The Chase to Glintshore

is the eleventh episode of the fifth chapter of Critical Role. Anna Ripley has stolen one of the Vestiges of the Divergence and is on her way to an island of glass in search of another. With the help of Captain Damon and his skyship, Vox Machina races across the sea to stop her once and for all.

Announcements

 * Sam wrote a Backblaze ad but lost it in a catastrophic hard drive failure. Then he sang a song that is definitely not from Rent.
 * Sam also humblebragged about talking to Lin-Manuel Miranda today.
 * Matt had to cancel his appearance at Anime Florida this weekend.
 * Vax, Vex, Grog, and Keyleth have all hit level 15.

Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina, in their attempts to gain power through artifacts called the Vestiges of the Divergence—to eventually destroy the Chroma Conclave, great evil dragons that came together to terrorize the Tal'Dorei countryside—they were seeking one in the continent of Marquet, in the city of Ank'Harel.

"After traveling there and meeting with members of the various establishments, the new culture they were introduced to, a drug deal gone awry, some time in a casino, some hookah excursions, some terrible alcohol purchases. They found themselves finding an ally in the current head—and, for the past four hundred years, head of the city—of Ank'Harel, known as J'mon Sa Ord. They gave the party their allegiance in this endeavor against the Conclave, and presented them with a brass flute that apparently can at least notify them that the aid is required.

"After which, the party spent the evening in their tavern after the casino incident, and then went searching for this individual, this Mistress Asharru, who apparently has the Cabal's Ruin, this next Vestige in their journey. Upon checking in her house after having no response for a couple days, they broke inside to find that the home had been attacked as of a week ago, her body left behind, apparently riddled with puncture wounds—seemingly bullet holes, after Percy's inspection—and Cabal's Ruin, the cloak that the party was seeking, is gone."

Part I
Vox Machina continue to discuss what happened in the home of Mistress Asharru. Keyleth asks to see Percy's gun and finds a faint magical aura on it, indicating that Anna Ripley has been spying on them. Vex puts her tracking skills to good use, noting that there were at least five or six people involved in this attack. Led by Vax, the party leave through the secret passage in the lower level of the house. They head back to their rooms at the Debt's Respite and leave the gun in a room with Trinket guarding it. In another room, Keyleth uses the Scrying Eye to Scry on Ripley, who she sees on a ship in the ocean, battling a raging thunderstorm. They deduce that she is seeking Whisper, another of the Vestiges of Divergence. Scanlan recalls from their notes that Whisper is located at the bottom of the Ozmit Sea, near an island of glass. This sounds similar to an island he knows of called the Isle of Glintshore, but he doesn't know exactly where it is.

After much deliberation, the party decides their next move is to tell Treev what has happened, to avoid suspicion falling on them. After a tense moment with Treev and the other mercenaries in the tavern, Percy is able to convince them that they're telling the truth. After a description of the disguise Ripley once used with them, Treev recognizes her as the last person who hired the Mistress. The shadowy figure that originally sent the Mistress their message goes to her home and inspects it, an returns, corraborating their story. Treev tells them that they're free to go kill Ripley as long as they bring back her hand as tribute to the Mistress. They ask him if he can hire them an enchanter to remove the enchantment on Ripley's gun, and he says one can be there within an hour.

In the meantime, Grog and Scanlan make their way to the skyport in search of an airship to hire. They ride an elevator up to the office of the skyport, and the clerk there summons the captain of one of the ships for them to discuss a charter. They are delighted to see that this is Captain Damon, who flew them across the Ozmit Sea to Vasselheim. They begin to discuss payment, but Scanlan is reluctant to divulge their destination until they're already in the air. He shows the clerk the medallion that he received from J'mon Sa Ord, and she immediately tells Captain Damon that the palace will be paying for this trip. The captain says they'll be ready to leave in an hour.

On the way back to the Debt's Respite, Scanlan stops at the Luck's Run casino looking for the men who swindled him with the fusaka. He finds no sign of them, but he defiles the meeting room where the deal went down, writing "The Meat Man cometh" on the wall in poo. He goes downstairs and plays a quick game of Avandra's Favor, where he loses 100 gold. He asks the dealer about Rutur, the name the half-orc man who made the deal with him had given, and the dealer says that Rutur comes by every couple of weeks or so. Disgusted, Scanlan leaves the casino and rejoins Grog, and they head back to the Debt's Respite.

