Critical Role Ends on Deadly Cliffhanger

The current campaign of Critical Role, a weekly web series featuring voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons, has had its share of deadly encounters and shock twists, but last night's episode featured one of its biggest cliffhangers yet. [SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 98 FOLLOWS.] While traveling across the sea to oversee peace talks between two warring countries, a member of the Mighty Nein and one of their closest allies fell at the hands of a dangerous threat from earlier in the campaign. At the end of last night's episode, the Mighty Nein's ship The Balleater came under attack by mysterious creatures from the sea, led by a powerful Deep Scion who was targeting Fjord. While the Mighty Nein staved off the attack, the Deep Scion and its allies killed both Fjord and the Mighty Nein's ally Orly. The episode ended with both characters laying dead on the deck of the ship.

The Deep Scion and the seaspawn were sent by Uk'otoa, a leviathan demi-god imprisoned under the ocean. Uk'otoa was previously Fjord's warlock patron at the beginning of the campaign, but Fjord shook off its influence by tossing his hexblade (the sign of his Warlock pact) into lava. However, judging by the Deep Scion's attacks on Fjord, he apparently still retained a connection to the last Cloven Crystal, a magical orb needed to free Uk'otoa from its prison. While fans didn't know if the Cloven Crystal was destroyed when Fjord tossed his blade into the lava, it appears that it still exists within him.

While the episode ended with both Fjord and Orly dead, fans shouldn't be too concerned with their fate. The Mighty Nein has two clerics on board, so they should be able to cast Revivify at the beginning of next week's episode to revive their fallen comrades. Even if the clerics don't have Revivify prepared, Caduceus also has access to Gentle Repose, which would preserve the bodies for 10 days, which would be plenty of time to prepare Revivify and even get the diamonds needed as spell components.

Critical Role airs new episodes every Thursday at 7 PM PT on their Twitch channel, with VOD available on YouTube the following Monday.