What's fun is that, in a way, this can almost reframe Vex's actions in the previous season. It goes from "jealous sister doesn't want people to come between her and her brother" to "Overprotective sister doesn't want her soft-boy brother to go through heartbreak so she tries to nip it in the bud". I mean, the first still probably applies, but it's fun to consider the latter
I saw a psychologist break down the team, and Vex is genuinely afraid Vax is going to fall in love with someone & she'll be left alone. It's actually really sad when you look at it that way.
Yes, Vex and Vax are Half-Elven, but also no, they are NOT bastards; a bastard is when the father is not known, or when the father does not acknowledge the child/children as legitimate (legitimately his children). It IS known who Vex and Vax's father is, and he DID acknowledge both of them as his legitimate children. The issue was/is that Vex and Vax's father was Elven nobility, and he one-night-standed their mother, a Human woman who was a servant. When she (the servant woman) got pregnant, he (their Elven dad) acknowledged them, but he treated both their mom and them like $#!+, because he saw both Humans and Half-Elves as lower/less than full-blooded Elves. Basically, their dad is a racist piece of $#!+, who only took them in because, to the other Elven nobility, it would have been seen as dishonorable to abandon his children, and all he cared about was his image; he NEVER loved Vax or Vex, and he was actually glad when they left.
I can't wait for that conversation between him and the twins. Especially with another surprise for them. For those who saw the streams you know and no spoilers!
8:31 fun fact the belt that Grog has is called "belt of dwarvenkind" which gives you multiple dwarven related abilities like reading and speaking their language BUT more specifically it allows Grog to grow a beard which is HUGE considering his race (Goliaths) can't actually grow beards. So him having a beard is AMAZING!
If he cant have a beard you wont grow one from the belt, so idk if Goliaths really cant have it. But yeah, i was hype for it to be a dwarf belt and screamed when he growed the beard.
In the campaign it also worked slightly different because he didnt instantly grow the beard. He got to roll every ingame day for a chance grow one, which made him finally getting it a big deal to him. Grog losing half his beard might also be a reference to the time Vax shaved half of it while he was asleep.
@@JP-eo8zw well it's NOT impossible for them to grow hair but that's like less than 1% of their species that sometimes have some hair growth. But it's so rare that it is seen as a thing they can't do.
Answer for Ant question at 29:42 How Matt Mercer runs his games is when a character dies, he talks to the player afterwards to see if they want to keep playing that character if possible, or roll up a new one. Ressurections are a pretty common thing in D&D, but Matt Mercer runs additional rules to make it a bit more involved and difficult. Can't wait for the next episode!
What hurts most is that Laura Bailey who play Vex and Liam O’brain who play Vax actually share the same birthday so they picked twins for their characters
So fun fact about 21:07 from the stream. This was actually a little nod to a moment that happened between Vax and Grog. The two of them had this big ongoing prank war between their characters. So Vax got Grog really drunk one night and then shaved off half of his beard. Travis (Grog's player) was so pissed when it happened he actually bent a mechanical pencil in half with his thumb live on stream! Highly recommend looking up the clip!
Watching the escalation of their prank war across the campaign was glorious, especially with how it ultimately ends in SPOILERS BELOW in their uniting together to turn their attention Sam by using the item that Tary gave Vax for use on Grog and instead using it on Scanlan, using one Sam character to prank another.
Btw you're making it seem like Travis is some raging maniac. Obviously it was all in good fun and the pencil thing was a joking response to it happening.
I really love how the dynamic between the twins is portrayed in these flashbacks because while yes, Vex and Vax do both need each other equally, in terms of straight up survival skills Vex doesn't need Vax. I think when we first see that cut scene of Vex storming off, leaving Vax alone in the woods, the expectation is that in the next cut scene you're going to see her struggling to get by on her own without her brother, but she's not. Vex is a ranger (later multi-classed into some rogue) her entire shtick is survival. She's killed her own quarry, has it cooking over a well made spit and fire, and has found shelter from the rain in the wilderness. Vax is the one who's found cold, wet, and crying alone and helpless in the woods. The scene really hits me because the lesson for Vex isn't really "I took for granted someone who cared about me! It's so hard being by myself! I need to appreciate my brother more because all this time he was just looking out for me!" it was "Shit, Vax was never doing any of this because he thought I was helpless or weak. I'm just the person he cares about most in this world. Maybe all we really do need is each other." and that's just really sweet and wholesome to me. ;-;
So, Alicia basically had it dead on in terms of Vex and Vax's parentage; momma was a human, daddy was an elf. From what we see here, he probably feels like his time with their mother was a mistake in the heat of passion that somehow sullied his hoity-toity elven reputation. Especially since he does (not sure about the timing of it compared to when he was with the twins' mom) have a wife that is an elf. Plus, his whole city is basically your stereotypical high-elf-prudishness.
Human mom raised the twins on her own before telling the twins about their father. Twins go to the elven city to connect with their father and are rejected pretty heavily by him and their entire culture. They return home to find that mom got burnt by a dragon (their part of the show's intro shows their discovery of their home when they got back). So they struck out on their own and grew up the rest of the way together with Vex studying dragons specifically to track down the one that killed their mom.
Yup, also the twins mother came from Byroden, which was considered pretty backwater. So to a highly esteemed elf like him having two children from a human, and a poor-ish one from the boonies on top of that was a disgrace.
Also, last I checked, elves in dnd can be pretty racist/specist(especially sun elves, who are even racist to other elf subspecies). At least, that’s what I know from reading the books I have.
Roll a dexterity saving throw. 1 You take 56 necrotic damage. I’m unconscious. Does that bring you below zero? *Stunned silence You see Vex’s lifeless body fall to the floor.
For those not familiar with D&D death rules: usually, when your character loses all their hit points, they "fall unconscious" and start fighting for their lives. On every round, they have to roll a "Death Save" and start tallying the number of successes and failures; if they manage to get to three cumulative successes first, they stabilise and are no longer fighting for their life, and if they reach three failures first, they are properly _dead._ Outside of combat and surrounded by your friends who can lend aid and healing, unconsciousness is not a particularly dire situation. The fact that Matt asked the follow-up question, whether the damage took her below zero, brought everyone up short - because the only reason why you would ask that is if the spell that did it had a special rule about insta-killing the victim, when certain conditions were met. That means, no unconsciousness, no saving throws… just immediate death.
fun fact: when Keyleth almost died from Delilah in season 1, it was actually Vex who got hit by that blast in the campaign, but they couldn't put her at death's door/kill her twice because that would cheapen her dying here ^^
Yeah that finger of death did like 70+ damage to her and put her to 1hp! If she went to 0 from it she would have immediately turned into a zombie or something undead.
There are actual lists that you can find on-line, which show exactly how often each Vox Machina character died during the campaign (obviously they're gonna die a whole lot less on this show); Grog is at the bottom, with "only" 5 deaths, and Vex is at the top, with... A LOT more than 5, lol..... In the world of D&D, pretty much EVERYTHING and EVERYONE wants to kill your character(s), and they often succeed; luckily, resurrections are ALMOST as common as deaths.😅
@@VegetaLF7 He can play a very intimidating character too. As much as a side character he is though, Allen Lee from Fallout 4’s Far Harbor is pretty intimidating. With how well written the DLC is, you can also understand his anger.
Also, little fun fact about 7:24, this is a joke that happened on stream, and it's not the first and only time the crew makes fun of some of Matt's NPC names, so once he declared "from now on every NPC is called David"
Banger casting choice there. He's perfect for the role, adds so much gravitas and baritone to every word he says, which is appropriate not just for a dragon but one claiming to be a king.
fun fact: Marisha, Kiki's VA, based Keyleth's Aramente on the Avatar. her character traveling to her sister tribes to learn their element so that she could be "The Voice of the Tempest" AKA The Avatar.
These first three episodes were so perfect... but this one is just incredible. Vax's crying had me crying for real. The animation as well was amazing! I mean, that shot of Vax's tears falling down Vex's face??
Grog got his beard sometime in 2015 or so? Before the 2018 God of War, Kratos' facial hair was limited to a mustache and chin beard with connective hairs down to the chin. Unless Critical Role got some VERY early concept art, Grog did it first.
