Glass and Bone

is the eighth episode of the first season of Critical Role. Vox Machina, broken and battered, struggles to survive after a catastrophic battle with the duergar king and queen. Relying on Vex'ahlia's knowledge of the Underdark and her skill at tracking prey, the weary adventurers press on into the depths only to come across a perilous sea of bone and glass...

Pre-Show

 * Travis is absent tonight because he decided to go see The Avengers.
 * The character backstory videos for Grog Strongjaw, Keyleth, Percival de Rolo, Scanlan Shorthalt, Tiberius Stormwind, Vax'ildan, and Vex'ahlia are shown.

Announcements

 * The cast miss Travis but are also very excited to see The Avengers.

Previously on Critical Role
"The party was hired to find an individual named Lady Kima, a halfling paladin of the platinum dragon Bahamut. [ Vox Machina ] went seeking her in the caverns beneath the dwarven city of Kraghammer.

"After much fighting and surviving, they managed to find their way to a duergar fortress called Emberhold where they found Lady Kima captive beneath. They released her and, with her help, assaulted the throne room at the top and managed to slay King Murghol of the duergar. However, in the process, Grog, the intrepid barbarian, was kidnapped by the queen mage before she could be slain, who then also disintegrated a portion of the roof, letting an entire cavalcade of molten rock into the fortress.

"The party then had to make a heated escape. However, a number of their party members—due to the gazes of the two basilisks who were kept in the throne room as pets—Lady Kima and Tiberius Stormwind, the dragonborn sorcerer, are currently stone. Dragging them out of the fortress as the magma began to fill the interior, a very deft escape was made, aside from Vax unfortunately getting his foot temporarily submerged in the lava, taking some serious damage to his foot.

"The party managed to make their way outside of Emberhold proper, and [they've] all taken a moment to breathe, at this point realizing that, thankfully, for the most part [they've] all survived, aside from the missing party member and a few in a state of flux at the moment."

Summary
From a distance, the party watch the Emberhold slowly being consumed in lava while more duergar rush up from below to stop it. They continue down the path away from the city as stealthily as they can, dragging the petrified Kima and Tiberius along with them.

A ways down the path, with no duergar having spotted them, they find a place to set up camp and rest for a while. Pike casts Greater Restoration on their two companions, un-petrifying them. Vex'ahlia, who had cast Hunter's Mark on the duergar queen during the fight, confirms that the queen and Grog are still somewhere in the city. However, because the spellcasters are all spent, the party decide to sleep before trying to rescue Grog. Before they sleep, Pike and Scanlan together spend some time trying to heal Vax'ildan's damaged foot.

Kima tells them about her capture and the torture she endured, as well as the vision that guided her to the Underdark: a vision of Orcus and his two black horns, one of which has been found and taken up by a new champion, K'varn. She and Keyleth butt heads over Keyleth's dislike for her dogma.

Tracking Queen Ulara
As they wake up after their rest, Vex detects, with the last, fading trace of her Hunter's Mark, that the duergar queen is on the move out of the city. They break camp and start after her.

Some distance down the path, they come across the mangled remains of four duergar, who appear to have been torn apart by a centipede-like monster. Trinket picks up Grog's scent, and they find the tracks of more duergar dragging some manner of stretcher or cart. They descend further into the Underdark, following the tracks.

Eventually, the obsidian path gives way to sand, then to a giant pit filled with shards of volcanic glass and shattered bone. Pike realizes she has seen this place in a vision, as well as a cavern of blue crystal beyond it. They decide to cross it. As they debate how best to do so, Pike notices that her holy symbol of Sarenrae has a small crack in it that wasn't there before.

Between Stone Shape to craft a stone disk, Telekinesis to make it float, and Polymorph to make Trinket a tiny kitten who can fit on the platform, the party rigs a way to fly across the glass pit. They hear a yell from further ahead as they go, and Keyleth shifts into a giant eagle shape to fly ahead with the gnomes. They come across a scene of battle between several duergar and a stitched-together abomination of some sort, a fight which the duergar are soundly losing.

Fight in the Glass Pit
Tiberius cracks their stone platform over the head of the monster as they join in the fight. As skeletal hands emerge from the pit to drag down anyone who touches the floor, Keyleth raises a stone wall for the party to stand on. A burst of corrosive gas from the creature damages several of them, reverting Trinket from kitten back to bear form. A hit from the creature's tentacle then knocks Trinket unconscious.

Percy lands a killing shot on the monster as Trinket is being pulled under by skeletal hands. Between Keyleth, Tiberius, and Pike's efforts, Trinket is freed, and Vex quickly heals him.

Scanlan inspects the body of the creature, finding it to be another strange, stitched-together abomination filled with layers of teeth and strange mutations. He discovers a pair of magical bracers on its arms, which are given to Vex.

They carry on across the pit of glass and bone. Pike now leads the way with her Mace of Disruption, which seems to keep the skeletal hands at bay. On the far side, Vax, scouting ahead, finds a duergar campfire. This is where Queen Ulara has made camp with her lackeys and where Grog is being held.

Post-Show
Zac Eubank steps in to help with post-show announcements:
 * Viewers can still donate to 826LA.
 * Thanks to ManaGeek Moosiuk, Timothy Hudson, and Amir for providing food for the show tonight.
 * Matt notes that the chat room was responsible for picking the abyssal abomination for their fight tonight.
 * Zac reads off some messages from donors.
 * Felicia Day will be appearing tomorrow night on Lady Games to play Ladies and Gentlemen, a new Indicade card game, and some other things. Echo Sparks and So You Don't Have To with Hector and Becca will also be there.
 * Marisha and Matt did another Hot Pepper Gaming Video on YouTube.

Vox Machina

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

Returning

 * Clarota
 * Lady Kima of Vord
 * Queen Ulara

Mentioned

 * Bahamut
 * K'Varn
 * King Murghol
 * Orcus
 * Sarenrae
 * Allura Vysoren

Quotations
Scanlan: Oh god, what if they start fucking?
 * Vax: Lady Kima, Clarota, may I suggest you take the first watch?