The Second Seal

is the forty seventh episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein dive back underwater to find the second temple of Uk'otoa in search of Fjord's reward...

Pre-Show
Welcome! The cast missed all of you Critters. Happy New Year! They're back for 2019. The holidays were way too short...or way too long...or both?

Announcements

 * We are going to kick in with our fantastic returning sponsor (going into their second year in support of our campaign in Wildemount): D&D Beyond!
 * Sam announces his candidacy for the office of President... of D&D Beyond. He kicks off his campaign with a rousing inspirational campaign speech:
 * That all player-characters are created equal...except Bards, who are always more awesome (Matt agrees).
 * That all monsters shall be organized not by the color of their skin, but by the challenge rating of their character.
 * That all people enjoy freedom of religion...except in Wildemount, because "they be assholes".
 * That Monks somehow be allowed to attack like fourteen times per round.
 * And that everyone sign up for D&D Beyond! For too long, D&D Beyond has suffered under the terrible leadership of...someone? [Adam Bradford?] Sam didn't look up who the incumbent is, but whoever they are: know that they have failed! For example, have you seen the guy they tapped to do their advertising? He's terrible!
 * If you elect Sam, he will [INSERT CAMPAIGN PROMISE HERE]. Sam forgot to fill in the blanks, so he will remember what his campaign promises are at the next rally.
 * Sam needs a campaign slogan, and Critters can help! Something like "Make Exandria Great Again" (again, SUPER political), "I Like Pike", or "We Are All The Sam We Believe In". If you have a good slogan, go onto Twitter and tweet it at @dndbeyond with "#SamForPresident".
 * There will be more campaign events as the year progresses. Sam will need a campaign manager, slogans, and logos. Also, one of the cast will be running against Sam as his election opponent.
 * With the new year, Critical Role has a bunch of new shows coming up. On Tuesday, January 15, 2019 at 4:00 pm PST on twitch.tv/criticalrole, the cast will be coming in for "MAME Drop" to mess around with the delightful MAME cabinet that was created as part of All Work No Play. On Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 5:00 pm PST (again, on Critical Role's Twitch channel), you can tune in for "Pub Draw", a new creative series featuring Babs Tarr
 * Between the Sheets is coming back! Join us for the first episode of Season 2 on Monday, January 28, 2019 at 7:00 pm PST on twitch.tv/criticalrole.
 * Next week, on January 18-20, 2019, we have our first Critical Role Art Gallery. The gallery celebrates the fantastic fan artists in the Critter community. Their incredible art pieces are going to be on-display as part of an art show for The Chronicles of Exandria. Matt has been wanting to do this for years, and Critical Role was finally able to put it together. Over 50 pieces of art will be on-display at the gallery. Come and check it out at Gallery Nucleus. More info at their website.
 * Wait. (Wait.) Before we get into tonight's episode, Liam just wanted to thank @chaotic_redhead on Twitter and @knittingbatman on Instagram for the octopus hats. Liam got two hats, and Brian got two more. Find Familiar is now the best spell.

Previously on Critical Role
"Last we left off: The Mighty Nein - after surviving their encounters in Darktow, traveling to and from Urukayxl, and managing to release one of the gathered orbs of Uk'otoa's sealing - made [their] way to the depths of the Diver's Grave and recovered the third of these orbs that [they've] come across...two of which now reside within Fjord's person.

"You [the Mighty Nein] then proceeded on towards what you believed to be the location of one of these temples, through a series of visions you've had by Uk'otoa.

"You made your way towards this archipelago, looked around, set your ship in the center, cast Water Breathing on the group, and you all dove down beneath the waters and found this kind of slightly angled ruin. This partially crumbled temple that sits there at the base of the ocean floor. You saw these long straggling pieces of seaweed slowly waving with the water and what looked like drowned bodies tangled in them that - upon your approach - began to clamber towards you. You fought off a number of them, managed to clear that space, and then investigate within the interior of this temple tower.

"Looking inside with a bit of light, there looked to be some sort of large mutant crustacean-like creatures, all gathered up on the inside. Not entirely certain of the number: just a series of what looked like claws and armor and barnacles. Backing away, you all had just set yourselves on the ocean floor about 50-60 feet away from the base doorway..."

Temple Ruin
The Mighty Nein immediately enter into combat with a deep scion and several chuul. Emerging injured but victorious, they regroup inside the tower for a rest.

