Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep is an adventure module released for the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The book was released in hardcover and digital formats on March 15, 2022. The adventure is notable for being the first officially-licensed D&D adventure to take place in Exandria, the world of Critical Role.
The greed of mortals has awakened a powerful entity long thought destroyed. For eons, this mighty champion of the gods has been imprisoned in the darkest depths of Exandria. His name has been forgotten, as have his heroic deeds. Languishing in despair, he calls out for new heroes to save him.
Can you change these tropes?
- Bad Moon Rising: Exandria's small red moon Ruidus prominently features in the adventure, at one point briefly cursing the player characters with bad luck as its light flares while traveling from Jigow to Bazzoxan. Ruidus also allegedly cursed Alyxian when he was born under its flare, causing his life to be filled with turmoil and misfortune. The ruidium however is revealed to be created by Alyxian himself, and isn't related to the Moon of Ill Omen beyond being its namesake.
- Big Bad: Alyxian the Apotheon. He's the source of the ruidium corruption that threatens to spread across Exandria unless he's somehow stopped.
- The Big Guy: Maggie Keeneyes is a twelve-foot-tall ogre that is much smarter than her appearance would suggest she is. Getting her respect involves beating her in arm wrestling, and she's also one to force the issue during The Big Race if the players try and go the same way as the rival team. She wants to spar with a true tactical genius, write a song or poem that causes someone to weep with emotion, and be able to retire so she never has to kill anyone ever again.
- The Big Race: The final competition in Chapter 1 is a race between the heroes and the rival party to claim a jewel at the end of a cavern called the Emerald Eye. However, the gem is really the Jewel of Three Prayers. Anyone who touches it, player or rival, sees a vision.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Neutral Ending, where the heroes kill the Final Boss. There's quite a bit to be happy about, but the threat hasn't completely passed. After Alyxian dies, the heroes manage to escape from his Collapsing Lair, and the ruidium corruption ends across all of Exandria. The players then receive a vision of Alyxian being slain by Gruumsh and then themselves, but from the ashes of Alyxian's body a flower that blooms into Ank'Harel rises.
- Continuity Lock-Out: Averted. While this campaign takes place in the world of Critical Role, knowledge of the show or the setting of Exandria is not required to play this adventure. There are a few hints to the show here and there — the Vestiges of Divergence play a role, and there's references to the Calamity and the Betrayer Gods. Even so, the story of the campaign is self-contained, and no significant characters from the show appear in the adventure.note
- The Corruption: Ruidium causes people to slowly go insane. The player characters and the rivals are not immune to this effect, as using ruidium weapons or armor could potentially corrupt their bodies. It only affects physical appearance, up until Corruption Stage 6, at which point the corruption becomes so overwhelming that the creature dies with No Saving Throw. The only way to remove ruidium corruption permanently is to defeat the Big Bad, use a cleric's Divine Intervention, or with the Wish spell. By the time the rivals hit Tier 3 of their difficulty, they've all got cursed ruidium weapons.
- Downer Ending: One of the three Multiple Endings. The Final Boss kills the heroes, or the heroes set the Big Bad free without talking them down. After escaping from the Heart of Despair, the Apotheon races through the Netherdeep and erupts in Ank'Harel. Darkness fills the sky above the city, as if it were a moonless, starless night—and then Ruidus's light blazes abruptly, filling the inky sky with crimson ire, causing Ank'harel to erupt in flame. For the next year and a day, ruin comes to Exandria as Alyxian rules over it like a mad dictator, causing pain and suffering indiscriminately.
- Easing into the Adventure: Chapter 1 of the campaign is the player characters competing in a giant city-wide festival in Jigow. This includes such things as pie-eating contests, arm wrestling, and swimming in a stream. None if it is lethal, and the players are encouraged to check out the activities. The end of Chapter 1 is The Big Race in an underwater cavern, wherein the party finds a jewel that reveals the Big Bad and kicks off the main plot.
- Epiphanic Prison: The description for the chamber of the Final Boss notes that there is nothing physically stopping the Big Bad from leaving. Despite this, the boss will insist that they are "trapped" in there because of their own faults and a feeling that they feel they don't deserve to leave. The boss is, instead, waiting for the players to judge them fit to leave. Alternatively, the heroes can declare the Big Bad to be Beyond Redemption after seeing their Freudian Excuse, which starts the final boss fight.
- Experienced Protagonist: Downplayed. The adventure as written begins with the player characters at level 3 instead of level 1. The DM's guide for the adventure suggests a small homebrew adventure or one-shot quest for the party to get to know each other if they want to work to level 3 instead.
- Expy: Irvan Wastewalker is a D&D equivalent of Luke Skywalker. Both are young men who have a dark history because of their family name, seek to escape mundane life, and join up with a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits to save the world. Irvan's official artwork even slightly resembles Luke.
