Please be advised that this topic will contain references to death, violence, swearing, sex, nudity, etc. There will also be spoilers for Critical Role if that's something you care about. I will try to mark things as they come up, but this is just a general warning.
I debated about posting this topic, because our community is so small.. And who is really interested in my incoherent ramblings about the show that's taken up most of my brain for the past four months? Probably no one.
But here I am. This is a thing.
In early February I watched The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime Video. I was home alone and I thought what the heck.. so I tried it. The first two episodes were fun. Then the Briarwood Arc started and I fell in love.
The Legend of Vox Machina is based on Critical Role Campaign 1. This past week I discovered I could listen to the podcast at 2.5 speed instead of watching and am very much enjoying myself. So, I'm pretty sure this is new interest is here to stay.
Critical Role is currently running a campaign, and I'm hoping to get around to it. But this will probably be, for the time being, mostly dedicated to TLOVM/ CR 1.
Important things to know:
Vox Machina is comprised of a band of eight unlikely heroes, who find themselves on a quest to save the realm of Exandria from dark magical forces. (There is a ninth, Tiberius but we're just going to ... ignore him.) I will include the character descriptions taken from the Critical Role Campaign One wiki to spare as much confusion as I can.
Grog Strongjaw: is a goliath barbarian/fighter
Pike Trickfoot: is a gnome cleric of Sarenrae and a member of Vox Machina. (Sarenrae is referred to as Everlight in the animated series)
Scanlan Shorthalt: is a gnome bard
Keyleth of the Air Ashari: is a half-elf druid
Vax'ildan, nicknamed Vax: is a half-elf rogue / paladin / druid
Vex'ahlia, nicknamed Vex: is a half-elf ranger / rogue
Trinket: Vex'ahlia's pet bear
Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III : Percival de Rolo or Percy, is a human gunslinger
Taryon Gary Darrington: is a human artificer (he doesn't show up until later in the campaign, so I don't know much about him yet)
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Other important names/ terms:
Orthax: some sort of shadow demon (BAD)
Lord Sylas and Lady Delilah Briarwood: villains who take over Whitestone- violently
Anna Ripley: An associate of the Briarwoods who tortured Percy/also sort of a creepy fan of him too and trying to copy his gun
Cassandra de Rolo: Percy's sister
The Whispered One/ Vecna: Powerful being trying to achieve godhood
The Chroma Conclave: a group of four dragons which attack Tal'dorei. The four dragons are as follows: Thordak a large red dragon, Raishan a green dragon, Vorugal a white dragon, Umbrasyl a black dragon.
The Clasp: An underground crime syndicate that Vax has some ties to.
Places:
The Republic of Tal'Dorei, also known simply as Tal'Dorei: is a republic in Exandria on the continent of the same name.
Whitestone: The city which Percy's family had leadership of before being overthrown by the Briarwoods.
Emon: The capital city of the Republic of Tal'Dorei
Syngorn: The largest elven city in Tal'Dorei (Vex and Vax's father lives here and they lived there for a while too).
Vasselheim: Vasselheim is the capital of human civilization on the continent of Issylra.
Westruun: City where Grog hails from
The Feywild, otherwise known as the Fae Realm: a plane of existence in the Critical Role Universe.
*I will probably have to add things as I go on.
Technically, there is a bunch of stuff that happened before I started listening, but I'm sort of avoiding it at the moment. So, if you know anything about Critical Role, I started with The Sun Tree and am going forward from there.
**Although, it's important to note that Vox Machina does kill a blue dragon early on in the stream**
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I will also very quickly try to nutshell everything that's happened up to the point where I'm at in the podcast.
Vox Machina runs into a mysterious couple with ties to Percy's past known as the Briarwoods. Percy eventually confesses that the Briarwoods murdered his entire family and took over his ancestral home of Whitestone. After a being tortured, he tried to escape with his sister, but he sees her fall so he thinks she's dead. After learning this, Vox Machina travels to Whitestone to take it back.
Percy has designed an instrument of death (a gun) with which he intends to kill the people on his 'list'. The Briarwoods, Dr. Anna Ripley, Kerrion Stonefell, and Professor Anders. But with every encounter, he seems to be loosing a little more of himself. He puts on plague mask, is engulfed by smoke, and says things like "your soul is forfeit" as he viciously murders his intended target. *So naturally, he's one of my favorites.
Eventually, they discover that the Briarwoods took over Whitestone because of the ziggurat which lies beneath it. They are attempting to bring an entity known as The Whispered One/ Vecna into the world. They also discover that Percy's sister Cassandra lives.
After some narrow escapes, and betrayal on the part of Cassandra (who does turn back to Vox Machina's side eventually), they defeat the Briarwoods and also seem to get rid of the entity that was taking residence inside of Percy. (Orthax, a shadow demon).
This is where the stream and TLOVM diverge a bit.
-The stream has them chilling in Whitestone then returning to Emon, where they go to the house of the blue dragon they killed and fight some creepy worm things and discover a weird ass skull. They are called up to see the Emperor, who then resigns his position and gives power over to the council of Tal'Dorei. This event is followed by an attack by a group of dragons (The Choma Conclave).
But the show goes straight to the Emperor resigning his power and the dragon attack after the Briarwood arc is completed. Which, hey, I like dragons too ... so..
It's at this point where the first season of the show ends.
In the stream, they then transport a bunch of refugees out of Emon to Whitestone, argue a bit about the creepy skull, deal with The Clasp, and are trying to figure out what to do next. There's a bunch of stuff I skipped, but ... this topic is mostly for me to squee.
If you have any questions. Don't ask.
Just kidding, ask and I'll do my best to answer.
HOLY CRAP THIS WAS LONG. IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR... I LOVE YOU.
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