#also this is not ‘vax’ like before his soul still lingers but he is changed

[hayleysayshay]

It is normal, typical storytelling for a character to have a ‘true love’ and that someone be the most important person to someone in the present, someone being more important to someone doesn’t mean they don’t care about anyone else. A cast member recognising the tragedy of Keyleth, who’s special person who would keep her less alone died, doesn’t mean they dislike other relationships.

Vex and Vax’s journey was then growing apart from each other. They found other people outside their codependent relationship. It doesn’t mean they stopped caring about each other at the end.

[luckthebard]

as someone who thinks of vax as alive even as a revenant (or terminally ill, like bravest-notts pointed out), could you give me more insight into your thoughts as someone who thinks of him as dead after 102? do you consider the actions liam takes as revenant!vax to not really be vax? is he like a different person? or is there something else that makes you draw that division? thanks for bringing up this comparison btw, it's really interesting!!

Thanks for asking! This is how I think of it (sorry this got so long):

Vax is disintegrated in 102. Vox Machina talks about trying to use some seriously high level magic to resurrect him, but before they can do that,  revenant!Vax appears. We witness Vax’s final moments, in which the Raven Queen, master of fate and destiny, tells him his thread is over. He convinces her he wouldn’t rest until he finished helping his friends defeat a great evil, one he knows she is also concerned about. So she agrees, and allows his thread to play out a bit longer. 

But he’s not really alive. We have physical evidence of that, with his almost non-existant heartbeat and his regeneration and the fact that if revenant!Vax is “killed,” he just pops back into the material plane again 24 hours later. I see revenant!Vax as more like an echo, a frayed thread lingering in the pattern of destiny through the Raven Queen’s will alone, for just a few days until one final task is done. Vax died, but he’s still there, and that’s almost more painful than if he wasn’t. I still consider him Vax, but he also, more than anyone else there, realizes that he’s dead. And that changes his attitude a little bit. Revenant!Vax, to me, reacts to people and things far differently than he would if he were alive.

I think what’s important about the distinction for me in a meta sense, is that, if I think of Vax that way, then I don’t think of him as being “alive again” and then essentially “killed” by the Raven Queen in 115. It’s understandable that many characters in Vox Machina emotionally consider her responsible, but the Raven Queen isn’t the reason Vax is dead. Vecna is. She never “resurrected” him or returned him to life, she just let the frayed ends of his thread of life tie themselves into the next weave of the universe even after they were cut. And Vax himself made the choice to linger for one last great act rather than pass on immediately. Given how genuinely devout Vax became in his worship of the Raven Queen, I don’t think his soul would have accepted a True Resurrection from disintegration after his goddess told him this was his time to die. (From a meta D&D mechanics and RP sense, this was maybe one of the only ways to let Liam continue to play the same character he had for almost 5 years for the final few weeks of the story.)

I guess in a sense I’m reading it emotionally the same way as people who think of it like Vax being terminally ill. That fits with a lot of how the characters interact with him. It’s a raw and honest exploration of how difficult it is to engage with the inevitability of the death of someone you love (and in a D&D game!). But that doesn’t quite fit with me for Vax himself there. And while everyone’s experience with death is different, I think my personal experience (which is unfortunately extensive) is inclined to read Vax’s experience as more fantastical, because to a certain extent, revenant!Vax already feels half at peace. And some people who are terminally ill reach an emotional point like that, but not everybody does. The magical, fantastical nature of the story makes for a good metaphor for the lingering death that accompanies terminal illness, but for me the magic and fantasy involved also dictates that Vax is already dead, which is a slightly different thing for that particular character’s perspective. 

[mollymaymaukme]

Mollymauk x Reader: Beyond the Grave, Part 12

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11,   Part 12, Part 13

The pavilion looks no different from how it had but there was an foul acrid smell that hung in the air. The kind of smell that comes after a particularly powerful magical outburst. The goddess’ are lounging on their thrones though the Wildmother is a little more stiff in manner than the Raven Queen.