- Golden Ending: One of the three Multiple Endings is where the heroes talk the Big Bad down, setting them free only after their emotional scars are healed. The ruidium corruption ends across all of Exandria without the dark power to sustain it any longer, but Alyxian is given a chance to start his life over. Ank'harel doesn't burn down, as Alyxian sees how beautiful that everything has become in his absence. Whether the heroes help him settle into his new life or leave him to his own devices, it's clear that the worst has passed and the threat of the Apotheon is over.
- The Heart: Irvan Wastewalker is this among the rival team. A young human man of nineteen who wants to escape the burden that his name carries, hoping he can prove himself in spite of his family name instead of because of it. He wants to experience things he has never encountered before, fall in love with someone who doesn't know about his past lifetime, and appear mature despite his youthful appearance. Irvan is something of a romantic at heart, and the group values his companionship. His Establishing Character Moment is thanking his competition in a pie-eating contest, showing that he values kindness even to his rivals.
- Hero Antagonist: The rival team. They genuinely want to help and do some good for Exandria, but leader Ayo Jabe is a Glory Seeker and in way over her head once she finds out about the scale and scope of the threat. That said, the rival team and the party coming to blows will see the rivals try and avoid killing the players, if they can help it. Unless the players kill one of them first. Then, all bets are off.
- Justified Tutorial: The opening chapter is the Festival of Merit, where the party meets the rival characters and engages in competitions against them. Each of the competitions is a friendly fair event, so the stakes are very low. The checks made for it also carry little penalty for failure — failing to win the pie-eating contest, for instance, gives the character a brief stomachache from eating too much, but the effect will soon go away on its own.
- The Lancer: Dermot Wurder is the twelfth son of a poor goblin family in Jigow, and a longtime fierce ally of Ayo Jabe. He wants to protect his friends, have a life-changing holy vision, and discover that he has value as himself instead of someone who can help others.
- The Leader: Ayo Jabe is this for the rivals. She does most of the talking, and is the one whom the players will likely interact with more than any other on the rival team. A water genasi who has a short temper, Ayo Jabe appreciates people who make decisions as impulsively as she does. She wants to become a hero like the ones she has read about in stories, make a friend she can be truly herself around, and kill a legendary monster.
- Multiple Endings: There's three endings as written: the Best Ending, the Neutral Ending, and the Worst Ending. Which ending you get depends on if you apply what you've learned throughout the campaign to the Final Boss, and manage to talk them down before the worst comes to pass.
- Relationship Values: Multiple encounters can change depending on if The Rivals like you, hate you, or are indifferent to you. At the end of Chapter 1's race, the rivals will make sure you're okay if they're friendly or neutral to you after seeing the vision; if they're hostile to you, then they'll steal your prize and you're left to your own devices. Likewise, after leaving Jigow in Chapter 2, it's possible to try and catch up with the rivals if they left first. Friendly or neutral rivals will invite you into their camp, whereas hostile rivals will draw their weapons and make it clear that they're not interested in talking to you.
- The Rival: A Five-Man Band of them, and they're meant to be Hero Antagonists to the players. They can be friendly allies, indifferent rivals, or hostile enemies. How the relationship between the players and rivals develops is dependent on the actions the players take in Chapter 1 that establishes their Relationship Values with the rivals. It's even possible for the players to become The Unchosen Ones if the rivals with The Big Race and claim the jewel at the end instead of the players.
- Sequential Boss: The Final Boss is one of these. However, the second form is the strongest. The third form is like a Post-Final Boss where the heroes either talk Alyxian down or kill him.
- The Smart Guy: Galsariad Ardyth is the smart one among the rival team. He's a two-hundred-year-old drow that has studied magic for the longest time, and he's much more of a tactician than Ayo Jabe. He wants to match wits with an archmage, discover a magical secret no one else knows, and be respected by someone he respects. His Establishing Character Moment is watching a party member piece out a logic puzzle, albeit mocking them if they fail to solve it.
- Talking the Monster to Death: It's possible to defeat the Final Boss without killing them, though the boss is still going to try and kill the heroes. Killing Alyxian or sparing him will end the ruidium corruption. However, if the heroes take the latter option, then Alyxian is free to return to Ank'harel as an old man.
- The Unchosen One: It's possible for the rival team to see the vision instead of the player characters at the end of Chapter 1 if they win The Big Race. If that happens, then the rival team will be the heroes, and the players will be either hangers-on or people who try to claim their heroic destiny from the rivals instead.
- Under the Sea: The Big Race that ends Chapter 1 is an underwater maze that the player characters and the rival team are swimming through; first one to reach the end and claim the jewel wins. Lucky for everyone involved that you have Super Not-Drowning Skills thanks to being given a Potion of Water Breathing before the race starts.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Averted. The rivals get stronger as the adventure progresses, and have different tiers of difficulty, depending on when the party fights them. They even get better gear, albeit gear that's been tainted by ruidium corruption.
DISCLAIMER: The Netherdeep contains magical elements known to cause life-changing discoveries of ancient artifacts, red crystals growing out of your skin, long swims in dark places, aberrant fish, and enemies-to-friends-to-enemies plots. Consult a cleric or Matthew Mercer to see if the path to the Netherdeep is right for you.
