#cr campaign 1 spoilers

[punkrockgenasiashton]

7 years ago Vax looked back at his friends, his family, and then walked into the arms of The Matron, using the druidcraft cantrip, granted by his 20th level, a level in Druid, to grow snowdrops in his steps as he walked into oblivion.

[phenixy-dunnhart]

WARNING ! SPOILERS for TLOVM season 3 and Campaign 1

I'm a bit sad with all the negativity in the tlovm tags following this new batch of episodes. Because all the usual appreciation and fun details pointing is drown in it. So I'll do my part and draw some light and appreciation for the following things:

"Allura can't teleport us 'cause we mind wind up in the ocean" Nice nod

The beauty of Glintshore sand? crystals ? I mean, I know the entire island isn't covered in it, but it's there and it's gorgeous

Vax and Grog banter, Pike and Vax friendship when she stole his badass line. Who says that the friendships in tlovm are not showed ? It's smaller because they're running out of time but if you keep both eyes open, you can catch the small moments.

How good was the delirium gas ?

Percy having bad Ripley PTSD ?Check.

Orthax forcing the (gas) mask on Percy's face ? Oh f*ck me that was so good.

Elaina's first appearence and Vex's heart torment ? Check

Vex fighting the gas messing with her mind and seeing Percy getting kidnapped ? Great

Her seeing Percy devoured by some hellish pain ? Awesome foreshadowing for Orthax feeding on Percy's soul

I won't dwell too much on ep 7 because I'm Perc'ahlia trash and this was pure gold but ALL their scenes.

And these two shots:

They're the last thing they think about before passing out. And look at them, they're looking at each other. Great parallels, great cinematography

You want more parallels ? You're not in enough pain ? I've got more ! How about this ?:

Percy cradling Vex because he doesn't want to lose her.

Vex cradling Percy because she lost him

MY HEART !!!!!!

Anyways back to our regular program: The color scheme in the factory is on point. Predominance of green during all Ripley's discussion with percy, some blasts of orange for Orthax.

This shot when they want to make us think Percy will go dark but also because he sincerly understand. He sees with her (green) eyes

Culminating in theses shots:

In the end, the true Percy is good (he's blue which is both his color and Vex's)

Then we got some nice Pike and Kiki character development with the delirium gas

Percy's fight with Ripley is pure display of his capacities and wits, not unlike Vex's fight against Saundor or Grog's fight against Kevdak. The fights with nemesis are always awesome, well choreographed and both characters and animators flexing.

And I like Grog's delirium both beacause it brings a bit of comic relief in this big painful episode but that's not all there is. Because when he gets out of it, he asks Pike if he hurt her again and you can't convince me that he didn't saw Craven Edge and the pain he inflicted Pike in his PTSD (not showed but we know)

Onto episode 8, love the Stilben flashback and the dead mystic cult leader being Taliesin.

The funeral was powerful and beautiful. The highlights being Cassandra crying her last family member and Vex'ahlia not saying the prayer despite being one of the Dawnfather.

Scanlan putting Kaylie's song music sheet on the altar for Percy breaks my heart. For him, he lost both of them and also he traded the life of his friend for moments with Kaylie (which he didn't even had, that's so sad)

Vox Machina assembling all of their allies with the beautiful OST was awesome while conserving this... heaviness. We're still grieving (at least I'm still am)

Vex and Syldor whole convesrsation. Laura Bailey, the talented woman you are and Troy Baker did a great job at humanizing him. though he's still a prick.

Vaxleth and Pikelan scenes were cute

We've got LARKIN mentioned and by Vax nonetheless !

Earthbreaker Groon and Grog doing the slapping hands/muscles flexing meme !

How brutal Thordak's attacks are in ep 8 and 9, all the people dying to rise up the stakes worked really well in my opinion.

Travis smarts piercing through Grog's 6 INT just like in the campaign

Earthbreaker Groon being a BAMF with that suplex

The teamwork going strong during all the fight

Zahra and Kash coming in to save the day. I love them your honor

My jaw dropped at Kashaw's badass magical attack. THAT WAS AWESOME and dropped further at his death. I couldn't believe it at first and as bold as a choice it was, I really liked it. Because it's a thing to kill NPC nameless army guys but killing a beloved character: that take some balls . And because of the unpredictability, the shock hit. I'm always here for the drama and it was beautifully done (the visuals for the Raven Queen and her powers are always as gorgeous as ominous).

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn also showing off her VA talent

In the end, every VM members getting his moment of glory :

Vex with getting the Syngorn army while being at her lowest/rock bottom ("The truth is the only bargaining chip at rock bottom", really nice parallels with the Stillben flashback + her using Percy's philosophy)

Grog destroying the lair

Scanlan getting them out of there at the peril at his life and ending up in a coma (nice subversion so there are not two dead party members followed up by two ressurections)

Keyleth being her badass elemental self (with her two gorgeous muscial leitmotives "blinded by the light" + "passing through the fire")

Pike being able to absorb Thordak -not red but- blue fire/laser which we saw went through Emon like butter. That's one MONSTAH move with beautiful beautiful colors (red yellow and blue mixing) look at this shot:

And Vax having the last kill, thinking of his mother doing this for Emon sure but most important for his mom, Vex and himself and what a beautiful shot and power move with the twisting golden and black torpedo that he is.

A great powerful death for a great powerful foe

And then some sorrow and sweetness. The Vaxleth back hug was adorable.

And that last shot of Keyleth after the confrontation with Raishan makes me long for more and to already be next week.

And that's some positivity and appreciation of CR work because they pour their heart and soul into these series and these characters and it's beautiful and I see it. I hope I could put some light on it at my small scale.