You look to your matron and her gaze shifts to the side, refusing to meet your gaze. The pitiful thumping organ in your chest turns as cold as stone. All hope that you had clung to abandoning you.

The lingering warmth of the Wildmother is slowly fading from your form. Vax does not need to assist you in kneeling before the deities this time, but you do huff in exertion as you raise yourself back up.

“It’s always a delightful day when I get to see Melora’s true form.” The Raven Queen is nearly giddy and your heart sinks further.

“Let us get on with it Raven dear.” Melora says through a clenched smile.

“As you wish.” A pouting sigh before she turns her gaze upon you. “We have decided I shall get one soul, but not a complete one, half of yours” she points a talon towards your chest “And half of Mollymauk Tealeaf’s.” 

That pesky little shard of hope impales you once again. Half of each soul. . .so you will both still remain with half to live? “What does that mean for me and Molly?” Your voice betraying you with its hopeful tone.

Melora chooses to cut in before the Raven Queen can answer “We are not entirely sure my child. Nothing exactly like this has been done before. Half of you both will exist in this plane while the other part will be with you in the mortal realm.” Your upturned lips drop at her words and she quickly back tracks “But you will both be alive and back to your mortal vessels before the sun sets.” She assures.

Silence falls over the chamber as you mull over her words. You shoot Vax a look out of the corner of your eye but you are only met by a small shrug. Not even he knows entirely what is going on.

The Wildmother rises and walks over to you, her dress skimming across the stone in soft sounds, she cups your cheeks so that you will meet her gaze. “My child, You are stronger than you know, let nothing quench the fire within you, no matter what happens.”

The Raven Queen’s talons tap against her throne “Hurry along Melora. Can’t retrieve my prize with you here. Don’t want you trying any tricks.” You watch as the Wild Mothers eyes swirl grey before they calm back to an aqua blue that ripples gently.

“Don’t rush a goodbye.” Her words cold before she speaks to you in a softer tone “I’m afraid we must part ways. I am sorry that I could not get you both back in one piece.” You raise your hands to hold onto the ones cupping your cheeks and the action makes her smile but something painful flicks through her eyes before it disappears.

“Mother. . .” It is hard to find the words but after a moment of struggle you say, “Thank you. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“I know.” She takes a moment of silence to think on her next words before finally deciding upon something “I made you to care and love deeply, because I knew it would make you a strong person who is capable of doing the tasks that most could not undergo.” She laughs softly “I should have predicted this.” A sigh “But not even the divine can be all knowing.”

She pulls you into an embrace of warm sunshine and honeysuckle as she strokes your hair “Remember that I am never far my sweet child.” The Wildmother presses a kiss to your forehead before releasing you. Your gaze clings to her until she disappears into a shimmering pool of light.

With her absence the cold of the Raven Queen’s court furiously wraps around you and sinks into your being. All of the energy and strength you had also abandons you in her absence. The sudden change sending your crashing to your hands and knees.

The Raven Queen’s chuckling makes you lift your to heavy head to look up at her. “Oh what a beautiful lie life continuously spins.” You can visualize the sharp grin that could have been upon her face “But oh, sweet child” she mocks “there is nothing but the cold truth of death here.”

Her words do not make any sense and she does not allow you to puzzle over them long. “It is pleasing to have something fall in my favor after so long. . .I detest those who think they can cheat death.”

You feel like a bug, there on your knees, laying prone before her throne. The Raven Queen rises and clicks her talons at her champion “Bring her to her feet Vax’ildan.”

Vax stiffens and quickly follows the order. Arms are looped underneath yours to drag you upwards, his hands crossing behind your neck to straighten you. Nothing like his friendly support earlier. No. This hold is intended to restrain.

A looming white masked face fills your vision and your body goes numb at what she says next, “Oh, sweet child, no one can cheat death. Only prolong its coming. . .at a price.” Talons drag down the side of your face in a crude impression of a caress “I am loathe to only retrieve half of your souls, but I am interested to see how fully a life is lived without a full one. . .” She trails off with a hum.

