Rime and Reason

is the seventy-fifth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein find themselves transported to snowy Mythburrow in pursuit of a white dragon, and must use all their wisdom to escape with their prize and their lives intact...

Pre-Show
Liam is out in the middle of nowhere and will be attempting to Skype in (unsuccessfully, unfortunately).

Announcements

 * Tonight's first sponsor is, as always this campaign, D&D Beyond.
 * Happy birthday, D&D Beyond! It's their second anniversary.
 * Sam pitches his merch ideas: Nott's Bag o' Buttons, Chee-uh Darrington, Scanlan's Magnificent Dollhouse, and... an accessory for Scanlan's cube.
 * Tonight's second sponsor is Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms.
 * Issue Two of the comic book Vox Machina Origins is out now
 * New merch! The Deven Rue map of Tal'Dorei is now available in the Critical Role online store.
 * Travis was able to join his beloved Dallas Cowboys at their training camp earlier this week and has the gear to prove it.

Previously on Critical Role
So, last we left off: The Mighty Nein, heading northward to the Greying Wildlands in search of the means to assemble two broken pieces of an artifact they have acquired over the breadth of their adventures, as well as seek for the means to pursue the visions that Caduceus had received from the Wildmother, had found themselves in the subterranean dwarf-elf city of Uthodurn.

''While searching about, you encountered an individual named Reani, who was a vigilante protector, it seems, of the local neighborhood, and had an aligned interest in the venture that you were notified that required a white dragon to be sought, to acquire this material known as iceflex, which is mythril treated with the breath of a white dragon. A dangerous mission, you researched where this white dragon may be, and with the help of your ally there, acquire some materials, make some connections, and prepare yourselves for the journey. You called in an additional favor with Shadowhand Essek, Teleported northward to the Mythburrow, which seems to be the demesne of this entity, this white dragon known as Gelidon, the Nightmare in Ivory. You arrive via Teleportation to the outskirts of this mountain at the base, being blasted with wind and snow and ice. Glancing up, you can see a little ways up a cavern that enters into the base of the mountain, with icy veins curling out from this entrance. And that was where we left off.''

Part I
Essek immediately heads back to Rosohna, Jester noticing that instead of footprints he leaves two grooves in the snow from his toes dragging as he hovers just above it. The group discusses how to proceed, brainstorming many possibilities, then decide to set up the Tiny Hut to the left side of the cave mouth and send out Frumpkin to scout. Just as Frumpkin enters the cave, however, a big furry hand grabs him and he bamfs out.

Reani then summons eight bats and uses Speak with Animals to tell them to sneak into the cave and come back to report to her. They do, and tell her there's a room with tents and some fuzzy people. She and Jester turn into giant white eagles and scout the exterior of the mountain, finding no other caves large enough for a dragon. In the meantime, the rest of the group back in the dome watch two large humanoid creatures (yetis) come out and wander around, but they don't spot the dome or the party. When she and Jester return, Reani tells the party that yetis are bad and they'll need to kill them.

They decide to try to take out at least some of the yetis before going to bed. Jester uses the echo stone to create a sound something like they imagine a baby yeti would sound, and after they all get into position for an ambush, sets it off outside the front of the cave, drawing out two curious yetis, which are killed in the first round of combat without doing any damage. They are followed immediately by two more. Caleb drops the dome to join the fight, and Reani turns into a giant scorpion which takes minor damage before Jester kills one yeti with Guiding Bolt, and Caduceus kills the other with Sacred Flame.

The party cautiously enters Mythburrow, finding no more yetis but a large number of bones, and some crude pictures on the insides of the tents suggesting that the yetis were bringing offerings to a large dragon. They brainstorm more possible strategies for getting the dragon to breathe on the mythril and then recovering it. Caleb sends Frumpkin deeper into the cave to scout, but he doesn't see much of anything beyond a long, large, dark tunnel.

They set up the dome again in the same spot it was in previously just outside the cave. Caleb casts Identify on the objects that fell out of the stolen page earlier, finding 25 platinum, a snuff box, and three spell scrolls: Greater Invisibility, Major Image, and Levitate. Caduceus asks Fjord to join him outside the dome, and tells him a little more about his beliefs, the interconnectedness of the gods and of existence, and his family history, saying that the family originally served the Raven Queen, but she sent them to the Wildmother. He casts Commune, telling Fjord to ask three questions of the Wildmother. Fjord asks if there was a reason the Wildmother has intervened in his journey, but the answer is unclear. He asks if she can help him regain powers, and the answer is a definitive yes. He then asks for a sign from her, and Caduceus tells him he must have faith, but he's received his sign: Caduceus and the party are there for him.

