Yug'Voril Uncovered

is the ninth episode of the first chapter of Critical Role. Vox Machina battles the duergar queen, Ulara, before she can make a thrall of Grog. Keyleth and Lady Kima settle their differences, Vax'ildan encourages the druid that she is not alone, and the party makes their way to the illithid colony of Yug'Voril.

Pre-Show

 * The character backstory videos for Grog Strongjaw, Keyleth, Percival de Rolo, Scanlan Shorthalt, Tiberius Stormwind, Vax'ildan, and Vex'ahlia are shown.

Announcements

 * Ashley can't make it tonight, so her character, Pike, will be controlled by Matt.
 * The goal for tonight's giveaway is 2700 subscribers; the reward is an exclusive tabletop promo kit.
 * Marisha talks about the charity 826LA, which viewers can support with donations or by becoming a tutor.
 * Matt shows off the grey version of the first Critical Role T-shirt. If 1000 tees are sold, there will be another full-cast Q&A.
 * Marisha and Taliesin did voices for the Marvel: Age of Ultron pinball game, Taliesin as Ultron, and Marisha as Black Widow.
 * All of the cast voice roles for Avengers Assemble on Disney XD.
 * Laura appeared on an episode of TableTop recently.
 * Orion's comedy troupe, i8athumbtack on YouTube, just released a parody video called "Helping the Homeless!"
 * Liam plays a Decepticon named Underbite in the show Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
 * Matt is playing the voice of Tim Drake / Robin in Arkham Knight.

Previously on Critical Role
"The party was given a quest from the capital city of Emon to find the missing folk hero Lady Kima of Vord, a halfling paladin, who has gone missing on a pilgrimage, vision quest, over the past year. She had been missing for a number of weeks, nearly months at this point, and [ Vox Machina ] was sent to the dwarven city of Kraghammer to find and bring her back safely.

"''After going into the city, [they] discovered that [Lady Kima] had delved into the mines, seeking some sort of extremely dark evil that was seated somewhere deep beneath Kraghammer. In searching for her, [they] managed to find [their] way, through the mines, into the entrance passage into the Underdark, which is a very scary place. [They've] encountered a number of subterranean beasts and creatures, some of which are unnaturally mutated or altered by some sort of magic [they] cannot place. Upon going through these caverns, [they faced] a few battles with duergar, the ashen-skinned evil subterranean dwarves, and encountered [their] first mind flayers, illithids, which seemed to have allied, strangely, with the duergar. Normally enemies by nature, they're working together under what [Vox Machina] discovered since is a common enemy referred to as K'Varn. Nothing really is known of K'Varn other than it has a great power and has united these two forces for some nefarious purpose. These abominations, these strange mutations [they've] encountered, these experiments, also seem to have been created by K'Varn, though no one knows quite why or how.''

"As [they] traversed down, [they] managed to befriend an arcanist mind flayer that was cast out from the colony, named Clarota, who has aided [them] under the intent that [they] would help him free his people of the slavery of K'Varn and release the mind flayers to their normal state of mind. [They] made [their] way to the duergar fortress, Emberhold, found and released Lady Kima, who underwent many, many weeks of torturous experiences to come through still firm of mind and ready to kick some ass. Through a very painful battle in the Emberhold [they] managed to pull the party out, only a few of them turned to stone, and with a foot burned off, and Grog being dominated and Grog-napped by the surviving duergar queen, Ulara.

"The party then, in trying to locate Grog's position, found their way, delving past the lava-fall of the obsidian rock duergar-Underdark, deeper in, discovering this cursed pit of undeath, bone shards, and glass. Upon traversing it they encountered one of these abominations that [they've] seen traces of left before—this weird, partial-elven, partial-tentacle monstrosity that slashed through the party, nearly killed Trinket, but was defeated by [Vox Machina].

"[They] managed to make [their] way across this bone field and discover what appears to be a camp across a number of pillars in the distance. Vax stealthed up and saw that there was a camp of duergar, and apparently the surviving Queen Ulara giving them orders, next to Grog, who is currently bolted by iron bands to some sort of a cart that they've been dragging him through this tunnel passage with."

