Welcome to the Jungle

 is the thirty-eighth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. Delving into the jungle island of Urukayxl, the Mighty Nein must utilize new tactics in order to contend with the dangerous denizens of the jungle...

Previously on Critical Role
Last we left off, the Mighty Nein, following their thread of information, in pursuit of the source of the strange sphere that Fjord had come into the possession of-- that seemed to tie in some way, shape or form to the magical powers he had been slowly learning to control and manifest-- led you to southward to the Menagerie Coast where you commandeered a ship named The Mist, which you then renamed The Mistake, hired a crew and made your way south-southeast towards the island of Urukayxl to follow the apparent source of this note that seemed to have some information about where it was from and where it may go.

''Upon approaching, you were greeted by a much larger ship, which had shot a warning shot across the bow and demanded you to come meet the captain on their deck. You there met Captain Avantika, who had given you the options of either proving yourselves beneath her and her crew by helping them, putting yourself in danger at her behest, or they would weigh your corpses down with rocks within the nearby bay amongst the reefs. You agreed to give into these demands and an evening's stay within the ship known as the Squalleater.''

''A little bit of thievery went into the cargo hold of the ship while Fjord had been called to the captain's quarters, where the two of you discovered that you had something in common. You both appeared to have been, from her words, the chosen of Uk'otoa, an ancient entity referred to as the leviathan that was a historical creation of Zehir, the Cloaked Serpent, before it was banished along with the rest of the gods in the Calamity and following the Divergence. Now the captain, seeing herself as the chosen and seeing you in a similar state -- this kismet was grappled onto quite strongly by her-- sent you to bed with the excitement of this travel, of which you would embark upon in the next day.''

''Upon waking, you found that Jamedi [Cosko], a hired adventurer and dungeoneer who was set out to scope the island and find this temple, this supposed structure that was built in honor of Uk'otoa long ago and had since been retaken by followers of the Cloaked Serpent. Jamedi returned, finding the rest of the path too dangerous, but had managed to locate the whereabouts of this temple. Now you've gathered your things, you left the Squalleater onto a couple of skiffs, rowed yourself onto the white beach shores of Urukayxl, and as you all step across the long beach towards the lie of trees that makes the jungle, you make your way into this mysterious wooded area. Mighty Nein, welcome to the jungle.''

Part I
The Mighty Nein begin walking through the jungle with Jamedi Cosko and Captain Avantika, heading to the temple of Uk'otoa. Caduceus and Nott scout ahead with Jamedi and find an abandoned ruin. Within it, Nott finds three large rubies and a golden snake icon and triggers a trap; luckily the snakes within the trap are long dead. Nott asks Caduceus not to mention it to the Nein, but upon seeing Jester, Nott caves and tells her about two rubies. Caduceus volunteers that they found the snake icon. Caleb casts Identify on the icon and doesn't find anything.

They continue in the jungle and Caduceus talks to the plants. Fjord asks him what he hears and Caduceus tells him to listen. Fjord doesn't hear anything and Caduceus replies, "Exactly."

The heat and humidity of the jungle catches up to the group. Warm bodies and sweat begin attracting native insects that bite the group occasionally. Starting out as a minor inconvenience, the insects grow obnoxious as the group moves deeper into the jungle. Acknowledging this problem, Jamedi remarks that he did not have to deal with this before when he had scouted the jungle alone. Caduceus, suspicious of this oddity, casts Eyes of the Grave to detect any undead presence within 60 feet of himself, and senses a very faint undead aura emanating from Jamedi Cosko. Caleb tries using Detect Magic which reveals various people's accoutrements but nothing about Jamedi: Caduceus tells him quietly of his own findings.

At that point Jamedi signals the party to stop, and they see four lizard-type folk trooping through the jungle. They are in the process of planning an ambush when they are preempted by a band of snake-type folk, including one whose entire arms seem to be snakes. The ambush succeeds and the snake-people carry the corpses of their prey away, back in the direction whence they came.

The group eventually finds a place where they camp for the night. While they're there, Fjord convinces Jester to invite Avantika and Jamedi into Caleb's Tiny Hut. She does so in a way that indicates she doesn't want them to come, but Avantika calls her bluff and takes her up on her offer. Caduceus wants to explore and asks Caleb to go with him, but he can't leave the hut so Jester goes with him instead. They are immediately attacked by a pair of kamadans, snake-headed cougar-like creatures. Caduceus is dragged off and Jester immediately follows, but is knocked out with some sort of sleeping gas.

The rest of the Nein come to help with Jamedi and Avantika. Avantika is knocked out by the same gas, but the rest of the group is able to withstand it. One of the kamadans, injured during the battle, attempts to flee but is cut down by Yasha. Soon after, Fjord and Nott team up to kill the second kamadan.

