The Frigid Doom

is the eighth episode of the fifth chapter of Critical Role. Back in Whitestone to debate their next move, Vox Machina discovers their return from the Feywild may not have been as clean cut as it seemed. Their attention turns to Draconia where the destruction wrought by the Conclave again leaves the party to search for allies amongst the scattered survivors while coming face to face with the cost to defeat them.

Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina, in their search for the Vestiges of the Divergence to gain artifacts powerful enough to rival—hopefully—the power of the Chroma Conclave, a group of chromatic dragons that have been terrorizing the countryside of Tal'Dorei&hellip;

"The party has just finished their journey through the Feywild, a strange, magically-overgrown realm of fey creatures, illusion, and apparently corrupt tree-bros.  After a fight with this long mentally-disturbed fey, heartbroken and driven to vengeance in soiling the land around him.  [Vox Machina] defeated him, and took from him the bow Fenthras, of which [ Vex'ahlia ] had been seeking.  [&hellip;]  [They] then gathered hands and, through the magical capabilities of Keyleth, the druid of the Air Ashari, [they] managed to Plane Shift the rest of the party back to Whitestone itself."

Part I
Vox Machina has returned to Whitestone from the Feywild. Unfortunately, Grog and Percy both retain no memories of their time there. Vex is distressed about Percy not remembering what he did so Scanlan uses modify memory to give Percy ten minutes to remember, although he alters it a little to his own liking. He remembers that he titled Vex'ahlia even though the reasoning is different in his mind. He also still has all of the sketches he did during his time there. Vex gets the onyx dog statue from the bag of holding. She also shows them her new bow.

The party runs into Jarrett who greets them. He tells them that the barrier is now up and they notice the shimmering barrier in the sky. Allura, Drake and Kima have all left to gain information on Raishan. He says that Whitestone is trying to work to build up armed forces and reaching out to bring in other allies. Assum has appeared in the city just hours before Vox Machina and is currently meeting with Gilmore and Cassandra in the castle. They bid farewell to Jarrett and head to the castle. seeing a glimpse of Gilmore and Cassandra talking to Seeker Assum. Assum looks like he has some heavy acid scarring but he is alive.

They ask what happened to Assum and he says he made out better than many during the fall of Emon. Cassandra hugs Percy and the group apologizes for their appearance as they are still covered in black tar. Vex hands the bow over for Gilmore to take a look at it. Cassandra congratulates Vex'ahlia on her title and says she'll have it officially put down. Assum tells them the state of Emon and the nest that Thordak has amassed. He says that he thinks Thordak might be crazy and gives direct orders to his wyvern guard to communicate with other members of the Conclave. Gilmore says that he and Pike have been working on the barrier. Gilmore has been trying to see the other dragons and has had little success with Raishan. But he says that the place Vorugal attacked was Draconia, which has been razed. He says there was surviving Dragonborn but they are not in a good state, their home is now icy and cold.

Suddenly guards call out for Cassandra and the group can hear a shrieking roar in the distance. Keyleth tells Cassandra to get the citizens underground and the party keeps Keyleth from skywriting, as it could alert their presence. They exit the castle and they can see shapes flying in the distance. Vax, Keyleth and Percy see a dozen shapes in the sky being led by one that is much larger, one that is white in color. Unsure of what to do, Percy tells them to hold and they watch as the dragon passes over the west side of the city. It goes past the castle and lands at one of the peaks of the Alabaster Sierras. The dragon is looking out, not directly at the city.

They start evacuating people under the castle and under the tunnels below the Sun Tree. Guards try to keep people quiet as they move. Keyleth starts digging out the tunnels more, having to make a path around the Ziggurat. The dragons take off and coast around, disappearing into the distance they came from. They find Pike in the temple of Pelor. They eventually let the citizens out once it is clear. Pike remembers the Feywild and tries Greater Restoration on Grog to see if she can bring back his memories. It works and Grog gets all his memories back. She also uses Restoration on Percy, giving Vex Percy's glasses to hold, and he also gets his memories back, making him realize that Scanlan gave thank memory. Vex is wearing his glasses and hands them back over. He thanks Pike and Keyleth, threatening Scanlan as well.

Assum asks if they have anyone else allied to them and they tell him that Syngorn is building an army as well as the Emon soldiers with them. They could also call on the remnants of Grog's herd. Assum confirms with them that they killed Umbrasyl. They suspect that Vorgual was retaliating after Gilmore scryed on him. They also think that there is a possibility that Raishan has taken on a human form. Jarrett comes up and Vax insights Assum, as he is one of the survivors of Emon. The group heads into a nearby empty tavern to talk. Vax'ildan pulls Gilmore inside to check in on him.



Featured Characters
{{div columns|line=true |col1=

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot (absent; mentioned only)
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * Three unnamed Whitestone soldiers

|col2=

Appeared

 * Jarett Howarth
 * The Sun Tree (present but no interaction)

Mentioned Only
}}
 * Unnamed plant-based crocodile fey creature
 * Tofor Brotoras
 * Assum Emring
 * Garmelie
 * Shaun Gilmore
 * Lady Kima of Vord
 * Raishan
 * Cassandra de Rolo
 * Saundor
 * Thordak
 * Drake Thunderbrand
 * Vorugal
 * Allura Vysoren

Trivia

 * The death of Tiberius Stormwind marks the first permanent death of a player character, although his player, Orion Acaba, had long since left Critical Role.
 * This is the fifth overall player character death, and the second one to occur off-stream (Pike's pre-stream death being the first).