Tangled Depths

is the fourth episode of the seventh chapter of Critical Role. Vox Machina journeys into the Elemental Plane of Water for the final trial of Keyleth's Aramente.

Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina, our band of adventurers, after defeating the Chroma Conclave, destroying Thordak and then Raishan, the mastermind behind their ascension. [They] then recovered a few objects [possibly] revealing her plan at least, though keeping it tempered. [They've] begun closing loose ends that [they] hadn't had the time to get to up to this point, including finishing Keyleth's Aramente.

"[They] managed to charter a ship and crew at Emon to head towards the west in the Ozmit Sea, where [they] were boarded temporarily by what appeared to be a band of pirates. Defeating them and sinking the ship, [they] continued forward, taking a prisoner.

"[They] then eventually found [themselves] with the ship reaching the outside of the Anamn Islands where the ship set anchor on the outside of the reefs that encircle the center of these three islands, where in the center of them lies the partially-submerged city of Vesrah: the last stop on Keyleth's Aramente and the Water Ashari that live there.

"[The party], upon arriving just past sunset, watched the city come to life and the Vesrah came out, and upon discovering that [they] were allies, or at least friendly, they took [the party] in and gave [them] the idea of what [Keyleth] had to do to finish this Aramente.

"[Her] task, to come the following day, was to be led down into the Area of Torrent where the elemental rift to the Water Elemental Plane resides under protection, and [they] are to retrieve three lodestones: magical stones that are occasionally farmed from the Water Elemental Plane as they fade for power. These stones are utilized, apparently, in both keeping the rift contained and keeping the city of Vesrah aloft and up towards the air.

"However, in the process of them researching where these lodestones came from, it was discovering in recent years that they were byproducts of one of the krakens that lives in the Water Elemental Plane. This one, however, was drawn back to the rift from one of the earlier expeditions of the Waveriders that were attempting to find them, and now has taken up its lair on the outskirts of this rift.

"So [their] task, as Vox Machina, is to enter the rift into the Water Elemental Plane, find and bring back three of these lodestones, and do so without slaying the kraken, as it is an important part of the ecology and continued existence of the city of Vesrah."

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot (absent; not mentioned)
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * Durant

Appeared

 * Taryon Darrington
 * Doty
 * Uvenda

Mentioned

 * Korren
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Sovereign Uriel Tal'Dorei III
 * Vilya

Trivia

 * This episode marks the first time that Vax'ildan has died.
 * This is the ninth on-stream death of a player character, and the eleventh overall.