Dangerous Liaisons

 is the thirty-seventh episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. Live from New York! The Mighty Nein are taken aboard the Squall Eater, and Fjord learns more about his mysterious patron...

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Previously on Critical Role
"Last we left off: the Mighty Nein, in following a thread of information that may tie into some aspect of Fjord's curious history after he chest-vored a sphere, discovered that it was apparently a group of individuals who were hired to retrieve this item and bring it to a Captain Avantika. Upon following this thread you found your way to the city of Nicodranas on the Menagerie Coast, outside of the Dwendalian Empire. You met up with Yasha once more and happened to take care of a man who was bothering Jester’s mother... very thoroughly.

''Coming upon this character Marius LePual, who you’ve been following, you got into an altercation at the docks and accidentally took their boat. However, you did manage to sneak your way back to Nicodranas the following day before it seemed there was much of an uproar searching for you. You stealth hired a crew including bringing Orly, the Tortle Bard on as your navigator and made your way out to sea towards this island called Urukayxl that you believe may have been the one based on this piece of a map that you had recovered within the ship ‘The Mist.’''

''You then changed the name of the ship to ‘The Mistake’. You became Captain Tusktooth; following the map you made your way through the reef taking on a bit of water briefly but thankfully through some ingenuity, some quick repairs and the tenuous use of a magical tent you kept it from sinking and going towards the shore line of Urukayxl. There appeared to be another larger ship waiting in the nearest bay.''

''Upon attempting to make your way possibly around it to run aground, the ship seemed to be cutting you off and fired a warning cannon shot across the bow. You decided it was best to stop and begin to gather yourselves as two small rowboats were making their way toward the outside of ‘The Mistake’ to whatever ends that may come to..."''

Part I
The Mistake is boarded by a female ogre, a mostly bald gentleman in his late 30's, and a tougher-looking middle-aged woman. The Mighty Nein are "requested" to come to the other ship (the Squall Eater) immediately. Nott runs down to get Caleb, who comes on deck, but that means the Hut blocking the leak is gone and The Mistake begins taking on some water. The party goes in the rowboats over to the Squall Eater.

On the Squall Eater, they find a female elf with wild red hair who introduces herself as Captain Avantika, and asks the presumed Captain Jawgrasp (actually, Fjord in disguise) about the strange crew he has with him. They each introduce themselves using aliases. She sees through Fjord's illusion and playfully touches his face to show it.

She takes possession of The Mistake, tells her crew to repair it, and tells the Nein to bring their things aboard, they're remaining. She interviews them in her quarters, asking if they have the item she requires. Fjord tells her it is on an island in Deeprow Reef, but she is not deceived. She tells them she hired Jamedi Cosko to scout the temple on the island-- does the name Uk'otoa mean anything to them?

Avantika is the chosen of Uk'otoa the great leviathan, the creation of Zehir the Cloaked Serpent. Uk'otoa was sealed beneath the ocean, and his temples defaced. Avantika intends to bring him back. Fjord tells her of his dreams and shows her an image of the sphere, and she smiles and says that Uk'otoa has spoken to him as well, and invites them to go to the temple with her. They are led to two guarded chambers, where they use Thaumaturgy to create white background noise, and talk.

Fjord tells them he sees visions of a giant eye, and hears a voice. The sphere reminds him of that eye, and he wants to know where the temple is. The rest of the team say they'll support him, and suggest maybe he can learn something about himself from Avantika. As they settle in for the night, Nott distracts their guards with a Silent Image and sneaks out down to the cargo hold, where she steals a keg of black powder and some fermented fruit. Avantika comes to their cabin and requests that Fjord join her in her quarters.