The talons glide down your jaw, then the column of your throat, before coming to rest across your barely beating heart. Sharp tips gently drumming over your chest. “His life, like all other mortals, was always so tragically shorter than your own. . .now it’s less than a fraction of that.”

As your body goes numb you feel Vax’s fingers flex behind your neck in sympathy. “Don’t let it be believed that I am without kindness. I tell you this so that you might savor whatever time you have left with him.” Her voice sharp with malice and her head tilting to the side in the impish impression of a grin.

“Did. . .Did she know?” If the Raven Queen had not been right there she might not have heard the whispered question.

“Nothing mortal lives long without its full soul. She is well aware of that fact. However you, an immortal created by the divine, are an exception. Though I do not know how your body will react it is assured that you will carry on.” A sighed chuckle “To bad she did not have the heart to erase your memories.”

Her last words are drowned out by your screech of agony as her talons bury themself in your chest.

-------------------

Caduceus sat cross legged with his back to the willow, head hanging heavy in sleep. Yasha had recently gotten up to return their dinner bowls back inside the temple. Lingering with the others as she soothed their confusion and worry for the rest of their party members.

Molly had also fallen asleep. He was curled into a ball right next you, one of your arms gently grasped by both of his. The sky begining to bleed orange as sunset grew near. A large raven watched over the sleeping beneath it and when the sun had just dipped below the horizon it made its move.

With a soft shuffle of feathers it swoops down to land on your chest that had long been barren of any dirt. In a swift motion it had raked three jagged scratches into your chest which spurred your eyes to fly open as a scream choked on sludge escapes you.

Molly and Caduceus are both jared from sleep and it takes only a moment for Caduceus to swat at the bird with his staff. He misses as the bird takes flight again, circling over their heads threateningly before it dives down. Massive talons wrapping around one of Molly’s horns and knocking him to the ground with a victorious screech.

The bird makes a sharp turn as it descends upon the tiefling. Molly shouts in pain as the raven gouges into his flesh just as it had yours before it takes to the air in retreat. Blood dripping off either of its talons as it disappears into the grey twilight of the forest.

Knocked on his back and vision swimming with vertigo it takes a moment for Molly to recover. Then he springs upright, fighting off another hit of dizziness, as he remembers what had originally awoken him. Turning his head quick enough to give him whiplash he sees the firbolg helping you to your hands and knees as you vomit wave after wave of bracken sludge.

The shouts had alerted the rest of the Nein and they rounded the corner to see Molly kneeling beside you, trembling hands holding back your hair and stroking over your cheeks feverently.

Your body shudders as you dry heave for long minutes before you begin to settle. Shaking arms giving way beneath you and you might have landed into the puddle of black vomit if Molly had not wrapped his arms around your shoulders. So instead you fall into him, laying sideways in his lap as you shiver violently.

Hurried footsteps and short “Excuse me”s were followed by Nila helping to wrap a blanket around you. You rolled over to curl closer into Molly’s warmth, face pressed into his abdomen as you shuddered with such overwhelming relief.

You didn’t realize you were sobbing until Molly picks you up so that your head is buried in the crook of his neck “Hush love. It’s alright. I’m here.” warm hands soothing over your back as his tail wraps about your waist.

“Molly” It is a pitiful and hoarse croak. But it catches his attention nonetheless. You barely manage to move a body that is to heavy to possibly be your own to sit up and look at him face to face. Your hands that were discolored with cold and lack of circulation go to cup his cheeks that were wet with his own tears.

He smiles at you, lopsided and full of sharp teeth, ruby eyes crinkling as more tears stream down his face. “Y/n” he answers.

Your own lips tug upwards. You have to rapidly blink your eyes so that you might see him through the blur. You give up and close your eyes as you lean your forehead against his, “Don’t you ever leave me again Mollymauk Tealeaf.” It was meant to sound scolding, but it came out ragged with emotion and disuse.

