Under Timeless Ice

is the one hundred sixteenth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role.

Previously on Critical Role
''So, last we left off, the Mighty Nein, making their way north into the realm of Eiselcross, hired by Vess DeRogna of the Cerberus Assembly to help bring her and protect her, towards the ruins of Aeor on the region of Foren. Unfortunately, Vess was murdered by the previous ally -- or at least the body of the previous ally -- Mollymauk, traveling with other individuals northward on a similar path.'' ''You discovered Vess's dead corpse, covered for it so nobody else would discover it as well, and made your rapid escape from Balenpost, along with your scout, Dagen Underthorn, who has been leading you through the icy, frigid realm towards the first location on the map which you've decided to explore. Dubbed "A5" on the map, it is one of the numerous early excavations of fallen Aeorian debris, and after making your way across some mysterious encounters, some strange weather, and making some allies out of possible enemies in the shape of intelligent yeti, you discovered the outside of this excavation site. As you found a number of long-frozen bodies left in the surrounding debris of ice and stone, you begin to approach the entrance to it.''

Part I
Dagen say he'll set up camp outside the entrance and wait for them. Veth goes first to scout, borrowing Beau's Goggles of Night in order to see in the darkness. The first room holds an abandoned encampment and narrows into a very small hallway leading downward. Beau finds the fresh body of a drow in Kryn Dynasty attire who appears to have died in the same way that Vess DeRogna did but bears no eye tattoos. Jester chops his head off so they can take it with them for Speak With Dead later and Caleb puts it into the Vault of Amber.

Veth sets off again, finding a point where the hallway ends at a crack just large enough to squeeze through. Caleb sends Frumpkin ahead to scout and he finds a three-foot drop into a new chamber that is a room turned on its side covered in decorative arcane markings. There are signs of foot traffic about the room. Holding onto one end of a fifty-foot rope, Veth enters followed by the others. There are doors leading out on what is now the ceiling and the opposite wall, and Caleb jumps on Jester's shoulders to look through the opposite one. He sees a dark, ice-covered chamber turned at a different angle and sloping downward. It holds four unlit pedestal braziers.

Investigating the door on the ceiling, Caleb uses his Stormrider Boots to fly up and into the room above, a mostly collapsed chamber filled with rocky debris where he fastens one end of a rope which the others climb up. They notice bundles in the corner which appear to be covered in fine, wound silk, and then see a well-hidden, translucent, motionless 12-foot-wide arachnid among the icy stalactites. Beating a hasty retreat, they climb back down the rope to the previous room. Jester partially seals the door with Stone Shape after Fjord uses Dwueth'var to cast Fly on her.

Meanwhile, Caleb casts Alarm at the other doorway so they will know if they are being followed, and they climb in. The entire room is at a steep slant and is freezing cold. Jester flies down it carrying one end of the rope and braces herself against a handle-less set of double doors at the other end, joined by Caleb. As Caduceus is coming next along the rope, halfway through the room the temperature drops even further. He notices six faintly glowing blue ice-crystal creatures descending from the ceiling which quickly surround him.

The creatures are attracted to warmth and cause cold damage by proximity and on a melee attack. Jester invokes her duplicate near Caduceus and casts Spiritual Weapon, but three more creatures drift down and surround her and Caleb, attacking and wounding them both and causing cold damage. The beleagured Caduceus is seriously wounded by those surrounding him, although he retaliates with the Shield of Retribution. Yasha dashes to his defense but slips and slides all the way to the bottom of the room with Jester and Caleb, taking ice damage from the freezing auras of the creatures as she passes through them.

Beau dashes to one of the braziers and notices an empty shelf-like cubby with glyphs of transmutation or evocation. She shouts this to the rest of the party. Veth runs along the rope toward Caduceus, using a spell scroll to cast Flaming Sphere on two of the creatures near them. Caleb uses Widogast's Web of Fire to send fire into all four of the unlit braziers and one of the creatures surrounding Caduceus, but Beau is blocking one and he hits her instead of the brazier. The other three braziers, however, burst into arcane flame.

Jester casts Spirit Guardians around herself in the form of infernal hamster unicorns, killing one of the creatures around the group at the door, Yasha kills another, and Beau takes out two near Caduceus. He barely survives the cold damage from the three still surrounding him. Hanging onto the rope running through the room with her knees, Veth throws the Corecut Dagger and takes out another creature, but the dagger slides away to the double doors. Caleb uses another cast of Web of Fire to light the final brazier and aims fire at all four remaining creatures, killing the two remaining near the door. As the last brazier lights, the doors Caleb and Jester are leaning against swing open, but they manage to keep themselves from falling through them.

Alone at the top of the room holding the rope, Fjord drops it, sending Veth careening down the slope and through the doorway out of sight. Fjord slides down to Caduceus, grabs him as he slides, and immediately casts Thunder Step carrying them both to safety and destroying the two remaining creatures.

Meanwhile, Veth has slid through the doors and is free-falling, so she casts Feather Fall. The floor is 270 feet down, filled with debris, jagged rock, and ice.

Break

 * D&D Beyond. Play with advantage.
 * Build the RPG of your dreams with the Cortex Prime Game Handbook at CortexRPG.com.
 * Narrative Telephone Round 2, episode 2 coming up Tuesday, November 17 at 4:00 pm Pacific.
 * Clips from .
 * Merch Alert! Vox Machina dice sets for Grog, Vex'ahlia, and Vax'ildan, Strongjaw Ale and Mighty Nein t-shirts available in all three Critical Role shops; Critical Role logo ornaments available in Australia only; Tal'Dorei Republic tank top available in the U.S. only; Tal'Dorei Republic t-shirt available in the U.K. and Australia stores.
 * Marisha hopes you'll subscribe to Critical Role's Twitch channel.
 * Critters' art montage.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard Lionett
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Caleb Widogast
 * Frumpkin
 * Fjord
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Veth Brenatto
 * Yasha Nydoorin

Returning

 * Dagen Underthorn
 * Lucien/Mollymauk