Back at the tavern, Percy is visibly distraught at the idea of Ripley still going around causing chaos. He tells the rest of the party that he knows she is spreading the knowledge of his firearms and that it will cause unimaginable damage to the world. He tells Vax to promise to destroy all of his work when he dies. He also tells them that it was selfish of him not to kill her when he had the chance, because she is far more dangerous than the Briarwoods. Grog and Scanlan return with the good news of their airship charter. Back down in the main room of the tavern, Treev introduces them to a shifty-looking individual named Kyme who is the enchanter they've hired. Percy asks him if the enchantment can be transferred from the gun to something else, but Kyme tells them that would take weeks. He identifies the enchantment as a type of scrying and message-type enchantment that would allow someone to hear everything around it. Percy tells him to remove the enchantment and he does, and Keyleth verifies that it is now gone. Vex also asks him to Identify her tea set, and he tells her that it is a Tea Set of Envenoming.

Before they leave, Percy buys the materials needed to make a small cannon while on the skyship. Vex and Scanlan show J'mon Sa Ord's medallion to one of the city guards and ask him if he can spare any healing potions. He goes to his barracks and returns with six Potions of Healing and three Greater Potions of Healing for them. Vex also buys three more greater potions. The party reunites and heads to the skyport where they find the skyship Deera waiting for them. They board and greet Captain Damon, and the ship lifts off heading north toward the sea.

Break

 * A Backblaze ad featuring Yev and a promo for Signal Boost are played.
 * Laura plugs more items from the web store

Part II
After the ship has flown out of sight from Ank'Harel and north of the mountains, Captain Damon again asks where they're going. Percy says that they'd like to meet all of the crew before they tell him. They meet with each crew member, and Vex recognizes a halfling woman named Teera amongst them was one of the bandits who'd attacked them on the ship. The crew all seems on the up and up, so Scanlan offers up the name of their destination: the Isle of Glintshore. Damon knows this place as part of the Hespet Archipelago and tells them that it's a rough place full of bandits and theives, but Glintshore is a wasteland that is largely useless to them. "Something very bad" happened there long ago and fused all of the sand to glass and petrified the jungle. He says they should be there in two or three days, depending on the weather.

Grog retires to his room and takes a drink of the Sandkheg's Hide to try and build up a tolerance. As they pass over the Bay of Gifts and the port city Shamal, the party goes to sleep. The next morning, Keyleth Scries on Ripley again. She sees Ripley in her cloak, telling the crew that they have eight hours and to begin diving. Then Ripley herself dives in, breathing the water, and swims deeper and deeper.

The Deera begins to approach a great thunderstorm in the distance. Captain Damon tells everyone that they can't go above or around it and to hold on. Keyleth tells him to get the ship closer to the storm. Just as they reach it, she stands on the bow of the ship and casts Control Weather, parting the storm for five miles around them and carving a path through it. She also creates a tailwind for the ship to push them along.

A few hours later, the archipelago comes into view and Captain Damon brings the ship down to about 60 feet above the water. They approach the glittering Isle of Glintshore and see a small ship docked in a bay on the island. Getting closer, Vex spies a column of smoke coming from the shore just inland from the ship. Keyleth casts Water Breathing on the whole party and begins to Scry again. Vex can see the crew of the ship beginning to scatter, having spotted the Deera's approach. Then she sees one of them fire a bolt of arcane energy into the air, followed by a second, clearly a warning to those on land.

They reach the ship and Scanlan Polymorphs Grog into a giant eagle and rides him over the edge of the deck. Percy uses the scope on Bad News to see the deck of the ship below and sees it empty. He tells Damon it's a trap and to make for the shore instead. As the Deera lists to the side to change course, Keyleth's Scry spell completes, but is resisted by Ripley and she is unable to see anything. Keyleth holds onto Vax as they jump overboard and Vax extends the wings of the Deathwalker's Ward to fly over the ship. Percy orders the captain to fire on Ripley's ship and several arcane beams rain down on it. One of the ship's crew resurfaces and fires a Lightning Bolt and Keyleth and Vax, and just as he does Percy fires at the crewman with Bad News, knocking him over. Keyleth lets go of Vax, turns into an Earth Elemental, and activates her Flaming Hands, making herself a flaming "Keyteor." She slams into the ship below, smashing through the decks to the bottom and piercing a hole in it with her feet.

Vex jumps on her broom to follow Grog and Scanlan to shore. Eagle-Grog swoops down to the campfire and sees two small rowboats on shore near it. Keyleth searches Ripley's ship as it sinks since she can breathe underwater and finds several notes and papers. She drops the Earth Elemental form and uses Control Water to shoot up to the surface and glide along it. Vax, using the Boots of Haste, keeps pace with the ship and picks Percy up to carry him down to the beach. As the Deera turns off to get some distance from shore, the party all land and gather near the campsite.

Vox Machina

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

New

 * Kyme, an enchanter hired by Treev.

Returning

 * Captain Damon
 * Teera

Quotations
Percy: Thank you. I accept that compliment. You as well are a better woman than you believe.... [sharply] Doesn't feel good, does it? Vex: No, it doesn't. Shit.
 * Vex: Percy, you're a better man than you believe.