Part I
Tiberius moves ahead to join Vax'ildan near the duergar encampment, but attracts the attention of a lookout. Vax drags Tiberius behind a rock and assassinates the approaching lookout. Meanwhile, Keyleth transforms into an earth elemental as she rushes up with Scanlan and the rest of the party.

Confrontation with the Duergar Queen
Scanlan calls for Queen Ulara to come forward and parlay. She emerges from one of the tents, agreeing to hear him out. He offers to probably spare her life, and the lives of her thralls, in return for Grog's safe return. She refuses, and with that the party are attacked by a mindflayer that was hidden under invisibility.

Though several of the party are stunned by the mindflayer's blast, the rest leap to attack. A Fireball from Tiberius kills one of Ulara's thralls and badly damages others. Percy and Vax focus their fire on the mindflayer while Scanlan successfully casts Banishment on Queen Ulara. A second Fireball finishes off the enemy mindflayer as it attempts to flee.

While the party gather and wait for Queen Ulara to reappear from Scanlan's Banishment, Vax helps Keyleth get Grog out of his shackles. Ulara appears just then and is immediately grappled by Keyleth in her elemental form. As they interrogate her, her eyes change, and the voice of K'varn addresses them through her mouth. K'varn invites them to come find him in his temple, then retreats from Ulara's mind and leaves her dead.

Concerning Kima
With all their opponents now dead, Vox Machina search through the bodies and find a few useful items. Lady Kima identifies one of the thralls, a dwarf, as a former companion of hers.

Keyleth asks Scanlan to distract Kima for a moment. She suggests that their purpose in the Underdark has now been fulfilled and, as such, they should return to the surface. It becomes apparent that Keyleth does not trust Kima, questioning the actions that resulted in the death of her party and her motives for seeking the Horn of Orcus.

The others point out that the Horn is already causing problems and must be stopped, and that Kima has been through hell at the hands of the duergar. Eventually, Keyleth apologizes to Kima and something of a truce is reached between them. They all take a rest.

Part II
Clarota, impatient to reach his once-home of Yug'Voril, is already waiting when the group wake up from their rest. He speaks of how, despite his arcane talents which are anathema his people, he will surely be welcomed back for freeing their city from K'varn. As they leave the remains of the duergar camp, he leads the way toward Yug'Voril. Pike takes a moment to work on healing Vax's foot, which is not quite yet fully restored.

A Hidden Room
As they continue further down the road, they notice bluish crystals growing on the walls, which Pike recognizes from her own vision. Even further down, the twins notice a crack in the wall stopped up with a boulder. Grog moves the rock, and they find a side passageway beyond.

Six long-dead bodies lie within, their skulls each bored through with a single giant hole. They search the bodies and find a few trinkets, including a pendant engraved with the words, "For Lorna, my love."

Vax tries to remove some chainmail from the one body that has not been thoroughly looted and triggers a curse. Kima dispels the curse and claims the armor, returning the leather armor and greatsword that had been loaned to her. Though the armor was originally Vax's, Vex claims it before he can take it back.



Approaching to the Mindflayer City
They return to the main passageway and carry on, emerging shortly afterward into a huge cavern housing an underground lake. In the center of the lake is an island, reached only by a stone bridge from the shore.



Close by, they find a submerged boat, which Keyleth and Grog dive in to investigate. Tiberius uses Telekinesis to raise it. Though the boat is damaged, Percy sets to work repairing it.

Following a map of the island provided by Clarota, the group set off by boat and flying carpet across the lake. They approach the island and pass into a small inlet, which brings them through a tunnel to a room that once housed a camp. Scattered around the remains of the camp are four dead bodies. As Vax enters the room to inspect it, the bodies awaken and get to their feet.

Post-Show

 * Zac Eubank steps to help read off donation messages for 826LA.

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Tiberius Stormwind
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot (DM-controlled)
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * K'Varn (voice only)

Returning

 * Clarota
 * Lady Kima of Vord
 * Queen Ulara

Mentioned

 * Bahamut
 * King Murghol
 * Lord Thunderbrand
 * Tremaine