Caleb casts Identify on Avantika's sword and it turns out to be a +1 rapier. He wakes her up and they resettle into the camp. Caleb takes first watch with Nott and sends Frumpkin in his elf-owl form to land on Avantika's dagger to cast Identify through the touch of his familiar. Avantika stirs and kills Frumpkin instantly, remarking that she had been truly planning to sleep with one eye open. Caleb resummons Frumpkin and the two end their shift uneventfully.

The next shift goes by without anything of note happening. On the third and final shift, Jester and Jamedi share watch. Jester pesters Jamedi for information about himself, learning that he was the sole survivor of a mining accident and that this was his second voyage with Avantika. Jester tells Jamedi about the Traveler and that the most fascinating thing she's ever seen was a bug carrying a piece of bread five times its size up a staircase. When Jamedi tells her to be quiet, they eventually see two lizard people come and try unsuccessfully to get through the bubble. Jester wakes up Beau and Fjord and once the lizard people leave, the group moves out, hopefully before they can be tracked.

Part II
Beau doesn't feel well as the group continues through the jungle.

As they go through the jungle, they find a small village that bears many snakehead obelisks. The lizard men from before are being flayed for their flesh. Caduceus looks into the dodecahedron and receives a mote of possibility.

Beau asks Caduceus about how he was able to withstand the poison and they notice that Beau isn't looking so good. Caduceus tricks her and casts Lesser Restoration, but it doesn't change anything. Caduceus realizes Beau has caught something from the bugs.

They notice, sitting upon the five-sided temple they're heading to, is a giant snake person holding a scimitar. Jamedi says that they're going to have to find another way into the temple, as that's where they're headed but there are sentinels are watching the city.

Avantika and Jamedi can move through the city being hard to see, and most of the Nein can change their appearance, but Yasha, Beau and Caleb can't change their appearance. They decide to stealth in and make a distraction, and then eventually move in together. Jester disguises Yasha, Beau and Caleb. She does really well on Beau, not so good on Caleb, and horribly on Yasha. Noticing that the snake people are simply dressed, Caleb takes off his books and put them in Fjord's bag.

The Nein talk about Jamedi and Avantika, thinking that Jamedi is leading them into a trap as bait for the snake people. Caleb says that they have no choice, they can either die doing this temple thing or that they can die when Avantika ties rocks to their feet and toss them overboard. He says that they can kill them later and Fjord agrees. It is at this moment when Avantika - invisible - makes her presence known.

Nott interrogates her on if she knew Jamedi was dead. She didn't and she doesn't worry about it as he's done good work for her before. She leaves the group to go do her thing.

The Nein proceed to try to blend in through the town, sneaking closer to the temple. They notice the snake people whipping lizard people to pull a giant piece of stone, and they pass the snake person pulling the flesh off the one lizard person. They continue through the intersection towards the temple and hear that they need to gather more food because the stores are running low.

They are noticed by two snake people and Jester casts Hold Person. The Nein takes the two and drag them to the alley and into a house. Fjord kills the one and the other loosens its hold, so Beau applies a Stunning Strike. Caleb uses Firebolt on it and Nott attacks. The owner of the hut wakes up, Beau stuns him and they kill him but he's able to shout out first.

Caduceus stabs the snake person with two arrows and walks out. Fjord casts Major Image to create the image of a manticore behind where the snake figure is. The Nein run out towards the temple. The snake figure grabs Jester and Caduceus casts Blindness on it but maintains its hold on Jester.

Fjord shoots a blast at the snake creature and Nott casts Tasha's Hideous Laughter. They're noticed by another sentinel but Fjord casts Misty Step and kicks him off the temple and Caleb finishes him off.

They continue running up the temple and make it to the top. They reach the worship section and find a stone tablet for sacrifices. Nott finds a trapdoor and picks the lock, the Nein heads in with Jamedi meeting them.

They all head in and find a small chamber and a spiral staircase. Avantika lets them know she's there and Nott leads the way down, searching for traps.

Nott triggers a trap and they all start sliding down. They're immediately noticed by four snakelike creatures.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin
 * Caleb Widogast

Returning

 * Captain Avantika
 * Jamedi Cosko

Quotations
Jester: Ever? In my life? Jamedi: Sure.Jester: Oh shit, I've seen some crazy shit. This one time I saw a bug carrying a piece of bread that was like five times its size and he was carrying it up stairs. Like up and then he would turn and then it would go up and then he would turn. Jamedi: Will wonders ever cease?
 * Jamedi Cosko: What’s the craziest thing you have seen?

Trivia

 * Sam's flask asks "Who is…Jumanji Costco????"