Maybe, but in the campaign Grog's beard is described as looking very different iirc. At the very least it took a really long time to get to that point. Anyway, what I really wanted to say was Grog > Kratos.
Here’s a fun fact from the campaign. During this session the guy playing kash went up to grog while he was peeing and made it canon and known that grog is apparently packing, even for a Goliath.
They thought they can just role a save or take some poison damage, but the DM was like "Uh, no." and clapped them with an instant kill trap. When the designated trap spotter said don't touch anything, there is a good reason to listen. Especially when you are tackling an actual big boy dungeon in the world saving quest.
In the streamed game, Vex, Trinket, and Percy needed to make Dexterity Saving Throws. Vex rolled a Nat 1, Trinket rolled low as well, and I think Percy rolled a 21 [plus modifiers]. This is the transcription. ========== Matt Mercer [DM]: [To Percy] As you reach out and grab for the armor, as your fingers touch it, there's this vibrations and it seems like the shadows, the nearby shadows in the corners, seem to reach up towards your hands. You pull back in time, [To Vex and Trinket] but you and Trinket notice a little too late as there's a burst of death. A burst of death energy bursts out for a ten-foot radiusaround the entire sarcophagus. [To Percy] You avoid it. [To Vex and Trinket] Both you and Trinket suffer 58 points of Necrotic Damage. Laura Baily [Vex'ahlia]: I'm unconcious. Trinket-- Matt Mercer [DM]: [To Vex] Does that bring you below zero? Laura Baily [Vex'ahlia]: ...Yeah Matt Mercer [DM]:Vex's body falls and hits the stonework, and you look over as you see her eyes stare up, the last bit of air escaping from her lungs as the life drips out of her form. ========== This is what happened at the table during their streams and I just wrote it down and for you people to read and ponder. I'm not much versed with the rules of DnD, but I think, if I remember correctly, Damaging you to zero makes you unconsious and unable to function, a player has then to make 3 Death Saves. 3 success' means your back in the fight, and 3 loss' means that you die permanently. Additional hits while unconsious contribute to a loss of Death Saves. If the damage is a really big damage that would equal your health in the negatives, [ex. 50HP but you recieve 100 pts. of damage, that means there's 50 damage left over to attack your max health] it would effectively result in an instant kill. I think. If I got it correctly I do not have full context, so I do not know if she was low after the fight with the fish people, but the damage was high enough to warrant a 3 consecutive loss on the Death Saving throw. That, or what Matt Mercer just said, Death Magic Energy thingy-mabob. Also Kash and Zarah are both guest players during their streams
NoxilNobody is correct, I believe he used a modified Power Word Kill, an incredibly nasty necromancy spell that kills you instantly, no saving throws. Plus, I believe at this point they were still using Pathfinder rules rather than D&D 5e
@@Cabur_Skirata no no they switched from pathfinder to 5e way before the briarwoods arc, sure some rules needed adjustments but Matt as a DM (especially one who has made homebrew content) just tweaked the trap and necrotic spell a bit
29:44 Vex did in fact die in the same way in the actual campaign. In the campaign, the trap that Percy sprang when he touched the Deathwalker's Ward made Vex, Trinket, and Percy roll a saving throw. Vex rolled a 1 and got hit with 56 pts of necrotic damage bringing her below 0 hp. Instead of her being unconscious and getting to roll death saves, she was instantly and fully dead.
This is a perfect example of how it is incredibly important to remember in D&D, the fact of the matter is that YOU DO NOT HAVE PLOT ARMOR. Death can come for you at any time, from anything, for any reason. Make a dumb choice and roll poorly enough when dealing with the consequences and you may very well find yourself having to roll another character for the next session.
Exactly, we were fighting a boss and when he died he basically exploded in an AOE version of disintegration which completely obliterated a player who was dashing for cover while the group barbarian survived standing right next to it purely because one rolled well and the other didn't. Not to mention the one who died literally could not be resurrected because they were a soulless robot.
@@themocaw No. That's the OPPOSITE of plot armor. If something unexpected CAN kill your character (inflict enough hit point damage to drop them past their negative limit) then they are D E A D. The DM/GM MAY give the other players a chance to "bring them back". But he doesn't have to, especially if the player got dead by their own stupidity or if the death was "dramatic" or fits well with the story he's telling.-
Vex and Vax are half elves, and as is stereotypical of dnd lore. Half elves are often left unable to fit in with either race. Humans see them as privileged and magical, blessed with twice a humans lifespan but the same maturation rate. And Elves see them as children who will barely live live to reach adulthood, more human than elf, brash and impatient, blunt and unrefined. Ofcourse world views vary setting to setting, tieflings like Zahrah face similar discrimination owing to being demon blooded. And in exandria the half elf racism is relatively low, but the twins' dad was equally, a racist shit, but also hooked up with a human woman who fell pregnant.
Fun fact: Kashs VA Will Fredile, also voice Terry McGinnis in batman beyond, ron stoppable in kim possible, deadpool in ultimate spiderman. He also was eric Mathews in boy meets world.
13:44 funny you should mention that cause Keyleth is pretty much avatar inspired. She is of the tribe of air ashari and her aramente (pretty much pilgrimage) consist of visiting other ashari tribes which are you guessed it earth fire and water tribes)
Suddenly I remember campaign 2 where this flaw of his ended him in situation where he was forced to bs a dragon for I think five minutes because he teleported to him alone ahead of everyone 😂😂
Enjoy having your heart broken for the week till we find out anything in the next episodes next week xd. I hope you get to see how it actually happened in the campaign because its pretty accurate. Even Vex saying "I was gone for 30 seconds" is part of the actual campaign. And to answer Ant's question: Yes there have been a few character deaths in the Critical Role campaigns. They would make completely new characters.
I laughed very hard at the outfit swap. I was going to say that your tiara was very similar :) the goth look is neat :D There's definitely a theory that (in this version of the story, because it's a bit different from the game) Vex and Zahra are exes. Not mad at it. I did not know I needed to see Pike riding an armored bear, but I DID, and it's the most badass thing I've ever seen. GOOD FUCKIN' BEAR! "Do not go far from me" was a line from the campaign, and hearing it here immediately made me tear up, because it confirmed they were definitely... doing that. I knew it was probably coming when I saw the episode title, and they could hardly have left it out, it's a moment that changed the path of the whole story, but also I don't think I expected them to do it? I have heard Vax sobbing at the end in multiple reactions and it STILL gets me right in the heart every time. It's SO heartfelt. There's *so much* great stuff in this episode. A lot of it gets overshadowed by the ending, which honsetly, fair. Something I haven't seen anyone catch (or at least not mention) yet is the lens-shine from Percy when Zahra is shit-talking Vex about the loot from Gilmore's (wow, that sentence makes sense I swear, but it's a mess). He's just glaring at her, and then later, when Vex is elsewhere, Percy returns a calculated hit to Zahra's ego (the eyebrow twitch) about getting told the secrets first. Percy is still a little bit about vengeance, when nobody is watching. But also our goth broody boy DESPERATELY wants to be useful. Like the sphinx said, begging to be trusted again. Yes, Vax said "don't touch anything" but surely Percy is "the smartest person in the room" (in his head) and that doesn't apply to him? HE can touch things? He wants to PROVE he can be a positive thing for the group (see also his desperate attempts to gain them diplomatic benefits at the gate). Instead, oh hey, Percy, I hear you like guilt... *sound of dump truck backing up* This is for you. Is it [ timezone appropriate release date] yet? I NEED episode 4. I watched the original campaign, but this show has done such a brilliant job at adapting AND changing things to make them BETTER and I don't know what happens next and AHHHH *runs around flailing with Kermit arms* [/waffle] that was a lot, I have FEELS.
29:40 Vex did die here. The corpse had a trap on it that dealt necrotic damage, and a stipulation of this trap was basically "if the necrotic damage reduces you to 0 hit points or lower, you die instantly."
That poison dragon is voiced by the legendary Cree Summer. I been feenin for her since season 1 of A Different World. Long as she don't go full Elmyra, I'm cuffed.