He chuckles, a hand coming up to stroke your cheek, “Never.” He promises pressing a chaste kiss to your lips before pulling back.

@lizziepopanime​, @spirithorse100, @rednighthood, @delpyelp, @high-king-margo-hanson, @notstinglesstoo, @what-the-fuck-is-gender

[dancerwrites]

the mark of an adventurer

Written for: Critical Role Relationship Week 2018, Day 2

Characters: Fjord and Vax’ildan

Words: 1.5k

ao3

Vax has seen many people pass through the Raven Queen's domain in his time there, but he always takes a particular interest in those who find themselves visitng time and time again.

“You must be an adventurer,” Fjord hears as he startles awake in a sea of black nothingness around him. He scrambles to his feet, looking for the source of the voice, and sees part of the black disengage from the rest, stepping forward into a non-existent light. A half-elven figure, pale against the darkness, the only color on him the beads strung on one side of his face and the faint purple shimmer of the feathers across his breastplate as he shifts and they catch the light.

“I’m sorry?” Fjord asks, too discombobulated to retain his drawl, but he doesn’t know this man as it is – there’s nothing to be gained by pretending.

“You’ve been here before,” the man says, quirking his head slightly. “A while ago, but not so long ago that I’ve forgotten. “Someone, or something, pulled you away, but for a moment… you were on death’s door.”

There’s a beat of silence before he sniggers, a hand coming up to cover his mouth, and Fjord is even more confused than he was upon waking in this strange place.

“Sorry,” the man murmurs, chuckling. “I’ve been here for a good while now, but you’ve got to do something to make the job interesting, you know? My Queen thinks it’s ridiculous, but tolerates it, especially since you won’t remember this if your friends succeed.”

“Your Queen?” Fjord asks, folding his arms across his chest and suddenly realizing his lack of armor, lack of weapons, lack of… anything beyond his body. “Hang on, my friends? What’s going on; where am I?”

He sends a hand out to conjure his Falchion – it has never failed to come when called – but his fingers close around empty air and he mentally recoils at the thought, returning to staring daggers at the man in front of him, who suddenly looks far more somber.

“My apologies,” he says with a slight bowing of his head. “I’m sure you’re very confused. Even with as much practice as I’ve had I’ve not got a smooth spiel down quite yet. Long story short, you’re on the brink of death, in the in-between.”

“I’m dead?” asks Fjord, never one to dance around the point, and he feels a coldness settle in his chest, almost like a sad sort of acceptance instead of fear.

“Not quite yet,” the man murmurs, eyes shifting from Fjord’s face to a distant point behind him. “Not that those wraiths didn’t try their best – we nearly had some of your friends show up as well.”

“Who?” Fjord asks urgently. “Wait, did they get out safely?”

He suddenly remembers the abandoned vault they’d been scouting, and the way they’d been ambushed by ghostly figures on all sides. They’d struggled to cut down the wraiths, and though Fjord’s sword had sliced through them, they’d seemed to take him as the primary threat and he hadn’t been able to fend them off.

“The Material Plane is fuzzy…” the other man hums, trailing off, still looking beyond Fjord.

He turns around to see what the man is looking at, but only sees a faint flicker of gold, like a loose thread dangling from Molly’s coat caught in the wind.

“They did away with the wraiths; I know that much,” the man says decisively after another moment. “And you’re the only one who showed up here. They should be safe. Don’t worry.”

Fjord releases a relived breath at the news.

“Granted, I think they might be calling you back sooner rather than later,” the man murmurs, nodding his chin toward whatever he’s looking at beyond Fjord.

He turns again, seeing the golden thread start to pulse. He hears Jester’s broken voice, clearly thick with tears, as she chants the incantation of a spell. It feels like he’s sucked up into the air for a moment, a sense of vertigo overcoming him as she continues, voice getting stronger as she presses on.

