath of Castle Sloak. Questions swirl around House Tachonis, the sudden interest in Thjazi Fang, and why the Sundered Houses seem to be aligning all at once. Wiccander opens up about a missing actress, Armas Drugada, while Tyranny gently challenges him to reckon with the Creed and his family’s role in what’s unfolding.

As secrets spill, Dame Morgaine and Sir Hawkins reveal more than expected — about ancient cairns, stolen relics, royal conspiracies, and a growing movement against King Augustus, fueled by the Candescent Creed. And then… the road changes.

At a crossroads outside Sloak, a fifth road appears.

Under Pass Without Trace, the party follows the Hounds of the King down the Miller’s Road — a hidden fey shortcut that leads them deeper into danger, truth, and myth. Along the way we encounter:
🐇 The Black Rabbits (tiny fae cavalry on black rabbits!)
🌹 Clauny of the Thorns… and Clauny the Rose
🧚 Fey bargains, rumors of House Royce’s fall, and gifts with consequences
🐕 The truth of what the Hounds really are — knights reborn to serve their king

Eventually, we arrive in Tybry’s Lea, mid–Candle Feast, where holy hospitals, missing carriages, suspicious dogs, and the scent of a large carnivore all point to one truth:

👉 Cyd is close. Very close.

This episode is lore-heavy, eerie, emotional, and absolutely fascinating. Here’s my full reaction — and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

💬 Do you trust the Hounds of the King? And what do you think House Tachonis actually took from that cairn?