Critical Recap: Critical Role C2E103 (Maritime Mysteries)

Hello! Welcome to Critical Recap! I’m Dani Carr, Production Coordinator and CR Loremaster. Let’s dive into our recap of Critical Role Episode 103 Maritime Mysteries!

PAST & PRESENT

The Mighty Nein listen attentively as Vilya describes her druidic clan, the Ashari, and details her Aramente and fighting the Kraken as her final task. When she failed, losing her leg in the battle, she swam away and through some sort of tear between the planes, landing in Rumblecusp. She was awoken by the villagers of Vo near the Heavenfalls, her memories of her previous life already beginning to fade. She strongly believes that the greedy Vokodo is responsible for the fast working memory loss, especially having seen and experienced how deeply loyal people become to him in the process. Unfortunately, she has no idea what sort of creature Vokodo might be, despite her experience in the fire plane.

Vilya doesn’t know any of Vokodo’s physical weak points (…or buttholes) but his greed is an obsession. In the 25 years she has spent on Rumblecusp, she has noticed the island change over time. The swamp, with its elements of the Shadowfell, and the Ruin, have expanded and grown more dangerous, likely due to Vokodo. They theorize that the Heavenfalls is a potential weak spot, due to Vokodo forbidding its traversal. Beau asks Jester who had decided on Rumblecusp for Traveler Con and Jester explains that while she pitched a volcano, the Traveler picked the locale. Beau wonders if this means that the Traveler knew all along about the memory loss and was banking on it as a way to offload his ancillary followers.

Deeply worried about the memory loss, Caleb reminds everyone that he can get them off the island at any time, but he wants to know what Jester wants to do, as they have come here for her. She is hesitant to leave, as the Traveler is depending on her. The Nein want reinforcements to fight Vokodo, but gathering reinforcements like Terra would take time. Between Jester, Caleb, and Vilya, they can fly everyone to either the Heavenfalls or the ship for safety. They decide to try sleeping on the ship, away from the island, but when Jester messages Orly, he informs her that the crew is in the village but that the dragon turtle came and sunk the Ball Eater.

NIGHT AT HEAVENFALLS

After weighing their options on what to do tonight and how to prevent the memory loss, they decide to fly directly to the Heavenfalls. Vilya, Jester, and Caleb turn into giant owls, carrying the others between them. It takes another cast of polymorph to get them to the Heavenfalls, but they land safely on a small lagoon near the waterfall. Outside of the waterfall, which flows up to the sky and breaks against the cliff face, nothing else seems out of the ordinary, but the Presence is still there, watching them.

Jester stays in owl form, taking Beau scouting to see if the Presence subsides at all when they get closer to another uncharted island. Unfortunately, there is no change in that sense of being watched and they notice that the top of the mountain is redder and the smoke is thicker. As they fly back, the spell ends and Jester reverts back to a tiefling. The two plummet down but grab each other’s arms as Jester casts dimension door, taking them safely to the sand. They point out the angry looking volcano and Fjord tries to deny that him summoning Star Razor had anything to do with this show of intimidation, though Veth applauds it as a power move.

They decide to pop up the dome on the little lagoon. Jester talks to the Traveler, asking him if he knew about the memory loss beforehand. He confesses that he was aware and considered it a back up plan in case Traveler Con didn’t work out. This deeply upsets Jester, but he promises her that he would have never abandoned her or her friends here. Caleb comforts her and tells her that she has the Nein no matter what, but Jester still feels lost. Caduceus talks to the Wildmother, who tells him that Vokodo’s presence extends throughout the entire island and that there is no safe space to hide. Jester wonders if he would be weaker out of the water and theorizes that Vokodo himself was pulled from another plane.

Meanwhile, Beau and Veth scout out the waterfall itself, noticing that the waterfall is more like a geyser under the surface of the water. Beau swims through the pool, finding a 20 ft crack in the ocean floor where the water jet is streaming up and out. She and Veth return to the group and Caleb asks for jade, which Veth provides. He uses it to cast programmed image, filling the dome with scenes of the Mighty Nein together, like meeting Caduceus, time in the hot tub, the Trostenwald tavern. Even moments not from Caleb’s own memory, like Zuala, are included in the display of the Nein’s lives, all in hopes of keeping their memories intact. Caleb even makes a memory for Vilya and she asks him to show a half-elven man and a young girl with red hair.

SECRETS REVEALED

The Nein fall asleep surrounded by images of their lives and their loved ones, but when morning dawns, Yasha, Caduceus, Jester, and Fjord all have large memory gaps, finding it hard to recall names of people from their past or their reasons for coming here. Between Vilya, Caduceus, and Jester’s casting of greater restoration, all four have their memories returned to them but the experience is deeply unsettling. They head to the waterfall to investigate it in the daylight.

While examining the fissure, Yasha gets pulled into the geyser and shot into the air, passing a levitating Veth. She bamfs out her Necrotic Shroud on instinct, but her skeletal wings are unable to slow her descent as she crashes on top of the cliff. Yasha is fine, but she and Veth notice that her wings are beginning to grow white feathers. Yasha is quietly excited, having had no idea this could actually happen. Veth thinks she earned them by doing the right things and they both hope the feathers will continue to grow.

Caduceus shows the others an irregularity in the cliff face wall behind the waterfall. Jester controls the water so that Fjord can investigate further and he passes right through the wall of the cliff face, revealing it to be an illusion. He finds himself in an enormous cavern filled with ships. Caleb comes through as a polymorphed shark while Fjord and Jester hold a rope so the others can traverse safely. Beau gets pulled into the geyser but is caught by Yasha. The monk uses Slow Fall to dive past the illusion and into the water of the cavern. Eventually, everyone makes their way into the gigantic garage of sailing vessels.

Caduceus calls out the ‘squirrel hoarding nuts’ vibe of the entire cavern as they all investigate further. There are at least 20 ships or more, multiple that still seem seaworthy. Beau gathers that these are the ships of the different people who came to the island and never left. They at first think that Vokodo was moving these ships to trap people, but Vilya explains that once people decided to stay, they were instructed to steer their ships here and abandon them.

Fjord notices an orange glow under the water, resembling the torchblooms that led to Vokodo’s lair. They assume that this is his entrance into the garage. Caduceus examines the entrance but is seized by an uncontrollable urge to find what lies down the tunnel. Fjord chases him, fighting to pull him back, but Caduceus blinds him and continues down the path. Fjord yells for everyone to come help and they dive in to save their friend.

That is it for Episode 103 of Critical Role!

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Holy shit y’all, save Caduceus! Right now!!
• RIP Ball Eater. At least the crew is okay. Though also in danger of losing their memories.
• Fjord & Caduceus are now missing a hammer and a hat, but at least Fjord finally got the beard oil
• It seems as if Vokodo doesn’t need any outside help – the memory loss is so powerful and the cult vibe is so strong that people just accept it. That’s so not okay.
• Oh Mighty Nein.

Anyway, catch Episode 104 on Thursday, July 30th at 7pm Pacific on twitch.tv/criticalrole or a week later on our podcast! Is it Thursday, yet?