Yug'Voril Uncovered

is the ninth episode of the first chapter of Critical Role. Vox Machina battles the duergar queen, Ulara, before she can make a thrall of Grog. Keyleth and Lady Kima settle their differences, Vax'ildan encourages the druid that she is not alone, and the party makes their way to the illithid colony of Yug'Voril.

Pre-Show

 * The character backstory videos for Grog Strongjaw, Keyleth, Percival de Rolo, Scanlan Shorthalt, Tiberius Stormwind, Vax'ildan, and Vex'ahlia are shown.

Announcements

 * Ashley can't make it tonight, so her character, Pike, will be controlled by Matt.
 * The goal for tonight's giveaway is 2700 subscribers; the reward is an exclusive tabletop promo kit.
 * Marisha talks about the charity 826LA, which viewers can support with donations or by becoming a tutor.
 * Matt shows off the grey version of the first Critical Role T-shirt. If 1000 tees are sold, there will be another full-cast Q&A.
 * Marisha and Taliesin did voices for the Marvel: Age of Ultron pinball game, Taliesin as Ultron, and Marisha as Black Widow.
 * All of the cast voice roles for Avengers Assemble on Disney XD.
 * Laura appeared on an episode of TableTop recently.
 * Orion's comedy troupe, i8athumbtack on YouTube, just released a parody video called "Helping the Homeless!"
 * Liam plays a Decepticon named Underbite in the show Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
 * Matt is playing the voice of Tim Drake / Robin in Arkham Knight.

Previously on Critical Role
"The party was given a quest from the capital city of Emon to find the missing folk hero Lady Kima of Vord, a halfling paladin, who has gone missing on a pilgrimage, vision quest, over the past year. She had been missing for a number of weeks, nearly months at this point, and [ Vox Machina ] was sent to the dwarven city of Kraghammer to find and bring her back safely.

"''After going into the city, [they] discovered that [Lady Kima] had delved into the mines, seeking some sort of extremely dark evil that was seated somewhere deep beneath Kraghammer. In searching for her, [they] managed to find [their] way, through the mines, into the entrance passage into the Underdark, which is a very scary place. [They've] encountered a number of subterranean beasts and creatures, some of which are unnaturally mutated or altered by some sort of magic [they] cannot place. Upon going through these caverns, [they faced] a few battles with duergar, the ashen-skinned evil subterranean dwarves, and encountered [their] first mind flayers, illithids, which seemed to have allied, strangely, with the duergar. Normally enemies by nature, they're working together under what [Vox Machina] discovered since is a common enemy referred to as K'Varn. Nothing really is known of K'Varn other than it has a great power and has united these two forces for some nefarious purpose. These abominations, these strange mutations [they've] encountered, these experiments, also seem to have been created by K'Varn, though no one knows quite why or how.''

"As [they] traversed down, [they] managed to befriend an arcanist mind flayer that was cast out from the colony, named Clarota, who has aided [them] under the intent that [they] would help him free his people of the slavery of K'Varn and release the mind flayers to their normal state of mind. [They] made [their] way to the duergar fortress, Emberhold, found and released Lady Kima, who underwent many, many weeks of torturous experiences to come through still firm of mind and ready to kick some ass. Through a very painful battle in the Emberhold [they] managed to pull the party out, only a few of them turned to stone, and with a foot burned off, and Grog being dominated and Grog-napped by the surviving duergar queen, Ulara.

"The party then, in trying to locate Grog's position, found their way, delving past the lava-fall of the obsidian rock duergar-Underdark, deeper in, discovering this cursed pit of undeath, bone shards, and glass. Upon traversing it they encountered one of these abominations that [they've] seen traces of left before—this weird, partial-elven, partial-tentacle monstrosity that slashed through the party, nearly killed Trinket, but was defeated by [Vox Machina].

"[They] managed to make [their] way across this bone field and discover what appears to be a camp across a number of pillars in the distance. Vax stealthed up and saw that there was a camp of duergar, and apparently the surviving Queen Ulara giving them orders, next to Grog, who is currently bolted by iron bands to some sort of a cart that they've been dragging him through this tunnel passage with."

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Tiberius Stormwind
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot (DM-controlled)
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * K'Varn (voice only)

Returning

 * Clarota
 * Lady Kima of Vord
 * Queen Ulara

Mentioned

 * Bahamut
 * King Murghol
 * Lord Thunderbrand
 * Tremaine