Part II
Fjord walks into Avantika's darkened, candlelit cabin, where she asks Fjord to tell her how he was chosen by Uk'otoa. Caleb goes into Frumpkin, currently a one-ounce elf owl, who perches on the balcony where he watches but cannot hear the conversation. Fjord asks Avantika if she's met other chosen, and she has, one other, many years ago. She is convinced she is going to become the master of the Lucidian Ocean. She removes her right glove, and shows him a yellow eye orb in the palm of her hand. In return, Fjord summons the falchion with the eye in the hilt.

Avantika tells him there are three temples, the one on this island and two others. She thinks they can release Uk'otoa by finding them one by one, and if they succeed he will bequeath command of the sea to them. She steps around the desk, and places her fingers on the hilt of Fjord's sword, before saying "Then you'll need your rest." Fjord returns to his cabin, where he tells the rest of the party what happened. Caleb has continued to watch Avantika, who places a few drops of her blood on a small iron shrine.

Fjord speculates that Vandran, his former captain, was the other chosen one. He believes Sabian sabotaged their ship, setting off the explosion. Jester is drawing Avantika in her sketchbook with daggers sticking into her, furiously. Caleb asks Fjord what he wants, and Fjord replies that for a start, he wants to understand. They go to sleep. Fjord dreams of being underwater, hearing the voice of Uk'otoa saying: "Learn. Grow. Provoke." He ascends a stone staircase. His way is blocked by a statue, which he destroys with an Eldritch Blast. It had the face of Sabian. He sees another statue, Vandran, which he also destroys. He ascends out of the water into a dark stone chamber, with a carving of a serpent with multiple carved eyes on its body. "Watching." As Fjord tries to understand what to do, he says in an English accent, "I don't know what you want from me!" Suddenly the eye opens in front of him and the voice says, "Reward." He sees ships coming toward him on the horizon. He reaches out to try to control them; and the water begins boiling beneath them. He lifts up the ocean, the ships are scattered and destroyed, the ocean parts and then rushes back together. "Reward." As he wakes up, he briefly uses the English accent again. The party questions him, but he evades answering. Caleb is suspicious.

As the party walks out to the deck, Caleb pulls Beau aside to point out Fjord's strange accent. Beau says she noticed but responds that Fjord will tell them when he is ready.

They go on deck and see The Mistake is being repaired. Avantika introduces them to Jamedi Cosko, who will be traveling to the island with them. He tells them lizard folk patrol the island outskirts. The temple is further in, surrounded by snake men villages. They all are rowed onto the beaches of Urukayxl Island, and walk toward the tree line of the jungle.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin
 * Caleb Widogast

New

 * Captain Avantika
 * Bouldergut
 * Jamedi Cosko
 * Vera

Returning

 * Gallan Westman

Mentioned

 * Captain Jawgrasp
 * Marius LePual
 * Orly Skiffback
 * Sabian
 * Uk'otoa ("The Great Leviathan")
 * Vandran
 * Pumat Sol
 * Zoen
 * Waldok

Quotations
Fjord: "Well, I must commend you on your perceptiveness. My balls are quite large." Fjord: "That is a wonderful story, one that I would love to share. You have the honor of being in the company of the Mighty Nein." Avantika: "But there are only seven of you."
 * Avantika: "I must commend you. It has been a very long time since someone has been so bold with such massive balls to come into my ship and think that perhaps I got where I am today not by seeing through a few paltry illusions."
 * Avantika: "Well, I guess now that we are out in the open, who the fuck are you and how did you come into possession of the Mist?.
 * Jester: (to Fjord) "I need to feel your abs."

Trivia

 * This was Critical Role's very first live, in-canon episode on the East Coast. It was broadcast from the historic United Palace Theater in Washington Heights. Due to the location and technical difficulties, the stream was broadcast on a one-hour delay (so even though the actual live show in New York City began at 9:00 pm EDT, the stream didn't begin broadcasting until 10:00 pm EDT).
 * Technical difficulties delayed the posting of the VOD for this episode.
 * During this Episode Nott uses Silent Image to create an Illusion of Jamedi Cosko, a character she has only heard of up to that point.