Yup, Cree's always been a cutie, and she has such a sweet, unique voice that it is easy to pick her out whenever she puts in an appearance. For example, In the Mass Effect video game (the first one), I was just walking past the door of my roommate's bedroom, and I barely heard the voice of her (Cree's) NPC as my roommate was playing the game, and I immediately said "That's Cree Summer!", even though I had never played Mass Effect or seen/heard it before that time (played it many time since, though; an amazing, epic series of games!).
the whole percy asking keyleth to turn into a bird is actually very smart. what did she do when they fell out of the tree in the second episode? picked up the twins with her claws and carried them to safety. what could she do here? pick up scanlan and carry him to safety. But kiki is a little panicbean so its completely fine.
In the home game, Pike died but the team were able to resurrect her (it's why her hair is white), and there were plenty of close calls since, but on the STREAM, this was the first time a member of Vox Machina died. This was actually a really important crossroads for a number of the characters, as I can think of at least three of them who made life-changing decisions afterwards, but BECAUSE of Vex's death in the sunken tomb. All of them knew the stakes had been raised when the dragons attacked, and had personal reasons for seeing this "gather the vestiges" quest through, but Vex's death meant it hit close to home. It could easily have been any one of them, instead.
2:57 Yes there are definitely NPCs the players get involved with and close too. Gilmore for one... During the dragon attack on Emon as the players made their way through the havoc and chaos to Gilmore's shop, Matt was continuously rolling dice to determine whether they would arrive to find him dead or alive.
12:38 To answer your question. Yes it's not an uncommon thing. Among the commonly drawn shapes are such classics as: smiley face, a circle, names, I even knew one Scottish fellow at his family reunion's drinking contest who wrote the first line of Robbie Burns poem "Holy Willie's Prayer".
New character, huh? I'll add that to my T.D. list ;) Why did I write T.D. like that? What do you mean oddly specific? It just means "to do," that's all. Are you calling me dotty? Oh, you said Doty. What's a Doty? 😜
The DeRolo guide to romance: Step 1. Inadvertently get your love interest killed. Step 2. [Redacted] Step 3. Profit Resurrection magic may be required to progress past Step 1.
I just watched this scene in the campaign in a side by side comparison and the party is as shocked as the fans watching. Yeah, from what I've gathered that's basically what happened in the campaign. They're in a dungeon of a death goddess and the rogue is trying to look through it for traps and treasure and trying to emphasize how dangerous this place is( Vax's player was one of the more experienced players at the time I believe with only Percy's player and Matt having more experience) and they triggered a trap on the armor of the champion of the death goddess and bam. That happened, she was dealt over 50 points of necrotic damage. And I was not expecting it at all. The trap was specialized so that if you went below 0 HP you died instead of going unconscious. Matt does a great job describing the scene in the campaign but it's still heartbreaking.
Wasn't it a trap modified by Matt? as in: instant death occurs if you take damage, going below 0, equal to your max hp, and Matt made the trap so that if you go below 0 regardless of the amount, you die, or am I remembering it wrong?
@@NoxilNobody probably, I probably just assumed necrotic had a special effect, but after looking at the description of it, it doesn't seem to have one by itself.
From what i heard it was Liams first game, but as he was the rogue checking for traps is his major thing. And this was still like over a year into the game. Including the pre-stream stuff. The necrotic thing however is false, necrotic damage does not automatically kill you. There are spells that deal necrotic damage that do automatically kill however. And the trap was a spell storing rune trap.
To Answer Ant's question, without saying spoilers about how the story progresses: it depends on the situation, the rules for Death in DnD make it as not always permanent, there are a lot of items or spells that can resurrect a character, but if you don't have them or can't access them in time then yes, you reroll a new character
This is definitely one of those episodes where I recommend watching the “from table to screen” videos that show both the original moment with the players, and the scene that’s based off it
I love your reaction to the end. legit. if i didn't look up the stream (before season 2), i wouldn't know what's coming, but.... that was perfect. perfect. LoVM is amazing. This was the feels, I reacted the same when it happened. Story telling...
Yeah, the gut punch is dealt now you two also will suffer with this cliffhanger. The way they make some random death from a trap into a foreshadowed and tear jerking moment by adding flashbacks. Chef kiss.
One time 5 dudes in my boy scout troop teamed up to spell my last name in the snow cuz it was the longest one they knew. The adults asked me how I did it and I had no idea what they were talking about for most of the day.
Fun thing to notice for this episode specifically, the majority of this episode has NO background music. The main exceptions are the flashbacks and Scanlan's music, so for most of the rest of the episode they give no music all in order to instill a subconscious sense of something eerie, all for the big climax at the end when they bring the music back for the big emotional moment. THIS is how you take advantage of your medium to tell a story and is PEAK in director & story portrayal shit!
I’ve only seen a few cr episodes, but there are a few things that I’d like to share with you. First, in dnd it is possible to resurrect a pc, though it usually comes at a high cost. Second, Matt Mercer (the dm) has a few home brew rules concerning resurrection. Most importantly, resurrection isn’t guaranteed. He makes you roll to see whether or not the resurrection works. That’s all I can really say because I haven’t gotten to this point yet in the podcast.
On the topic of the Twin's lineage, around 19:40 They are HIS children, but back from when he was "ounger, and he himself made the "mistake" of falling for a "human peasant" woman when he was "elven nobility". At first, he did not acknowledge them at all, but when their mother died when their village was destroyed, he took them in. Vex mentally latched onto him out of trauma, and just wants to be accepted by him.
3:00 2 Game Master tricks to make your players HATE your BBEG and want to kill them: 1) Have the BBEG kill their favorite NPC (preferably right in front of them, taunting them as they do it). 2) Make their favorite NPC an agent of the BBEG. The size of the destruction or Emon was ridiculous, but the premise is "running the campaign 101".
After beating the briarwoods the team had to be thinking they could take on anything, considering how badly Silas and Delilah wrecked them on their first meeting... so destroying Emon in this way, letting them face the dragons enough to understand that they were wildly outmatched was a good way to humble them and make them afraid again. ..very very good storytelling.
Their father is an elf and mother is human. Yet he blames them for his weak pull-out game. Also about Keyleth blushing at all compliments is spot on. In the campaign she is asexual and is so genuinely appreciative of compliments that you just can't help but love her. Edit: So I guess Keyleth is actually demi. A cutie patootie demi druid.
Fun fact, Player characters do die during the critical roll twitch stream. Some get revived, some do not, and the player has to roll a new character. During the game Vax and Vex had a sibling rivalry from time to time when it came to sharing magic items. Vax has boots of haste that he had to share with Vex for a bit, and then had to steal them back. So her and Percy finding it while Vax was gone was also a chance for her to get it first, and therefore claim it. Here's What that Craven edge do. Craven edge makes you more intimidating when ever you have it out.(It gives you advantage) It saps the strength of enemies it damages, when ever you do damage to an enemy with the sword, craven edge has a chance to steal a point of strength and give it to its wielder. If it sends a creatures strength to zero it kills them. If you just keep sapping and stack your strength up to 25, it gets even bigger and starts dealing an additional 2d6 necrotic damage. (These resets on a short or long rest.) it is also... Sentient and chaotic evil. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 60 ft. This weapon can understand abyssal & common, and can communicate with anyone who's wielded it telepathically, and it also understands every language the person who its attuned to knows. It has more, but that's a secret.
Even worse when said npc you try saving and nothing works as they die in your characters arms... Just makes thrusting the blade into the one who did it all the more worthwhile
'perv on' is justt one of many names the crew corrupted during the travels of Vox Machina. :) those sessions lasted a while, so they often got a bit 'punchy'. :)
JFYI: Not to poke any holes here, but the guy who provided the voice of Throdak, is the same actor who played the Concierge in the John Wick films... and he's no longer on this mortal plane. 😢
Or if you Tolkien purist then all pure elves are 2 meters sexy androgynous blondes while half elves have this human “we have ethnicities” and “body types” stuff. Met some people who make High elves basically tube clones in their campaign.
@@hansolav5924 Theoretically they can have a beard. However I don't remember if it's just an extremely rare trait in elves or if it depends on age, Cirdan is described as having a beard, but he is 11,000 years old.