“You do want to go back, yes?” the man asks, drawing Fjord’s attention back to him.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

The man shrugs, though he looks, suddenly, much older. Fjord could also swear that his appearance didn’t change at all, but suddenly the man seems to revert back to his relatively youthful self, shrugging casually.

“No reason.”

“…Sure.”

They stand for a moment, staring at one another, Jester’s voice filling the space around them, before the man rolls his shoulders.

“Well, I really should be on my way, if you don’t need anymore help,” he says, giving a small salute to Fjord. “Plenty more souls to see, you know.”

“Is that what I am right now? A soul?”

The man looks amused by the question. “I mean, I guess? I don’t really know though, I just know that your soul is what moves on, or what comes back, whichever you decide to choose.”

“Interesting,” Fjord murmurs, and it is, but he also, suddenly, doesn’t want to be left alone in whatever this place is. “Um, if you wouldn’t mind me asking, who are you?”

The man grins at that. “So polite, that’s very good to hear. And I’m the right-hand to the Matron of Ravens – that is what you call her in Wildmount, yes? Her Champion, at your service.”

“It- it is, but do you have a name?” Fjord finds himself asking, Jester’s words still echoing from behind him. “Were you ever alive?”

The man’s grin falters, and he sighs, brow furrowing together in a sad sort of way, his smile falling into something more suited to nostalgia. “I was, once. But that was a long while ago, and no time at all. It’s a bit of a long story, to be honest.”

“And you died?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” the man asks, gesturing to the void around them with a faint chuckle. “Though, to be perfectly honest, that’s a difficult question. I nearly died a few times, then my sister died, then I helped bring her back, then I died except didn’t a couple times, and then I did die, but in serving my Lady I was able to help my friends before passing on, before coming to rest here.”

Fjord’s not sure what he was expecting for an answer, but knows it wasn’t the answer given to him. “That… certainly sounds like an adventure.”

“It was,” the man says with a nod, eyes trailing back to the thread behind Fjord. “There’s a reason I could tell you were an adventurer.”

He lingers for a moment longer before beginning to edge away. “I really should leave you with them – you’ll want to hear what your friends have to say,” he says, then seems to reconsider something, and steps back to Fjord, lifting a hand to place it on Fjord’s shoulder. The touch is cool, like a sea breeze coming off the waves after being below the deck for a few hours. “Best of luck, with the adventuring. Hopefully I won’t be seeing you again for a while.”

Fjord nods, and the man gives a nod in return, lifting his hand and turning to go.

“What’s your name?” Fjord finds himself asking again, making the man pause and look back at Fjord over his shoulder.

“What’s it to you?”

“Common courtesy?”

The man laughs, loud and full, filling the emptiness for a moment and falling silent after that. “You have been exceedingly polite, I’ll give you that,” he says. “And, I suppose, you won’t remember this anyway. Well, unless we meet again.”

Fjord looks at him expectantly, even as he feels Jester’s words shift somehow, the pulling in his gut growing stronger.

The man chuckles again. “My name’s Vax. With an “a”, not an “e”. Very important distinction.”

“Vax,” Fjord says, the name unfamiliar on his tongue. He’d think the Champion of a goddess would have a more ostentatious name, though he supposes it does fit in its own way. “Well, very nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you as well,” Vax says, inclining his head one last time before turning away. “Have a good life!” he calls over his shoulder, almost as an afterthought.

“Thanks!” Fjord calls back with a chuckle as Vax vanishes into the darkness, blending in until Fjord can only see the colorful beads in his hair sway with each step, then those disappear as well.

He turns back to the thread behind him, which he suddenly realizes is his own – his life laid out before him, stretching off into the darkness.

Jester’s voice suddenly finishes its chant, and there’s a pregnant pause when nothing happens before she says, “anyone who wants to go first can give the offering to the ritual, but I want to give something, and to go last. So… save me a spot, yes?”

Fjord can’t hear an answer, but takes a step toward the thread as if by getting closer he might be able to hear them better.

