VEX??? VEX!! | The Legend of Vox Machina Episode 3 Reaction (S2) 

The flashbacks made this hit so so much harder. And yes, the twins were half-elven bastards.

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

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!

This one already hurted in the CR Streams, but animated was worse! Someone give this woman a hug!

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!

Liam O’Brien KILLED me when he started crying bruh. Master VA right there.

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!

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.

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.

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. ;-;

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 ^^

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

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.

you know its funny, everyone compares Grog to Kratos but im pretty sure Grog got his beard before Kratos did.

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"

I’m so happy they got Lance Reddick to voice Thordak. Been such a fan of him ever since he voiced Commander Zavala

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.

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??

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Liam O'Brian is a master at turning on the waterworks.

Travis (Grog's player) will always be the one to push the button, especially if he doesn't know what it does.

The nuts thing about this show: that's just how the dice rolled.

The sword is sentient, bloodthirsty and smarter than Grog. It's not hard to guess the drawback.

Vax and Vex are Half-elves yes, that's mentionned briefly one or two times in season 1.

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.

btw the group contstantly try to make fun of Matts names he makes up, Purvan being a prime example

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)

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.

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.

The next three episodes CANNOT DROP SOON ENOUGH! :D

The twins be half elf half human. And fun fact z and kashs voice artors were guest players at this point in the campaign. ^^

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 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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Always important to remember that Amazon was releasing this show in groups of 3 episodes, so this was a week long cliffhanger.

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

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.

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.

Ooo boy I can’t wait to watch another relaxing and fun episode of Vox Machina with Alic- Sorrow…

Since Travis voiced him in Marvel animated shows and video games, can anyone else besides ME imagine Thor saying "I got a beard"

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

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".

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.

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.

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.

(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...

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. 😢

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.

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

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

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

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.

Grog's squeal when he grew a beard was done on the first take

Kash's VA/player brought way more of his Terry McGinnis energy voicing him here than he did roleplaying him at the table.

'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'. :)

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.

Liam does that scene so damn good. Seen it multiple times and I still get tears

Something I didn't see in the comment section yet is that this scene has some extra impact. Liam, the VA for Vax, had lost his mother just before the live session... and was not doing well. And then Vex dies. Ended up that dealing with Vex's death ended up helping him deal with the death of his own family member irl, and that's why he advocates for D&D as therapy for people, now.

Just want to say top tier outro by Ant. 10/10 would listen to again.

12:46 Man, Ant's going to love Jester when they do the Mighty Nein season.

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.

6:00 the only cash you have is your name

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".

A forgotten fact here. Percy actually knew what Craven Edge did(via Identify spell) but let Grog have it anyway. Drawbacks and advantages all.

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.

Not-so-fun-fact! Vax's death on this episode was due to her not being able to make the save against the trap difficulty, which made it so the trap did enough damage to her to drop her below 0 HP. Traps have a special rule that makes it so if the damage they deal reduces you to 0 HP, you just die instead of being dropped unconscious

The irony that Vax is actually the older twin

Poor Vax is like "Really?! Right in front of my salad??"

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.

(At 2:40) I didn't know people getting genocided… makes you perverted.

to identify a half-elf, look at their ears. (helps if you've seen a full elf previously)(this is basic D&D-knowledge)

As a fellow traveller who wields the pen-is of fortune, we do draw things with the magic water that comes out of it.

I can't be SURE, but I think Kash's VA is also the guy who voiced Terry in Batman Beyond. Am I wrong?

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.

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 RU-vid 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.

This is how I lost a character once playing D&D, necrotic damage is very dangerous When your HP reaches 0 you go uncouncious that way you can roll to save yourself or wait for people to stabilize you. But if your reach 0 HP with necrotic damage you instantly die without an oportunity to be saved. Vex's player rolled a critical failure, and just like that Vex died, its just the roll of a dice.

OH, if only they knew what was in that Leather pouch, many things can happen ;)

Yup, Vex is dead. She rolled a nat 1 on her saving throw, took 56 necrotic damage, and died instantly. That's how it happened in the original campaign. She dead dead.

Aw snap. She dun broke. Someone get the ice cream and stuffed creature of comfort. Might I suggest an Appa. She needs an Appa.

I have been waiting for this episode.

If you watch enough reaction vids (I might do this too much) you kind of realize a pattern where Americans (sometimes Canadians, but not as often) will guess like 10 things, get 1 right and be like "I FUCKING CALLED IT"... That or something gets foreshadowed extremely heavily and they have the same reaction to getting it right. I wonder why that is. But I guess it's a good way of getting validation on-demand.

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

Have you checked the cast? The first season has David Tennant and Gina Torres and a lot of other big names :D

Great outro Ant

The end of this show; another bright star. though I'm fairly sure Percy had no hand in the original event.

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.