You can be full Grog if you want, it's not played up as much in the show, but Grog and Scanlan are brothel buddies. Also, Vex and Vax's father slept with their human mother, and then came to collect them when he realized they existed, and pretty much treated them like all the elves treat half elves. As for Grogs Sword, there are some HUGE drawbacks. In the game it gives the user more strength every time it kills someone and drains it's blood, but they have to skip any type of rest to keep it, and there is another huge drawback that will come up later. I think they are playing up more as a drug high in the show.
Here are some details about the game, if you're interested, since they changed a lot when adapting the campaign into the show. Everything discussed below are from episodes you've already watched: 1) When the party first arrived to that region there was a martial arts tournament being held in the Colosseum. Grog and Vax entered the tournament, the latter doing so to test himself against Grog. During the fights Scanlan tried to be slick and use his magic to give his friends an edge. He almost got caught. Eventually this ended in Grog and Scanlan fighting the old man. Grog and Scanlan were getting the crap kicked out of them. He was dodging lightning, he was healing himself with Qi, he was dealing more attacks than all of them put together. Eventually Scanlan said fuck it and trapped him inside of magically created, unbreakable, cage. 2) Originally no one in the party had history with the Slayer's Take. They just a badass hunter's guild that party had decided to seek out. 3) The party didn't weren't telepathically tested by the Sphinx. Instead they were made to participate in two extremely deadly hunts to test their mettle and worthiness of meeting the Sphinx. For these hunts the party was split into two teams with support from the Hunter's Take. One hunt involved the party fighting a white dragon (ice dragon) that also had a group of frost giants working for him. The other hunt I forget, but I think it actually involved the hydra mentioned before. 4) Vex was the one that originally opened the box. She saw a piece of treasure in the box and tried to take it. This happened after the party had a climatic fight and were still low on HP. This was a completely random event made everyone gawk. 5) Vax saying "I was only gone for 30 seconds" was taken directly out of the campaign.
It wasn't Vex who opened the sarcophagus in the campaign it was Percy, Vex originally went to help Vax after the battle, but Laura metagame Vex into the situation, after Matt described to Lian what Percy saw inside the sarcophagus.
Thordak "The entire realm shall quake in our shadow" Alicia: "My entire reproductive system is quaking in your voice" Goliaths like Grog can't grow beards, that's why he got so excited. For some great laughs, look on UA-cam for "Grog beard, Vax prank." There was some amazingly funny shit that went down in the real game. Spelling words, especially names, is super popular for the olympic sport of snow peeing lol They did an amazing job translating the events from the real game to the animated show for what happened to Vex. Incredibly accurate. It stunned EVERYBODY at the table. Barely one season in and they already can pull off this level of emotional heartstring pulling. Vox Machina just hits different.
Fun fact, way back in the beginning of season 1 when we first met Gilmore, he calls Vax his "handsome half-elf." So yes, Vex and Vax are half-elven; their mother was a human. Keylith is a half-elf too for that matter, but I don't remember if she had one human and one elven parent, or if they were both half-elf.
Some people, have already commented this, but this contextualise Vex reactions last season. She was overprotective, but she had reasons to be, as you can see in this episode.
So craven edge is an original item from critical role's campaign 1 vox machina. Facts the sword steals strength from anyone attacked by it giving it to the hold of the blade making them hit harder and after so much is absorbed and even more damage to the hit. On a side note the blade has a tendency to try and take something very important from it holder. I'll leave that for the show to explain.* if it doesn't I'll explain what it does later.
He did, it played out just like the show adaptation. He went to reach for the Deathwalkers Ward and triggered the trap. He passed his save, Vex did not
It was a modified 'Power, Word, Kill' spell, if you go below 0 on that spell, you die. No death saving roles (usually you have to get three failures to die), you just die.
Not necessarily. Power Word Kill automatically takes you out if you’re below 100 hp, and there is no save. Vex failed a dex save and took necrotic damage. There was a power word kill trap in campaign 2 though in a similar situation.
@@frgscajs2018 Matt confirmed it was that spell in an aftershow, he modified it for a stored rune base apparently. The Dex was to notice the trap in time. If it's wrong then it's likely I'm getting mixed up though, was sure I wasn't but hey, 900 hrs of show to remember.
Ant talking about how given anything to write/draw with he'll make a dick made me think if the second campaign gets a similar treatment he'll like one of the characters a lot
![[All I want to Do. Is See you Turn into a Giant Woman] Hellsing Ultimate Abridged 6 Reaction](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/j9KlMpr2y44/mqdefault.jpg)
What's fun is that, in a way, this can almost reframe Vex's actions in the previous season. It goes from "jealous sister doesn't want people to come between her and her brother" to "Overprotective sister doesn't want her soft-boy brother to go through heartbreak so she tries to nip it in the bud". I mean, the first still probably applies, but it's fun to consider the latter
I saw a psychologist break down the team, and Vex is genuinely afraid Vax is going to fall in love with someone & she'll be left alone. It's actually really sad when you look at it that way.
The flashbacks made this hit so so much harder.
And yes, the twins were half-elven bastards.
Yes, Vex and Vax are Half-Elven, but also no, they are NOT bastards; a bastard is when the father is not known, or when the father does not acknowledge the child/children as legitimate (legitimately his children). It IS known who Vex and Vax's father is, and he DID acknowledge both of them as his legitimate children.
The issue was/is that Vex and Vax's father was Elven nobility, and he one-night-standed their mother, a Human woman who was a servant. When she (the servant woman) got pregnant, he (their Elven dad) acknowledged them, but he treated both their mom and them like $#!+, because he saw both Humans and Half-Elves as lower/less than full-blooded Elves.
Basically, their dad is a racist piece of $#!+, who only took them in because, to the other Elven nobility, it would have been seen as dishonorable to abandon his children, and all he cared about was his image; he NEVER loved Vax or Vex, and he was actually glad when they left.
I can't wait for that conversation between him and the twins. Especially with another surprise for them. For those who saw the streams you know and no spoilers!
Which should really endear them to their father, given what a total bastard _he_ is…
8:31
fun fact the belt that Grog has is called "belt of dwarvenkind" which gives you multiple dwarven related abilities like reading and speaking their language BUT more specifically it allows Grog to grow a beard which is HUGE considering his race (Goliaths) can't actually grow beards. So him having a beard is AMAZING!
If he cant have a beard you wont grow one from the belt, so idk if Goliaths really cant have it.
But yeah, i was hype for it to be a dwarf belt and screamed when he growed the beard.
In the campaign it also worked slightly different because he didnt instantly grow the beard. He got to roll every ingame day for a chance grow one, which made him finally getting it a big deal to him. Grog losing half his beard might also be a reference to the time Vax shaved half of it while he was asleep.
@@JP-eo8zwI believe you either grow a beard or it has 50% of growing it in case it’s a race that can’t have beards
@@JP-eo8zw Goliaths can grow beards, it's just rare for them to have any sort of hair in general.
@@JP-eo8zw well it's NOT impossible for them to grow hair but that's like less than 1% of their species that sometimes have some hair growth. But it's so rare that it is seen as a thing they can't do.
Answer for Ant question at 29:42
How Matt Mercer runs his games is when a character dies, he talks to the player afterwards to see if they want to keep playing that character if possible, or roll up a new one.
Ressurections are a pretty common thing in D&D, but Matt Mercer runs additional rules to make it a bit more involved and difficult.
Can't wait for the next episode!
This one already hurted in the CR Streams, but animated was worse! Someone give this woman a hug!
Just wait when and if they put in the bathtub😉🤣
Yeah the flashbacks and the music made it so much worse emotionally
What hurts most is that Laura Bailey who play Vex and Liam O’brain who play Vax actually share the same birthday so they picked twins for their characters
@@momqabtgonna be such a jarring scene especially animated
@@mr.pickle5334 idunno they suggest and show a lot anyway🤷♂️just think Scanlan s1e1 tavernkeep's daughter and s1e5 monster you faced
So fun fact about 21:07 from the stream. This was actually a little nod to a moment that happened between Vax and Grog. The two of them had this big ongoing prank war between their characters. So Vax got Grog really drunk one night and then shaved off half of his beard. Travis (Grog's player) was so pissed when it happened he actually bent a mechanical pencil in half with his thumb live on stream!
Highly recommend looking up the clip!
Watching the escalation of their prank war across the campaign was glorious, especially with how it ultimately ends in SPOILERS BELOW
in their uniting together to turn their attention Sam by using the item that Tary gave Vax for use on Grog and instead using it on Scanlan, using one Sam character to prank another.