He’s surprised when the next words he hears are from Beauregard, but he feels a warmth at his chest, like a hand resting over his heart, and he knows that he’ll be heading back to his friends soon.

[critrolestats]

Monster Analysis: Raishan, The Diseased Deceiver

Thanks to @pettyartist for the art!

First Appearance: 39 Omens

Encounter Appearance: 80 Raishan

Armor Class 22 (suggested 21)

Speed 80 ft flying (160 ft flying, hasted)

Blindsight 60 ft, darkvision 120 ft, passive 27

Immune to Poison

Three Legendary Resistances

Four Legendary Actions per round

Suggested Average, Max HP: 385, 594

389 damage taken before fleeing

233 damage taken before Contingency, 48 blow by Grog

"You've got a few surprises, I see. But you're not the only ones."

Raishan

In Episode 79, Raishan was very strategic in what abilities she used, how she positioned herself, and where she focused her attention. As we stated in our Thordak analysis, Raishan stayed far from Thordak, ensuring that only her “pawns” would take the heat. When it came time for her to make her move, she was still relatively fresh in the fight when the tables inevitably turned. A quick retreat and a few strategic buffs and debuffs set up the fight in her favor before it truly began.

From the start of Episode 80, Raishan upped her offensive game. In the final seven rounds that represented the episode, Raishan cast:

(0:17:23) Greater Invisibility (4th)

(0:25:38) 2 Legendary Actions: Dispel Magic (Vex’ahlia) (3rd)

(0:35:35) 2 Legendary Actions: Dispel Magic (Vax’ildan) (3rd)

(0:40:24) Dispel Magic (Percy) (3rd)

(0:49:50) 2 Legendary Actions: Dispel Magic (Grog) (3rd)

(0:52:52) Counterspell (3rd)

(0:59:43) Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting (8th)

(1:36:43) 2 Legendary Actions: Cast Prismatic Spray (7th)

(1:43:34) Contingency (Haste) Previously cast

(1:44:29) 2 Legendary Actions: Dispel Magic (Scanlan) (3rd)

(2:12:56) 2 Legendary Actions: Cone of Cold (5th)

(2:19:12) 2 Legendary Actions: Melf’s Acid Arrow (2nd)

(2:37:25) Cone of Cold (5th)

(Not mentioned) Legendary Action: Wall of Force (5th)

(3:03:07) Teleport (7th)

In terms of actions per round, Raishan very nearly maximized her use of legendary actions, using 20 out of 24 possible legendary actions. Even the turns where she didn’t use all of them were strategically chosen. In Round 10 (2), the rest of the party rushed into the lair and Raishan still maintained her Greater Invisibility and tactical view over the battlefield without revealing her location. In Round 11 (3), Vax’ildan engaged her. Rather than attempt spells in melee range, she spent her less costly Tail Attacks to swat at the only individual capable of getting in her face up to that point. Rather than use all four actions against Vax via tail attacks, she saved her last two actions for another spell, though they went unused.

In contradiction to maximizing her own opportunities, she was very clever to minimize what the party could do to her. When they weren't unconscious or fighting the lingering effects of the Cinder King's inner lair, the party spent a significant portion of the later rounds administering potions, casting healing spells, or bringing fallen members back from death. Part of this was necessary as mobility limited their options already, but a team that is focused on defense is not a team that can readily switch to offense.

The Contingency spell in particular speaks to the level of preparation Raishan had ready. Once it triggered, her strategy turned from “invaders must die” to plans of escape. Only after she had been hasted did she begin using her legendary resistances to reduce unavoidable spell damage. She also focused on keeping the party incapacitated so she could grab the remaining eggs and retreat to Thordak’s waiting corpse. Her last act was to wall off her enemies just long enough for her to make her escape.

