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 knows that Critical Role tries not to get political a lot. This is a place where you can get lost in a story and characters, and not have to think about government shutdowns or Democrats or Republicans. But tonight, Sam is going political. And not just political, but SUPER political! Tonight, Sam announces his candidacy: he is running a campaign for the office of President...of D&D Beyond. This is not a joke: Sam is running a year-long campaign that will culminate in a vote on Tuesday, November 5, 2019, and Critters will elect a candidate (hopefully Sam) to be President of D&D Beyond. Sam doesn't know if there is a President of D&D Beyond or if it is an elected office, but that doesn't matter to Sam, because he is driven to make this campaign happen! Sam kicks off his campaign as every great political campaign does: with a rousing, inspirational campaign speech as music plays in the background. In a speech that HEAVILY plagiarizes the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, etc., Sam holds certain truths to be self-evident:
 * 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".
 * Sam concludes with more plagiarism from Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Santayana, Gil Scott Heron, John F. Kennedy, Marie Antoinette, and Ronald Reagan.
 * 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. Sam will not prepare a concession speech, because Sam won't lose. If Sam's opponent doesn't actually want to run an opposing campaign, then Sam will get Dani Carr to write their speeches.
 * 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. MAME cabinets are really cool and they are cutting-edge technology...or at least they were about ten years ago. But it has taken that long for Matt to actually play one, so he is SUPER excited about it! Marisha agrees that MAME cabinets are awesome. Laura thought Matt said "cutting-ass technology". Sam insists that should be the phrase we use to refer to forefront devices. 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: a fantastic artist and friend of the channel. Babs will be teaching fantastic lessons on how to draw various things. Marisha shows off some of Babs's drawings, but first makes sure there are "no titties. You can't show nips". Matt notices one of the drawings is Ciri. He has Witcher vision...even more so now that his beard is getting the little grey patch. He hasn't grown out his beard in a long time, and whenever he does, he realizes, "Oh, yeah...I'm growing old." Taliesin adds that it's a brand-new surprise every time you grow one. Travis says it's "straight wisdom", to which Matt comments that's an interesting term for "grappling with your own mortality".
 * 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. We have a lot of awesome guests for this season: Matt is super excited! No announcements yet, but keep an eye on Critical Role's social media for announcements as they come.
 * 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 that have been there since Day One (and then some!). 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. Liam announces that they were at the gallery yesterday, as they were starting to put the first of the art up. It was overwhelming to see the work that all the Critters had made, and they will be back again tomorrow as more stuff gets put up. The gallery is larger-than-life and it's going to be emotional. Over 50 pieces of art will be on-display at the gallery. Come and check it out at Gallery Nucleus, and you can look up all the info you need about it at critrole.com/events.
 * Wait. (Wait.) Before we get into tonight's episode, Liam just wanted to thank a couple of people. Thank you @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. Matt asks Liam to hold on to at least one of those, because whenever Frumpkin is an octopus, Liam ought to have that on standby.

Previously on Critical Role
"Last we left off: The Mighty Nein - after surviving their encounters in Darktow, traveling to and from Urukaxl, 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 entered into combat with a deep scion and several chuul. Emerging injured but victorious, they regrouped inside the tower for a rest.

Nott eventually found a way down into a spherical chamber through a large growth of seaweed. Inside the chamber, Caleb found several magical items and the indentation for a Cloven Crystal while Jester and Nott gathered up many coins that were lying on the ground. Beau removed the armor from a skeleton in the chamber. Fjord discussed his intentions and future plans regarding Uk'otoa, indicating that he did not intend to fully release the leviathan. Eventually, Fjord had everyone else leave the chamber while he inserted the Crystal with Frumpkin for company. Caduceus cast a protection spell on Fjord before heading outside the chamber.

Fjord's Vision
Once alone, Fjord said "let's see what this does" in his original accent and inserted his pommel Crystal into the indentation pointed out by Caleb. Fjord had a vision of Uk'otoa saying "Watching. Adapt. Reward. Release." Uk'otoa seemed less restrained in the vision, binding Fjord with a tentacle and seeming to struggle against its bonds.

When the vision ended, the chamber began to come apart like the chamber on Urukaxl. Fjord, Beau, and Jester were somewhat hurt in the process of escaping the collapsing tower. The tower began to spurt a geyser of water that threatened to force the party to the surface, but Jester used Control Water to prevent it from moving them. Caduceus used Water Walk to bring them to the surface, where they saw the geyser extending for a hundred feet above the water. They returned to the Ball-Eater as the geyser began to fade.

As the Ball-Eater began to ready for departure, another ship seemed to spot it and begin 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 damaged the Squall-Eater's hull, Caduceus manages to 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. With the Ball-Eater out of danger, the party resumes their course towards the mainland.

On the way there the party engages in some light conversation during the coming days. Caleb identifies a number of items from the sunken tower and distributes them among the party. Caduceus casts Divination, asking the Wildmother what Vandren is doing right now. He receives the following answer: "Staying out of sight... making amends".

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 Marinos
 * Vandren

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 vehicle when used to create a Flood in a large body of water.