Btw you're making it seem like Travis is some raging maniac. Obviously it was all in good fun and the pencil thing was a joking response to it happening.
In all honesty it's not hard to bend the kind of mechanical pencil Travis did, it was a Bic brand.
@@qkffn5118
Pens/pencils are cheap. Jokes are priceless.
@@qkffn5118 "you're making it seem lime Travis is some raging maniac"
Bro just bent a pencil, you making it sound like he killed somebody 💀💀💀
I really love how the dynamic between the twins is portrayed in these flashbacks because while yes, Vex and Vax do both need each other equally, in terms of straight up survival skills Vex doesn't need Vax. I think when we first see that cut scene of Vex storming off, leaving Vax alone in the woods, the expectation is that in the next cut scene you're going to see her struggling to get by on her own without her brother, but she's not. Vex is a ranger (later multi-classed into some rogue) her entire shtick is survival. She's killed her own quarry, has it cooking over a well made spit and fire, and has found shelter from the rain in the wilderness. Vax is the one who's found cold, wet, and crying alone and helpless in the woods. The scene really hits me because the lesson for Vex isn't really "I took for granted someone who cared about me! It's so hard being by myself! I need to appreciate my brother more because all this time he was just looking out for me!" it was "Shit, Vax was never doing any of this because he thought I was helpless or weak. I'm just the person he cares about most in this world. Maybe all we really do need is each other." and that's just really sweet and wholesome to me. ;-;
So, Alicia basically had it dead on in terms of Vex and Vax's parentage; momma was a human, daddy was an elf. From what we see here, he probably feels like his time with their mother was a mistake in the heat of passion that somehow sullied his hoity-toity elven reputation. Especially since he does (not sure about the timing of it compared to when he was with the twins' mom) have a wife that is an elf. Plus, his whole city is basically your stereotypical high-elf-prudishness.
Human mom raised the twins on her own before telling the twins about their father. Twins go to the elven city to connect with their father and are rejected pretty heavily by him and their entire culture. They return home to find that mom got burnt by a dragon (their part of the show's intro shows their discovery of their home when they got back). So they struck out on their own and grew up the rest of the way together with Vex studying dragons specifically to track down the one that killed their mom.
The Twins’ prequel novel, Kith & Kin, kinda expands on that: Turns out it was a one time fling for Syldor on the way of a diplomatic mission.
Yup, also the twins mother came from Byroden, which was considered pretty backwater. So to a highly esteemed elf like him having two children from a human, and a poor-ish one from the boonies on top of that was a disgrace.
Also, last I checked, elves in dnd can be pretty racist/specist(especially sun elves, who are even racist to other elf subspecies).
At least, that’s what I know from reading the books I have.
Roll a dexterity saving throw.
1
You take 56 necrotic damage.
I’m unconscious.
Does that bring you below zero?
*Stunned silence
You see Vex’s lifeless body fall to the floor.
For those not familiar with D&D death rules: usually, when your character loses all their hit points, they "fall unconscious" and start fighting for their lives. On every round, they have to roll a "Death Save" and start tallying the number of successes and failures; if they manage to get to three cumulative successes first, they stabilise and are no longer fighting for their life, and if they reach three failures first, they are properly _dead._ Outside of combat and surrounded by your friends who can lend aid and healing, unconsciousness is not a particularly dire situation.
The fact that Matt asked the follow-up question, whether the damage took her below zero, brought everyone up short - because the only reason why you would ask that is if the spell that did it had a special rule about insta-killing the victim, when certain conditions were met. That means, no unconsciousness, no saving throws… just immediate death.
fun fact: when Keyleth almost died from Delilah in season 1, it was actually Vex who got hit by that blast in the campaign, but they couldn't put her at death's door/kill her twice because that would cheapen her dying here ^^
Yeah that finger of death did like 70+ damage to her and put her to 1hp! If she went to 0 from it she would have immediately turned into a zombie or something undead.
There are actual lists that you can find on-line, which show exactly how often each
Vox Machina character died during the campaign (obviously they're gonna die a whole lot less on this show); Grog is at the bottom, with "only" 5 deaths, and Vex is at the top, with... A LOT more than 5, lol.....
In the world of D&D, pretty much EVERYTHING and EVERYONE wants to kill your character(s), and they often succeed; luckily, resurrections are ALMOST as common as deaths.😅
When you realize "Do not go far from me" isn't just cause he wants to protect her but because he literally just needs her right there
Liam O’Brien KILLED me when he started crying bruh. Master VA right there.
He loves playing the sad boy act, dude's a master at it
@@VegetaLF7 He can play a very intimidating character too. As much as a side character he is though, Allen Lee from Fallout 4’s Far Harbor is pretty intimidating. With how well written the DLC is, you can also understand his anger.
I mean, to be fair, all of them are master va's.
Also, little fun fact about 7:24, this is a joke that happened on stream, and it's not the first and only time the crew makes fun of some of Matt's NPC names, so once he declared "from now on every NPC is called David"
and yet, sadly none of the NPCs since "Mick" have been named David. 😥
I’m so happy they got Lance Reddick to voice Thordak. Been such a fan of him ever since he voiced Commander Zavala
Brother 🤝
Banger casting choice there. He's perfect for the role, adds so much gravitas and baritone to every word he says, which is appropriate not just for a dragon but one claiming to be a king.
all i can hear is zavala any time thordak speaks
fun fact: Marisha, Kiki's VA, based Keyleth's Aramente on the Avatar. her character traveling to her sister tribes to learn their element so that she could be "The Voice of the Tempest" AKA The Avatar.
Remember in the first episode of the season when you asked
“Can you imagine if one of them got bodied?”
Yeah, that had me in stitches.
Also how much they did NOT like Vex in the first season.....
And they running gag of dissing Vex in first season? Yeah this reaction was meant to be.)))
Oh I remember that
These first three episodes were so perfect... but this one is just incredible. Vax's crying had me crying for real. The animation as well was amazing! I mean, that shot of Vax's tears falling down Vex's face??
The most terrifing thing about being an adventurer is that death is around every corner. And you are most lilkley to die by a trap than a dragon.
you know its funny, everyone compares Grog to Kratos but im pretty sure Grog got his beard before Kratos did.
Just like how Minsc form Baldur's Gate 2 and possibly 3, also got compared to Kratos.
He absolutely got his beard first. (Unless Matt/Travis got a look at some EARLY concept art)
Grog got his beard sometime in 2015 or so?
Before the 2018 God of War, Kratos' facial hair was limited to a mustache and chin beard with connective hairs down to the chin. Unless Critical Role got some VERY early concept art, Grog did it first.
Maybe, but in the campaign Grog's beard is described as looking very different iirc. At the very least it took a really long time to get to that point.
Anyway, what I really wanted to say was Grog > Kratos.
@@Mythlorrr It took a handful of sessions, and then Vax shaved half of it off, but it grew back in full before the Briarwoods reached Emon.
Here’s a fun fact from the campaign. During this session the guy playing kash went up to grog while he was peeing and made it canon and known that grog is apparently packing, even for a Goliath.
T- "Now Doty, I said Realism."
D- *Nods*
T- "Really?! ...How does he walk?"
P- "With pride and dignity."
This episode shows how enjoyable you are to watch as a reactor. I did not cry at THE SCENE but watching you react to it honestly gave me a few tears.
They thought they can just role a save or take some poison damage, but the DM was like "Uh, no." and clapped them with an instant kill trap.
When the designated trap spotter said don't touch anything, there is a good reason to listen. Especially when you are tackling an actual big boy dungeon in the world saving quest.
You weren't seeing those flashbacks for what they were and Legend of Vox Machina was like "oh you gonna learn today." Very well done scene.
Vax and Vex are Half-elves yes, that's mentionned briefly one or two times in season 1.
Most notably by Gilmore to Vax in episode 2
In the streamed game, Vex, Trinket, and Percy needed to make Dexterity Saving Throws. Vex rolled a Nat 1, Trinket rolled low as well, and I think Percy rolled a 21 [plus modifiers]. This is the transcription.