Thordak vs. Raishan

Thordak took over 1400 points of damage, had six allies assist in the encounter, and had an enhanced hit point pool thanks to the Soul Anchor. Raishan presumably reached her halfway point by 233 points of damage (when her Contingency spell went off), had no allies, and had significantly less HP due to her Soul Curse. So, why was the Diseased Deceiver that much more formidable than the Cinder King?

One of the key differences between Thordak and Raishan was that the Cinder King, quite simply, was not as elusive. 76 attacks were made against Thordak in the span of 5 rounds, 50 of which dealt damage (65.79%). Meanwhile, only 37 attacks were taken against Raishan in the span of 9 rounds, and only 22 of those dealt any damage (59.46%). While Thordak did well enough keeping out of range of the melee fighters, Raishan optimized her strategy to the point that she limited the number of actions even her ranged and arcane opponents could take against her.

Thordak's Lair

Thanks to Brian Foster and Talks Machina for providing this image!

The lairs and surrounding areas of the other fallen dragons ceased activity almost immediately with the deaths of their residents. Due to Thordak’s massive size, corrupting influence, and elemental transition, the change in Emon's landscape ran much deeper. Lava, tremors, and toxic gas bubbled to the surface, while far underground, the volcano raged on even stronger without need for a source.

It’s difficult to say which was more problematic: the poison gas (used twice here) or the magma bubbles (used three times). Had Scanlan been able to fight against the poison cloud in round 13, he may have been able to counter Raishan’s Cone of Cold that knocked out Vax, Scanlan, and Pike, and gave Vex her second failed death save of three. By the same token, the magma was also responsible for one of Scanlan’s three failed death saves. By the end of the encounter, half the party had less than 10% of their total health. Even with Raishan gone, two splashes of magma could have made just escaping very, very difficult.

That’s not including the terrain, which Raishan used to her complete advantage. From hiding in the smoky tunnels to forcing the party to play hopscotch over lava pools to ultimately sealing off the exit, Raishan stayed relatively comfortably out of reach taking shots from a distance while letting Thordak’s legacy clean up the rest.

Vox Machina

Vox Machina's best round came in the twelfth (4th). This round brought Devo'ssa and a grand total of 180 damage to Raishan, and was the last round everyone ended conscious before they started falling like flies. Unfortunately, this was also the same round Percy took damage from Animus backfiring, Vax lost both his consciousness and his wings, and Raishan gained her pre-cast Haste. This was as good as it got.

Scanlan’s clutch counterspell against Raishan’s Prismatic Spray can be partially credited for the lack of TPK. Although he was stunned by the poison gas in the following round and unable to counter her next mass KO spell, this delay bought enough time for Devo’ssa to appear as a legitimate threat for the party to ultimately reorganize, as well as forced Raishan to rely on a weaker spell.

Gilmore and Devo’ssa played pivotal roles in this battle. Gilmore’s dispel prevented Raishan from removing every Heroes’ Feast without fear, forcing her to enter the fray sooner rather than later. While the brass dragon only got off a single fire breath, a wing attack, and a single clean hit, their presence alone intimidated Raishan into retreating to her original task instead of finishing business with Vox Machina.

By the end of the battle, the primary focus shifted from damage to survival. Kima found herself once again relegated to healer, bringing Gilmore back to consciousness. Pike released a single Sacred Flame before spending the rest of the battle healing and reviving. Scanlan and Keyleth’s Healing Words got serious use this battle, and even Vax used a third of his allotted Lay on Hands to bring his sister back to consciousness after she had already died.

Speaking of which, we can’t end this without talking about death. Vex and Scanlan both failed all three of their throws due to the same three separate factors: environmental hazard, Raishan’s malevolent determination, and bad luck. Thanks to Pike’s last remaining 4th level spell slots, a pair of successful mid-battle checks, and luck of the dice, both Vex and Scanlan returned to the living before Raishan could fully leave the battlefield. Matt informed us that the system is being tested to raise the stakes on future rituals, but for now, Vox Machina lives to fight another day. (Or, at least survive what’s left of the battle of Emon…)