A Heart Grown Cold

is the one hundred thirteenth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role.

Previously on Critical Role
So, last we left off: The Mighty Nein, upon realizing that an old friend of theirs seemed to be trudging his way northward in a similar direction...

You gathered your materials, you finished up your business as quickly as you could, hastened your plans underneath Lady Vess DeRogna, and made your journey to the northern tip of the Greying Wildlands, to the village of Palebank Village, acquired passage on the Midnight Hammer, an icebreaker ship heading to Eiselcross, and began to work your way across the dangerous Frozen Depths that lay between there and your target location. ''A few days at sea have been a little rough at first go. Some unlucky rolls and some unfortunate challenges found their way your direction, including here on what I believe is the fifth day of your journey, a massive crackling ice storm began to blow its way into your path. As people on the ship began to batten down to prepare for it, Caduceus, you picked up some sort of strange clicking sound that seemed to be sourceless from the outside of the boat. There you watched as these massive crustacean-like creatures began to claw back onto the top of the ship, similar to creatures that you all have seen in the past. After having a brief skirmish with them, seemingly getting the upper hand of this, a familiar humanoid creature with a split jaw and somewhat aquatic appearance clambered up the opposite side of the ship, reached out and shattered the amber necklace that Caleb keeps carefully on his person. In doing so, the contents of it spilling out of its solidified dimensional space, including the Cloven Crystal, the last key to Uk'otoa’s unleashing. In the middle of this chaos, Fjord, you glance over to notice that rising over the edge of the ship is none other than Captain Avantika, paler than you recall, her chest and torso currently encased in jagged ice, her breath giving off this mist, as she looks to you with cold, faintly glowing eyes and a wicked grin, her neck somewhat off kilter, and seems to be inviting this reunion.''

Part I
Beau is still grappled by one of the incapacitated chuuls and unable to break free but stuns it thanks to Caduceus's Bane. Meanwhile, Fjord runs over to where the Cloven Crystal lies and uses Channel Divinity to create a Marine Layer. Avantika follows him and, even with disadvantage from the fog, immediately finds the crystal at his feet and picks it up. A toad-like, summoned demon creature climbs aboard, wounds Caleb heavily, and disappears, followed by an additional chuul joining the fight.

Caleb uses his Stormrider Boots for the first time to fly around the back of the ship within zapping range of two of the enemy, hitting them for nine lightning damage each, then hovers over Fjord's Marine Layer fogbank and casts Fly on himself, but the deep scion mage hits him with a critical Witch Bolt, bringing him close to unconsciousness and ending Fly.

As the fight continues, Beau finishes off the chuul holding her and rushes down to join Fjord and Avantika. Fjord succeeds at Commanding Avantika to drop the cloven crystal at her feet. Caduceus kills a chuul. Low on hit points and surrounded by enemies, Caleb Polymorphs into a T. rex and heads toward the deep scion mage, eventually managing to bite him. Avantika picks up the orb, putting it in a pocket, and her Thunderwave knocks Veth overboard after Fjord's attempted Couterspell fails. However, because of Caduceus's casting of Water Walk on the party at the beginning of the encounter, she is not submerged and is able to immediately climb back aboard. Jester kills the chuul near Yasha, and another creature is taken out by a crewman firing one of the ship's ballistae.

Avantika, wounded and increasingly without living allies, looks around saying, "I got what I came for," and with a salute and a half-bow Dimension Doors away with the Cloven Crystal, leaving the Mighty Nein alone on the deck of the ship to easily finish off the remaining enemy and contemplate their next step.

Break

 * D&D Beyond. Play with advantage.
 * Critter Hug Tuesday, October 27 at 4:00 pm Pacific.
 * Donate now to the Critical Role Foundation, currently supporting native youth and culture programs with First Nations.
 * Merch Alert! The World of Critical Role: The History Behind the Epic Fantasy is now available. For more information, go to criticalrolebooks.com. Mighty Nein Caduceus Clay mini now available in the U.S. and U.K. shops; Bidet Mate t-shirts available in Australia only; Critical Role wallet and Marquet Market tote bag now available in the U.S., U.K., and Australia critrole.com store.
 * Narrative Telephone returns with The Revenge of Matt, now available on YouTube.
 * Marisha gives a straight, no frills, gags, jokes, green screens, or cosplay thank you for critter support through Twitch subscriptions.
 * Critters' art montage.

Part II
"So, where we left off: In the middle of this unexpected, chaotic battle on the top of the Midnight Hammer'' icebreaker ship in the Frigid Depths north of the Greying Wildlands, you were all unexpectedly ambushed by Captain Avantika, back from the grave, now currently even further empowered and focused by her patron, Uk'otoa, long abandoned by Fjord Stone, and seeking the final orb that would unlock, unseal, and release Uk'otoa from his prison. In the middle of this battle, you tore through the various crawling chuul creatures that were coming your way from the ocean below, the crustaceans. You turned into a T. rex and swallowed the mage companion to Avantika. The demonic creature, the swimming strange frog individual that was tethered in some way to Avantika, called through, seems to have vanished with some of the damage that she had taken recently, no longer held in this domain by her concentration. But, she did manage to grab the orb and, with a small bow, vanish from sight facing in a somewhat southwest direction from where the ship is currently heading. What would you like to do?"''