==========
Matt Mercer [DM]: [To Percy] As you reach out and grab for the armor, as your fingers touch it, there's this vibrations and it seems like the shadows, the nearby shadows in the corners, seem to reach up towards your hands. You pull back in time, [To Vex and Trinket] but you and Trinket notice a little too late as there's a burst of death. A burst of death energy bursts out for a ten-foot radiusaround the entire sarcophagus. [To Percy] You avoid it. [To Vex and Trinket] Both you and Trinket suffer 58 points of Necrotic Damage.
Laura Baily [Vex'ahlia]: I'm unconcious. Trinket--
Matt Mercer [DM]: [To Vex] Does that bring you below zero?
Laura Baily [Vex'ahlia]: ...Yeah
Matt Mercer [DM]:Vex's body falls and hits the stonework, and you look over as you see her eyes stare up, the last bit of air escaping from her lungs as the life drips out of her form.
==========
This is what happened at the table during their streams and I just wrote it down and for you people to read and ponder. I'm not much versed with the rules of DnD, but I think, if I remember correctly, Damaging you to zero makes you unconsious and unable to function, a player has then to make 3 Death Saves. 3 success' means your back in the fight, and 3 loss' means that you die permanently.
Additional hits while unconsious contribute to a loss of Death Saves. If the damage is a really big damage that would equal your health in the negatives, [ex. 50HP but you recieve 100 pts. of damage, that means there's 50 damage left over to attack your max health] it would effectively result in an instant kill. I think. If I got it correctly
I do not have full context, so I do not know if she was low after the fight with the fish people, but the damage was high enough to warrant a 3 consecutive loss on the Death Saving throw. That, or what Matt Mercer just said, Death Magic Energy thingy-mabob.
Also Kash and Zarah are both guest players during their streams
As far as I know, necrotic damage kills you instantly if it drops you below 0 HP, so no death saves.
If I recall correctly, Matt modified the trap a bit to make it if you go below 0 you die, that's also something a DM can do
NoxilNobody is correct, I believe he used a modified Power Word Kill, an incredibly nasty necromancy spell that kills you instantly, no saving throws. Plus, I believe at this point they were still using Pathfinder rules rather than D&D 5e
@@Cabur_Skirata no no they switched from pathfinder to 5e way before the briarwoods arc, sure some rules needed adjustments but Matt as a DM (especially one who has made homebrew content) just tweaked the trap and necrotic spell a bit
Necrotic damage negates death saves. This spell dealt necrotic damages and bring her to zero. RAW instant death.
29:44 Vex did in fact die in the same way in the actual campaign. In the campaign, the trap that Percy sprang when he touched the Deathwalker's Ward made Vex, Trinket, and Percy roll a saving throw. Vex rolled a 1 and got hit with 56 pts of necrotic damage bringing her below 0 hp. Instead of her being unconscious and getting to roll death saves, she was instantly and fully dead.
This is a perfect example of how it is incredibly important to remember in D&D, the fact of the matter is that YOU DO NOT HAVE PLOT ARMOR. Death can come for you at any time, from anything, for any reason. Make a dumb choice and roll poorly enough when dealing with the consequences and you may very well find yourself having to roll another character for the next session.
Exactly, we were fighting a boss and when he died he basically exploded in an AOE version of disintegration which completely obliterated a player who was dashing for cover while the group barbarian survived standing right next to it purely because one rolled well and the other didn't. Not to mention the one who died literally could not be resurrected because they were a soulless robot.
You do have plot armor. It's called hit points.
@@themocaw No. That's the OPPOSITE of plot armor.
If something unexpected CAN kill your character (inflict enough hit point damage to drop them past their negative limit) then they are D E A D.
The DM/GM MAY give the other players a chance to "bring them back". But he doesn't have to, especially if the player got dead by their own stupidity or if the death was "dramatic" or fits well with the story he's telling.-
Vex and Vax are half elves, and as is stereotypical of dnd lore. Half elves are often left unable to fit in with either race.
Humans see them as privileged and magical, blessed with twice a humans lifespan but the same maturation rate.
And Elves see them as children who will barely live live to reach adulthood, more human than elf, brash and impatient, blunt and unrefined.
Ofcourse world views vary setting to setting, tieflings like Zahrah face similar discrimination owing to being demon blooded. And in exandria the half elf racism is relatively low, but the twins' dad was equally, a racist shit, but also hooked up with a human woman who fell pregnant.
Fun fact: Kashs VA Will Fredile, also voice Terry McGinnis in batman beyond, ron stoppable in kim possible, deadpool in ultimate spiderman. He also was eric Mathews in boy meets world.
Liam O'Brian is a master at turning on the waterworks.
13:44 funny you should mention that cause Keyleth is pretty much avatar inspired. She is of the tribe of air ashari and her aramente (pretty much pilgrimage) consist of visiting other ashari tribes which are you guessed it earth fire and water tribes)
Marsha loves avatar even her next character can be summed up as "Korra but more asshole". :)
@@mrksimka1159I mean who doesn’t love avatar world. One of the most influential animation series from the west imo)
The sword is sentient, bloodthirsty and smarter than Grog. It's not hard to guess the drawback.
No offense to our wonderful Big Man but most things are smarter than him by default
The next three episodes CANNOT DROP SOON ENOUGH! :D
IS IT THURSDAY YET?????
Spoiler - Not only CAN they drop soon enough, they actually WILL drop soon enough... possibly on a Thursday.....
The twins be half elf half human. And fun fact z and kashs voice artors were guest players at this point in the campaign. ^^
Travis (Grog's player) will always be the one to push the button, especially if he doesn't know what it does.
Suddenly I remember campaign 2 where this flaw of his ended him in situation where he was forced to bs a dragon for I think five minutes because he teleported to him alone ahead of everyone 😂😂
The nuts thing about this show: that's just how the dice rolled.
btw the group contstantly try to make fun of Matts names he makes up, Purvan being a prime example
Matt once named someone Mike Hunt. Imagine the grown children around the table.
Enjoy having your heart broken for the week till we find out anything in the next episodes next week xd. I hope you get to see how it actually happened in the campaign because its pretty accurate. Even Vex saying "I was gone for 30 seconds" is part of the actual campaign. And to answer Ant's question: Yes there have been a few character deaths in the Critical Role campaigns. They would make completely new characters.
I laughed very hard at the outfit swap. I was going to say that your tiara was very similar :) the goth look is neat :D
There's definitely a theory that (in this version of the story, because it's a bit different from the game) Vex and Zahra are exes. Not mad at it.
I did not know I needed to see Pike riding an armored bear, but I DID, and it's the most badass thing I've ever seen. GOOD FUCKIN' BEAR!
"Do not go far from me" was a line from the campaign, and hearing it here immediately made me tear up, because it confirmed they were definitely... doing that. I knew it was probably coming when I saw the episode title, and they could hardly have left it out, it's a moment that changed the path of the whole story, but also I don't think I expected them to do it?
I have heard Vax sobbing at the end in multiple reactions and it STILL gets me right in the heart every time. It's SO heartfelt.
There's *so much* great stuff in this episode. A lot of it gets overshadowed by the ending, which honsetly, fair.
Something I haven't seen anyone catch (or at least not mention) yet is the lens-shine from Percy when Zahra is shit-talking Vex about the loot from Gilmore's (wow, that sentence makes sense I swear, but it's a mess). He's just glaring at her, and then later, when Vex is elsewhere, Percy returns a calculated hit to Zahra's ego (the eyebrow twitch) about getting told the secrets first. Percy is still a little bit about vengeance, when nobody is watching.
But also our goth broody boy DESPERATELY wants to be useful. Like the sphinx said, begging to be trusted again. Yes, Vax said "don't touch anything" but surely Percy is "the smartest person in the room" (in his head) and that doesn't apply to him? HE can touch things? He wants to PROVE he can be a positive thing for the group (see also his desperate attempts to gain them diplomatic benefits at the gate). Instead, oh hey, Percy, I hear you like guilt... *sound of dump truck backing up* This is for you.
Is it [ timezone appropriate release date] yet? I NEED episode 4. I watched the original campaign, but this show has done such a brilliant job at adapting AND changing things to make them BETTER and I don't know what happens next and AHHHH *runs around flailing with Kermit arms*
[/waffle] that was a lot, I have FEELS.