Nott eventually finds a way down into a spherical chamber through a large growth of seaweed. Inside the chamber, Caleb finds several magical items and the indentation for a Cloven Crystal while Jester and Nott gather up many coins lying on the ground. Beau removes the armor from a skeleton in the chamber. Fjord discusses his intentions and future plans regarding Uk'otoa, indicating that he does not intend to fully release the leviathan. Eventually, Fjord has everyone else leave the chamber while he inserts the Crystal with only Frumpkin for company. Caduceus casts a protection spell on Fjord before heading outside the chamber.

Fjord's Vision
Once alone, Fjord says, "Let's see what this does," in his original accent and inserts his pommel Crystal into the indentation pointed out by Caleb. He has a vision of Uk'otoa saying "Watching. Adapt. Reward," and sees a long, broken shore at midnight. Along that beach are three points of light: cities at night along the shore. Beyond the three coastal cities is a forest with the peak of a mountain range looming above, and Fjord hears the final word: "Release."

When the vision ends, the chamber begins to come apart like the chamber on Urukayxl. Fjord, Beau, and Jester are somewhat hurt in the process of escaping the collapsing tower. The tower begins to spurt a geyser of water that threatens to force the party to the surface, but Jester uses Control Water to prevent it from moving them. Caduceus uses Water Walk to bring them to the surface, where they see the geyser extending a hundred feet above the water. They return to the Ball-Eater as the geyser began to fade.

As the Ball-Eater begins to ready for departure, another ship spots it and begins to approach.

Part II
Matt uses the approaching ship as a reason to distribute a modified version of rules for naval combat from Unearthed Arcana. After a short chase and a minor crash that slightly damages the Ball-Eater's hull, Caduceus manages to swiftly capsize the other ship with Control Water.

After rescuing the crew of the Salty Criss, the Nein offer to drop them off somewhere. The crew simply request to be dropped off at the nearest island. In exchange for food supplies for them, Jester requires one of them to receive a Tusktooth tattoo prior to allowing them to swim ashore. With the Ball-Eater now out of danger, the party resumes their course towards Nicodranas. During the four-and-a-half days of travel, Jester uses Sending to let her mother know they're coming back, and is told there doesn't seem to be a manhunt underway for them. Caleb Identifies a number of items from the sunken tower and distributes them among the party. They discuss what their next destination should be, in light of the information they received about the Kryn Dynasty attack on Felderwin, and Nott admits that she'd like to swing by to check in, since it's where she's from. Beau shares with the party that she has a baby brother whom she's never met back in Kamordah. Fjord tells Orly Skiffback that when they reach the mainland, the ship will be his. Orly is uncomfortable with this and finally agrees to captain it and earn money for the Mighty Nein while they're away.

Caduceus casts Divination, asking the Wildmother what Vandran is doing right now. He receives the answer: "Staying out of sight... making amends." Beau borrows the key to Avantika's code that Caleb developed and learns it, so that she and Caleb now have a secret means of written communication. Caleb and Nott discuss their upcoming trip to Felderwin, and Nott says that while she wants no part of her goblin clan, there is one fellow in Felderwin that she's worried about and would like to see if he's okay.

At the end of the episode, they reach the harbor of Nicodranas.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin (Played by Matt, controlled by Travis in combat)
 * Caleb Widogast

New

 * Serac Feng
 * Leval

Returning

 * Marion Lavorre (via Jester's Sending spell)
 * Marius LePual
 * Orly Skiffback
 * Sprinkle
 * Uk'otoa (in Fjord's vision)
 * The Wildmother (via Divination spell cast by Caduceus)

Mentioned

 * Avantika
 * Wyatt Maranoss
 * Vandran

Quotations
Matt: The warm, soft, comforting voice, like a breeze, drifts past your ears as the hot wind, unexpectedly through a cold night, drifts past your shoulders. "Staying out of sight. Making amends." That's all.
 * Jester: I'm going to sit down really fast and say: Hey, Traveler. I know that he’s doing something for this other god guy, but we both know this other god is pretty stupid, so if you do me a favor and watch after Fjord, that would be really great, because he's done a lot of things that has really helped out with stuff for you and he's going to be pretty helpful in helping me get to you later this year. Anyway, I really like you and I really like him and I would like if you would help out, please. Thank you.
 * Caduceus: (casting Divination) Wonder what Vandran's doing right now.

Trivia

 * Sam's giant flask says "I am available to host the Oscars".
 * Yasha (controlled by Travis), Jester, and Nott got "How do you want to do this?" in the battle against the churl and deep scions. Nott got two kills.
 * Control Water has a 25% chance to capsize a Huge or smaller vessel when used to create a Flood in a large body of water.
 * The second seal was broken on 22 Duscar 835.