Caduceus tells Fjord he's sure he will find what he's supposed to champion and represent, if he keeps communicating with the Wildmother and accepting the answers he receives in whatever form they come. Perhaps what he seeks is still in the ocean, uncorrupted by Uk'otoa. Caduceus is also sure that Uk'otoa isn't finished with Fjord, but they are going to keep looking for what he needs, starting with the sword.

Break

 * D&D Beyond animation.
 * Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms.
 * Clips from.
 * Every Critter Insult from Yee-Haw Game Ranch.
 * Taliesin's Twilight Zone Advertisement for Twitch subscriptions.
 * Critters' Art Montage.

Part II
The next morning, no more yetis have arrived. The party enters the cavern, and Reani summons another group of bats who scout further down the tunnel and report back that the cave goes around for a while, and then straight up past a wall of ice. No dragon. They continue to brainstorm plans, and it takes longer than one would suppose to dispose of the idea of dressing several party members sitting on one another's shoulders in a dead yeti skin. They eventually press on down the tunnel.

The party finds themselves at the bottom of a huge shaft in the ice, with frozen pieces of bodies scattered about, presumably the dragon's feeding area. They place the ingot of mythril on a shield and tie a rope to the shield. Reani then summons a giant ice spider queen and directs it to sit on top of the shield. At Beau's request, the now-drunk Nott casts Invisibility on her.

Putting their plan into action, Jester uses Thaumaturgy to echo yeti noises up the tunnel shaft, then hides. A moment passes, and they begin to hear cracking, slamming noises as the ancient white dragon arrives. She studies the spider, then uses two blasts of her frost breath to freeze it, killing it and encasing it in deep ice, which Gelidon bites into and flies back up carrying away. The rope tied to the shield holding the mythril goes with it with Fjord clinging to it, joined by Jester and Nott. Beau throws two shurikens, severing the rope, but not before Jester sees the faint blue glow of successfully created iceflex in the bottom of the ice chunk in the dragon's mouth.

Since this is now a recovery mission, Caleb, Fjord, and Caduceus stay in Caleb's Tiny Hut, while Reani turns into a stealthy giant owl and ferries Beau, Nott, and Jester to the top of the shaft. They find themselves in Gelidon's lair, where she is chewing on the ice block that had encased the spider (which has, as fey do, disappeared back onto its own plane at death). The iceflex is right there in front of the dragon.

On giant-owl-Reani's back, Beau creates a diversion with her Hupperdook firecrackers as they dive back down the shaft. Nott and Jester hide in the lair while Gelidon dives after the firecracker noise. Gelidon blasts Beau and Reani with ice breath, damaging Reani enough to force her out of her owl form. She then transforms into a giant ice spider queen as Beau dashes into the safety of the dome, and the spider survives another ice breath before also making it to the dome.

Meanwhile back in the lair, Nott and Jester Dimension Door to the spot where they saw the glowing mythril and Jester picks it up and leaves a Traveler figurine while Nott picks up two random items of dragon treasure: a rainbow-colored stone, and a glowing chainmail shirt. Nott spots a 20-foot-tall blue-pulsing-glow mechanical contraption of some kind frozen into the ice of the wall but there's no time to investigate as Jester Dimension Doors them both into the dome with the rest of the party.

Gelidon is furious, battering at the dome as Caleb frantically casts a Teleportation Circle. As the dragon paces outside the dome, unable to penetrate with either claw or bite, she tells the party, "I know your scent now." Just as her breath attack covers the dome in ice, the teleportation circle is complete and the party safely teleports to the Archive in Uthodurn.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin (absent)
 * Caleb Widogast (controlled by Marisha)

New

 * Gelidon

Returning

 * Reani
 * Essek Thelyss

Quotations

 * Caduceus: The gods and goddesses have to talk to each other and communicate with each other, and one of the ways they do that is by reminding themselves that they are all part of a larger tapestry and interconnected. You can’t have civilization without nature. You can’t have a storm without nature. You can’t have stories and dreams without civilization. All these things -- they have to connect to each other, and sometimes it’s about finding out where something’s supposed to be.
 * Caduceus: Eventually, some day, somebody will pray for a miracle, pray for something to save them, to whatever gods are nearby, and that prayer will be answered because you’ll show up. That’s how it works. That’s what a champion is.
 * Caduceus: She’s always listening. The answers that you get may not be the ones you want, and the answers may come in ways that you don’t necessarily understand, or are almost too obvious to see, and the answers may be that you need to find where your power is.
 * Gelidon: (to the party) I know your scent now.

Trivia

 * Sam sticks 6 sticky notes onto a picture of Liam (attached to his flask), saying: "I ♥ Sam" "I hate Cowboys." "Ja" "My accent is A+" "Ich bin dumb" and "I smell like poop."
 * The party encountered Gelidon on 22 Misuthar 836.