29:40 Vex did die here. The corpse had a trap on it that dealt necrotic damage, and a stipulation of this trap was basically "if the necrotic damage reduces you to 0 hit points or lower, you die instantly."
Goddamn, Alicia... I managed to hold myself together while I was watching it the first time, but your reaction made me shed couple of tears...
That poison dragon is voiced by the legendary Cree Summer. I been feenin for her since season 1 of A Different World. Long as she don't go full Elmyra, I'm cuffed.
Yup, Cree's always been a cutie, and she has such a sweet, unique voice that it is easy to pick her out whenever she puts in an appearance.
For example, In the Mass Effect video game (the first one), I was just walking past the door of my roommate's bedroom, and I barely heard the voice of her (Cree's) NPC as my roommate was playing the game, and I immediately said "That's Cree Summer!", even though I had never played Mass Effect or seen/heard it before that time (played it many time since, though; an amazing, epic series of games!).
the whole percy asking keyleth to turn into a bird is actually very smart. what did she do when they fell out of the tree in the second episode? picked up the twins with her claws and carried them to safety. what could she do here? pick up scanlan and carry him to safety. But kiki is a little panicbean so its completely fine.
I think the idea was that scanlan was underwater.
In the home game, Pike died but the team were able to resurrect her (it's why her hair is white), and there were plenty of close calls since, but on the STREAM, this was the first time a member of Vox Machina died. This was actually a really important crossroads for a number of the characters, as I can think of at least three of them who made life-changing decisions afterwards, but BECAUSE of Vex's death in the sunken tomb. All of them knew the stakes had been raised when the dragons attacked, and had personal reasons for seeing this "gather the vestiges" quest through, but Vex's death meant it hit close to home. It could easily have been any one of them, instead.
2:57 Yes there are definitely NPCs the players get involved with and close too. Gilmore for one... During the dragon attack on Emon as the players made their way through the havoc and chaos to Gilmore's shop, Matt was continuously rolling dice to determine whether they would arrive to find him dead or alive.
12:38 To answer your question. Yes it's not an uncommon thing. Among the commonly drawn shapes are such classics as: smiley face, a circle, names, I even knew one Scottish fellow at his family reunion's drinking contest who wrote the first line of Robbie Burns poem "Holy Willie's Prayer".
Yeah new characters happen, one character is gone and the next town you meet a new guy and his robot stenographer who joins your party.
That sounds weirdly specific xD
New character, huh? I'll add that to my T.D. list ;)
Why did I write T.D. like that? What do you mean oddly specific? It just means "to do," that's all. Are you calling me dotty? Oh, you said Doty. What's a Doty?
😜
The DeRolo guide to romance:
Step 1. Inadvertently get your love interest killed.
Step 2. [Redacted]
Step 3. Profit
Resurrection magic may be required to progress past Step 1.
I just watched this scene in the campaign in a side by side comparison and the party is as shocked as the fans watching.
Yeah, from what I've gathered that's basically what happened in the campaign. They're in a dungeon of a death goddess and the rogue is trying to look through it for traps and treasure and trying to emphasize how dangerous this place is( Vax's player was one of the more experienced players at the time I believe with only Percy's player and Matt having more experience) and they triggered a trap on the armor of the champion of the death goddess and bam. That happened, she was dealt over 50 points of necrotic damage. And I was not expecting it at all. The trap was specialized so that if you went below 0 HP you died instead of going unconscious. Matt does a great job describing the scene in the campaign but it's still heartbreaking.
Wasn't it a trap modified by Matt? as in: instant death occurs if you take damage, going below 0, equal to your max hp, and Matt made the trap so that if you go below 0 regardless of the amount, you die, or am I remembering it wrong?
@@NoxilNobody probably, I probably just assumed necrotic had a special effect, but after looking at the description of it, it doesn't seem to have one by itself.
From what i heard it was Liams first game, but as he was the rogue checking for traps is his major thing. And this was still like over a year into the game. Including the pre-stream stuff.
The necrotic thing however is false, necrotic damage does not automatically kill you. There are spells that deal necrotic damage that do automatically kill however. And the trap was a spell storing rune trap.
@@Desdemona-XI I already corrected the necrotic thing, I just made an assumption
Ooo boy I can’t wait to watch another relaxing and fun episode of Vox Machina with Alic-
Sorrow…
19:21
btw yeah they are half elfs. Pretty sure they said so in episode 1 of season 1 but that was so long ago I don't remember
Liam does that scene so damn good. Seen it multiple times and I still get tears
To Answer Ant's question, without saying spoilers about how the story progresses: it depends on the situation, the rules for Death in DnD make it as not always permanent, there are a lot of items or spells that can resurrect a character, but if you don't have them or can't access them in time then yes, you reroll a new character
"We're basically gods"
@@Agent719 "there's too many dice for me to roll"
This is definitely one of those episodes where I recommend watching the “from table to screen” videos that show both the original moment with the players, and the scene that’s based off it
(At 1:40) Wait a minute, I just realized something:
Who's going to play "Thordak" THIS time, now that Lance Reddick has passed away?
I love your reaction to the end. legit. if i didn't look up the stream (before season 2), i wouldn't know what's coming, but.... that was perfect. perfect. LoVM is amazing. This was the feels, I reacted the same when it happened. Story telling...
Yeah, the gut punch is dealt now you two also will suffer with this cliffhanger. The way they make some random death from a trap into a foreshadowed and tear jerking moment by adding flashbacks. Chef kiss.
One time 5 dudes in my boy scout troop teamed up to spell my last name in the snow cuz it was the longest one they knew. The adults asked me how I did it and I had no idea what they were talking about for most of the day.
Fun thing to notice for this episode specifically, the majority of this episode has NO background music. The main exceptions are the flashbacks and Scanlan's music, so for most of the rest of the episode they give no music all in order to instill a subconscious sense of something eerie, all for the big climax at the end when they bring the music back for the big emotional moment. THIS is how you take advantage of your medium to tell a story and is PEAK in director & story portrayal shit!
Kash's VA/player brought way more of his Terry McGinnis energy voicing him here than he did roleplaying him at the table.
Always important to remember that Amazon was releasing this show in groups of 3 episodes, so this was a week long cliffhanger.
Just want to say top tier outro by Ant. 10/10 would listen to again.
... Ant's giving you kickbacks, isn't he?....😁
Since Travis voiced him in Marvel animated shows and video games, can anyone else besides ME imagine Thor saying "I got a beard"
I’ve only seen a few cr episodes, but there are a few things that I’d like to share with you. First, in dnd it is possible to resurrect a pc, though it usually comes at a high cost. Second, Matt Mercer (the dm) has a few home brew rules concerning resurrection. Most importantly, resurrection isn’t guaranteed. He makes you roll to see whether or not the resurrection works.
That’s all I can really say because I haven’t gotten to this point yet in the podcast.
8:51 fun fact, Grog got that beard in the campaign years before the new god of war came out.
meaning Kratos got a grog look, not the other way around
On the topic of the Twin's lineage, around 19:40
They are HIS children, but back from when he was "ounger, and he himself made the "mistake" of falling for a "human peasant" woman when he was "elven nobility".
At first, he did not acknowledge them at all, but when their mother died when their village was destroyed, he took them in.
Vex mentally latched onto him out of trauma, and just wants to be accepted by him.
3:00 2 Game Master tricks to make your players HATE your BBEG and want to kill them:
1) Have the BBEG kill their favorite NPC (preferably right in front of them, taunting them as they do it).
2) Make their favorite NPC an agent of the BBEG.
The size of the destruction or Emon was ridiculous, but the premise is "running the campaign 101".
After beating the briarwoods the team had to be thinking they could take on anything, considering how badly Silas and Delilah wrecked them on their first meeting... so destroying Emon in this way, letting them face the dragons enough to understand that they were wildly outmatched was a good way to humble them and make them afraid again. ..very very good storytelling.
Their father is an elf and mother is human. Yet he blames them for his weak pull-out game.
Also about Keyleth blushing at all compliments is spot on.
In the campaign she is asexual and is so genuinely appreciative of compliments that you just can't help but love her.
Edit: So I guess Keyleth is actually demi. A cutie patootie demi druid.
