Did 'Critical Role' Kill Off Another Beloved Character?

Fans of the popular Dungeons & Dragons streaming show Critical Role are worried that a character was quietly killed off during last week's episode.

Critical Role, which features a group of voice actors playing D&D, is currently following the adventures of the Mighty Nein, a motley band of misfits attempting to avoid a regional conflict.The party experienced tragedy earlier this year when Mollymauk Tealeaf (played by Taliesin Jaffe) died during a conflict with a party of slavers. Now - it appears that another character associated with the group may have met their demise, and this one is far more innocent and smaller than Mollymauk.

After a series of misadventures, the group recently found themselves in the employ of Avantica, a pirate warlock hoping to unleash her patron Uk'otoa on the world. Fjord (played by Travis Willingham) is also a warlock with Uk'otoa as a patron and wanted to learn more about the strange demi-god, so the party went to a remote hidden temple guarded by yuan-ti, a race of snake people.

Venturing into the bowels of the temple, Fjord and Avantica seemingly broke one of the magical bonds imprisoning Uka'toa and caused the entire temple to flood. And while the party successfully escaped from the temple, several members almost drowned in the process.

However, there was one party member whose fate is a bit ambiguous. Sprinkle, a crimson weasel owned by Jester (played by Laura Bailey), accompanied the party into the temple and was likely on Jester's person when she almost drowned last episode. We know that Sprinkle was with Jester when they arrived on the island of Urukayxl where the temple was located - as Bailey checked up on the weasel during their trek through the jungle on their way to the temple. That likely means that Sprinkle also entered the temple and also would have been underwater for an extended period of time.

It doesn't help that Jester almost drowned and was only saved by the timely intervention of Fjord, who kissed her and transferred some air into her lungs. Fjord definitely didn't kiss the weasel, so it would have had to make several successful Constitution saving throws to avoid drowning too. The weasel also has a Constitution score of 8 - so it wouldn't be able to hold its breath very long at all.

On Tuesday's Talks Machina, an interview show that answers questions about Critical Role, DM Matt Mercer was asked about the fate of the weasel and would only reply "Spoilers." In addition, Critical Role had no comment about Sprinkle's fate when asked by ComicBook.com on Wednesday.

Ironically, this wouldn't be the time that Sprinkle almost drowned. Jester recently brought Sprinkle on a mission that involved swimming underwater and breaking into a series of tunnels underneath the city of Nicodranas. Mercer even commented that Sprinkle barely survived the underwater part of the mission and looked miserable afterwards.

If Sprinkle didn't survive the temple, this would mean that all three of the pets purchased by the Mighty Nein earlier this season are gone. A blink puppy named Nugget was left with Jester's mother before they departed Nicodranas and Professor Thaddeus the owl departed the group when they brought him on an encounter that eventually led to the group stealing a ship and leaving Nicodranas.

There is one big reason that Sprinkle could still be alive. Laura Bailey wasn't present at the last episode and Mercer could show the weasel some mercy since Bailey wasn't in control of her character during the flood scene.

We'll likely find out Sprinkle's fate on the next episode of Critical Role, which airs on Geek and Sundry's Twitch channel and Alpha on Thursday at 7 PM PT.