Both clerics try Divine Intervention but neither succeeds. Caduceus casts a quick Mass Cure Wounds on the party before Jester uses her Ring of Spell Splitting to Polymorph Yasha and Fjord into killer whales. Beau seizes a rope and throws it around Yasha as she transforms, grabbing Veth and pulling her in as well. Caleb takes a rope in his mouth before Polymorphing into an orange-and-white killer whale, and Jester and Caduceus grab the rope and jump in after him. With orcas Fjord, Caleb, and Yasha in the lead and trailing the others on ropes behind, they swim out in a three-pronged "Y" formation looking for Avantika.

Caduceus casts Protection from Energy on himself for cold resistance, which Jester has racially. Caleb-orca hears thrashing ahead and calls out to the other orcas to join him, and as they continue the chase, Veth and Beauregard take continuing damage from the cold. As they close in, the thrashing grows faster and begins diving deeper, and they see Avantika swimming ahead of them silhouetted against Jester's missed Guiding Bolt.

When they come within twenty feet of her, Fjord uses his Relentless Hex to teleport, dropping his orca form, and attacks with the Star Razor. She retaliates with the Core Cut Dagger but misses. The rest of the party arrives and begins attacking as well, but Avantika is initially focused on damaging Fjord. However, when Caduceus casts Sacred Flame and misses, Avantika seems to deflect the spell and use its energy to teleport thirty feet towards him and out of melee reach of everyone.

Jester Guiding Bolts Avantika, making her into a bright beacon in the dark underwater. Fjord then catches up to her and takes two swings with the Star Razor, adding a Divine Smite into the second one and getting the How do you want to do this? As he brings the sword back around for the fatal blow, yellow energy shimmers in the water around him, collecting and running up through him. The runes pulse on Star Razor and the blade seems to extend an additional inch-and-a-half. Additional runes appear on the outer edge of the base of the blade as he bisects Avantika, all the yellow energy streaking through, and the blade goes dark. She looks down to see white light glowing from the wound in her chest and as she opens her mouth, the same light glows within there as well before it bursts, sending the two parts of her body in opposite directions.

Fjord immediately finds the Cloven Crystal, torn free from her body by the impact, seizes it, and puts it in the Bag of Holding. He now begins to take cold damage along with Veth and Beau, as he is no longer protected by being an orca. Caduceus casts a Mass Cure Wounds on everyone as a pod of orcas, called by the sounds of orcas Yasha and Caleb, arrives and begins devouring Avantika's body. Fjord retrieves her dagger and rapier, which have begun falling to the seafloor. They all swim back to the ship.

Fjord finds the divining crystal that the deep scion mage used to locate the Cloven Crystal in the remains of his body on the ship's deck and gives it to Caleb. After Caleb creates a Globe of Invulnerability for the party, Yasha attempts to destroy the Crystal with Magician's Judge but fails.

Fjord apologizes to the party for endangering them a second time, fearing that Uk'otoa will come after him again even if they find a safe place for the Cloven Crystal. In response, Caleb gives him the Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location, saying he hasn't been wearing it for weeks and that perhaps it will protect Fjord from Uk'otoa. Fjord accepts it.

When Caduceus goes below for tea, he finds Lady DeRogna peacefully enjoying her own cup before heading back to her chamber, unconcerned with the just-over battle.

The next days' travel are uneventful. Jester attempts to Scry on Mollymauk, but fails. A few days out from Balenpost, they notice they're being followed by something large in the water. As Caduceus calls out to it, asking it if it needs anything, it rises to the surface revealing a dull grey scaled hide over a humped shoulder, six large flippers, and a very long neck. Jester identifies it as a cetus, and Caleb uses Fly to get near it before Polymorphing into another cetus and finding two babies trailing the main creature. The party realizes the cetuses are hungry and give them pastries, fish, and then all their bought food. In gratitude, the cetuses begin leading the way through the ice fields, cutting a day off the journey.

A few days later, they arrive at the ramshackle fort that is the Dwendalian Empire outpost of Balenpost. As they dock, Vess DeRogna stands on deck conjuring an image of the green tri-diamond symbol of the Cerberus Assembly in the air above the ship.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard Lionett
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Caleb Widogast
 * Frumpkin ''(not mentioned)
 * Fjord
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Veth Brenatto
 * Yasha Nydoorin

Returning

 * Avantika
 * Captain Kem Liard
 * Lady Vess DeRogna

Quotations
Marisha: You're having a Keyleth moment. I'm so proud of you. Thanks, Fjord. Jester: Do you think Uk'otoa will come after you? Fjord: It certainly feels that way. Fjord: No. Why? Jester: The Assembly knows where he is. Caleb: Time to put it away. It's been extraneous for a very long time. If they wanted to kill me, they could look for one of you. The moment that I decided to hitch my wagon to the Mighty Nein, this became obsolete. But not so for your scaly friend, perhaps.
 * Travis: (after his Channel Divinity: Marine Layer prevents the rest of the Nein seeing within it) That's my fault. So, you know, we're all in this together.
 * Fjord: (to the party, after killing Avantika) I'm sorry this is the second time this has happened. I need to close the chapter on a few things before it endangers us a third time. I'm not sure how or when, but... I'll try.
 * Fjord: In the beginning, when [Avantika] came over the deck, she wasn't even focused on the Cloven Crystal. She was trying to pull me. I would love to think that was just the personal side of her trying to get vengeance or payback. I just can't put myself in a bag of holding.
 * Caleb: (giving Fjord the Amulet) I haven't been wearing it for weeks.

Trivia

 * Matt revealed that the encounter with Avantika had been randomly determined by Travis's dice roll of a natural one on a d10 in the previous episode.