Yo your "pullout game" comment had me dead
I don't think she was asexual. I have been hearing that she is demi, according to Marisha.
@Nemasis Demarini oh, its been such a long time since I've watched it so she could be demi.
Ant: "So did they just roll a new character for her?" Terriyon Derrington would like a word 😂
Fun fact, Player characters do die during the critical roll twitch stream. Some get revived, some do not, and the player has to roll a new character.
During the game Vax and Vex had a sibling rivalry from time to time when it came to sharing magic items. Vax has boots of haste that he had to share with Vex for a bit, and then had to steal them back. So her and Percy finding it while Vax was gone was also a chance for her to get it first, and therefore claim it.
Here's What that Craven edge do.
Craven edge makes you more intimidating when ever you have it out.(It gives you advantage)
It saps the strength of enemies it damages, when ever you do damage to an enemy with the sword, craven edge has a chance to steal a point of strength and give it to its wielder.
If it sends a creatures strength to zero it kills them.
If you just keep sapping and stack your strength up to 25, it gets even bigger and starts dealing an additional 2d6 necrotic damage.
(These resets on a short or long rest.)
it is also...
Sentient and chaotic evil. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 60 ft. This weapon can understand abyssal & common, and can communicate with anyone who's wielded it telepathically, and it also understands every language the person who its attuned to knows.
It has more, but that's a secret.
Even worse when said npc you try saving and nothing works as they die in your characters arms... Just makes thrusting the blade into the one who did it all the more worthwhile
Grog's squeal when he grew a beard was done on the first take
6:00 the only cash you have is your name
'perv on' is justt one of many names the crew corrupted during the travels of Vox Machina. :) those sessions lasted a while, so they often got a bit 'punchy'. :)
12:46 Man, Ant's going to love Jester when they do the Mighty Nein season.
JFYI: Not to poke any holes here, but the guy who provided the voice of Throdak, is the same actor who played the Concierge in the John Wick films... and he's no longer on this mortal plane. 😢
to identify a half-elf, look at their ears. (helps if you've seen a full elf previously)(this is basic D&D-knowledge)
Or if you Tolkien purist then all pure elves are 2 meters sexy androgynous blondes while half elves have this human “we have ethnicities” and “body types” stuff. Met some people who make High elves basically tube clones in their campaign.
@@mrksimka1159 I forget; did tolkien elves have facial hair? Or is 'bearded half-elves' as genre-agnostic as I figure?
@@hansolav5924 Theoretically they can have a beard. However I don't remember if it's just an extremely rare trait in elves or if it depends on age, Cirdan is described as having a beard, but he is 11,000 years old.
It always threw me in the first season that Grog didn’t have his beard, so seeing him have it at last is a good feeling
As a fellow traveller who wields the pen-is of fortune, we do draw things with the magic water that comes out of it.
Watch the clip of this moment from the campaign. The look on everyones faces...
You can be full Grog if you want, it's not played up as much in the show, but Grog and Scanlan are brothel buddies.
Also, Vex and Vax's father slept with their human mother, and then came to collect them when he realized they existed, and pretty much treated them like all the elves treat half elves.
As for Grogs Sword, there are some HUGE drawbacks. In the game it gives the user more strength every time it kills someone and drains it's blood, but they have to skip any type of rest to keep it, and there is another huge drawback that will come up later. I think they are playing up more as a drug high in the show.
Here are some details about the game, if you're interested, since they changed a lot when adapting the campaign into the show. Everything discussed below are from episodes you've already watched:
1) When the party first arrived to that region there was a martial arts tournament being held in the Colosseum. Grog and Vax entered the tournament, the latter doing so to test himself against Grog. During the fights Scanlan tried to be slick and use his magic to give his friends an edge. He almost got caught. Eventually this ended in Grog and Scanlan fighting the old man. Grog and Scanlan were getting the crap kicked out of them. He was dodging lightning, he was healing himself with Qi, he was dealing more attacks than all of them put together. Eventually Scanlan said fuck it and trapped him inside of magically created, unbreakable, cage.
2) Originally no one in the party had history with the Slayer's Take. They just a badass hunter's guild that party had decided to seek out.
3) The party didn't weren't telepathically tested by the Sphinx. Instead they were made to participate in two extremely deadly hunts to test their mettle and worthiness of meeting the Sphinx. For these hunts the party was split into two teams with support from the Hunter's Take. One hunt involved the party fighting a white dragon (ice dragon) that also had a group of frost giants working for him. The other hunt I forget, but I think it actually involved the hydra mentioned before.
4) Vex was the one that originally opened the box. She saw a piece of treasure in the box and tried to take it. This happened after the party had a climatic fight and were still low on HP. This was a completely random event made everyone gawk.
5) Vax saying "I was only gone for 30 seconds" was taken directly out of the campaign.
It wasn't Vex who opened the sarcophagus in the campaign it was Percy, Vex originally went to help Vax after the battle, but Laura metagame Vex into the situation, after Matt described to Lian what Percy saw inside the sarcophagus.
(At 2:40) I didn't know people getting genocided… makes you perverted.
Thordak "The entire realm shall quake in our shadow"
Alicia: "My entire reproductive system is quaking in your voice"
Goliaths like Grog can't grow beards, that's why he got so excited. For some great laughs, look on UA-cam for "Grog beard, Vax prank." There was some
amazingly funny shit that went down in the real game.
Spelling words, especially names, is super popular for the olympic sport of snow peeing lol
They did an amazing job translating the events from the real game to the animated show for what happened to Vex. Incredibly accurate. It stunned EVERYBODY at the table.
Barely one season in and they already can pull off this level of emotional heartstring pulling. Vox Machina just hits different.
Your tears, they fuel me!
...So I can cry every time I see Vex's death T^T
OH, if only they knew what was in that Leather pouch, many things can happen ;)
Fun fact, way back in the beginning of season 1 when we first met Gilmore, he calls Vax his "handsome half-elf."
So yes, Vex and Vax are half-elven; their mother was a human.
Keylith is a half-elf too for that matter, but I don't remember if she had one human and one elven parent, or if they were both half-elf.
Liam stop, please, Your acting is too good. Look what it is doing to people!!
Grog's Sword is a homebrewed item. It's got a big benefit and a big drawback. Since saying further is spoilers, that vagueness is all i can say Lol
The irony that Vax is actually the older twin
Poor Vax is like "Really?! Right in front of my salad??"
when i saw this i'm like vax is going to blame percy and maybe try and kill him or tell him to leave
Some people, have already commented this, but this contextualise Vex reactions last season. She was overprotective, but she had reasons to be, as you can see in this episode.
So craven edge is an original item from critical role's campaign 1 vox machina.
Facts the sword steals strength from anyone attacked by it giving it to the hold of the blade making them hit harder and after so much is absorbed and even more damage to the hit.
On a side note the blade has a tendency to try and take something very important from it holder. I'll leave that for the show to explain.* if it doesn't I'll explain what it does later.
Also, top tier outro by Ant. Boom boom.
The end of this show; another bright star. though I'm fairly sure Percy had no hand in the original event.
He did, it played out just like the show adaptation. He went to reach for the Deathwalkers Ward and triggered the trap. He passed his save, Vex did not
@@DARKdr3dnaut07 Honestly Vex almost dying was more Laura's fault, for literally metagaming Vex into the situation, than Percy's.
I've signed my name in the snow... Takes some control, I've got a long name. lol.
A 'fun' thing. More than half the cliffhangers of the series, were cliffhangers in the games.
It was a modified 'Power, Word, Kill' spell, if you go below 0 on that spell, you die. No death saving roles (usually you have to get three failures to die), you just die.
Not necessarily. Power Word Kill automatically takes you out if you’re below 100 hp, and there is no save. Vex failed a dex save and took necrotic damage. There was a power word kill trap in campaign 2 though in a similar situation.
@@frgscajs2018 Matt confirmed it was that spell in an aftershow, he modified it for a stored rune base apparently. The Dex was to notice the trap in time. If it's wrong then it's likely I'm getting mixed up though, was sure I wasn't but hey, 900 hrs of show to remember.
Ant talking about how given anything to write/draw with he'll make a dick made me think if the second campaign gets a similar treatment he'll like one of the characters a lot
I was thinking the EXACT same thing.