Have a great day and let's wait impatiently for next week and end of season 3

[criticalbeauregard]

i've seen a lot of gif sets showing vex's "i don't accept this" with imogen's and while that is a very powerful image i think it is also Very important to me that it be known that imogen is not the vex of this situation and that she is the keyleth

[cannonball5]

Prediction for how the rest of season 3 will play out (campaign 1 spoilers obviously)

Episode 4: VM Dis team go and collect The Plate of the Dawnmartyr and while there meet Ipkesh and agree to deal with Yenk who is in possession of The Spire of Conflux. Vox Machina, through Pike or Vax, find out Vorugal is at the portal and decide to use Yenk to lead him to the Prime Material and use him to wear down Vorugal.

Episode 5: Yenk and Vorugal briefly battle, Yenk using the Spire of Conflux showing off a bit of what it can do, before ultimately falling. Vox Machina battles and we of course Pike’s Divine Intervention made possible because of The Plate of the Dawnmatyr. After defeating Vorugal, Keyleth claims the Spire of Conflux. Realizing it’s still not enough VM decides to go after the only other Vestige they know of, Cabal’s Ruin, and Anna Ripley.

Episode 6: They track down Ripley, who’s connected her Animus to Cabal’s Ruin, just as she recovers another Vestige, Whisper. They finally defeat Ripley, Percy claiming her Vestige and the Animus (making sure Orthax isn’t connected to it). Vax claims Whisper and the group decides it’s time to face Thordak.

Episode 7: Vox Machina split up gathering as many allies as they can to face Thordak and his hatching spawn. Strategizing for the battle and preparing for what may be their final day.

Episode 8+9: Battle against Thordak!

Episode 10: VM recovers from their battle but plan to track down and deal with Raishan. Probably a beach party episode with cannonball competition.

Episode 11: Fight against Raishan. Scanlan’s death.

Episode 12: Scanlan’s resurrection and quitting Vox Machina. VM decide to separate for the time being to do their own things for a while. 4 months later VM meets at their newly reconstructed keep sans Scanlan who sends a letter saying he needs more time. Having completed her Earth trial the crew decides to go help Keyleth complete her Water trial. Along the way they meet Taryon Darrington who insists he come with them. Cliffhanger as another spinning orb of death is created and a chilling voice of the Whispered One says, “soon.”

End of season 3.

[abalonemacaroni]

One thing I appreciate about Scanlan’s arc in this last batch of episodes is how the respect he’s given by Kamaljiori mirrors the respect NPCs would give Scanlan in the stream. Specifically, it reminds me of when Ioun chose Scanlan as her champion over Percy. It seemed to be a surprise to the whole table, even Sam, and Ioun’s description of Scanlan’s worth sounded very reminiscent of the animated Kamaljiori’s praises.

[wolfmage553]

Maybe it's just me being a soft spot for afterlife conversations but I imagine that when Scanlan died to Raishan, Tiberius Stormwind kept him company while they waited for Scanlan to either be revived or be given a proper burial to move on to the other side.

The pair of them would probably joke about being the only two Vox Machina members killed by the conclave and Scanlan catches Tiberius up on what he missed due to being away from the group/dead.

This might make The Bard's Lament even more heartbreaking since Tiberius did grow to care about Scanlan (in a friendly rival sorta way) and that loveable nerd would have 100% went on a side quest to find out who Scanlan's mother was just to make Scanlan happy if he still remained a part of the party and alive.

And yet, thanks to the conclave, the only person Scanlan would've thought cared for him in that moment is dead and he has to keep living on without him.

Grog has Pike

Vax has Keyleth

Percy has Vax

Scanlan had Tiberius but now only memories stand where he stood.

[starsplit]

Okay so campaign one spoilers here first of all, I'll tag the shit out of it for people's blacklists.

But I fucking LOVE the setups we are getting. I mean the obvious stuff with Vax seeing the Raven Queen obviously. But also Osysa going after all of them, Vex with the constant walls she builds to be cool and in control and able to take care of herself when inside she's really about as insecure as Kiki (and don't even talk to me about her always being the one to snap Keyleth out of it when she freezes up). Vax just not being able to conceive of a world without his twin in it while also knowing that she'd survive without him and how much that feeds into his character arc. Scanlan and his front when really he worries that no one cares about him. We know we're getting Kaylee, and we know where that is gonna lead eventually.

And of course Kiki vs Raishan. Please animate Keyleth falling over when that happens.

[xxrainbowbrine]

I was excited for the Mighty Nein animated series until I had the thought

Will we even get a full season of Molly?

What if they put his death early on? I know it was early in the show but a lot happened in those first 26 episodes. Maybe his death will be the end of season thing? Or the worse option maybe they’ll have him die in episode 2 like TLOVM S1 had eps 1 & 2 as a kind of prologue

I am going to be insufferable when I see an animated Molly say ‘Long may I reign’

[lilgoblingirl]

Am I back on my Perc’ahlia fanfic writing bullshit?? The answer may surprise you!

[eyeofthebrainstorm]

Ok, I'm only missing a couple of one shots and then I'm done with campaign one. What a journey, I'm forever changed. Couple of things:

- We were ROBBED of a proper Scanlan and Pike kiss!!!

The way their relationship ended up was super sweet and fitting. But I also think that considering the way Pike reacted to Scanlan being away for a year, and the adrenaline and fear for the battle, Pike would have kissed Scanlan. Even just out of curiosity in case they didn't survive the battle. I hope to see it in the animated series at least.

- I was so disappointed that we didn't get any Gilmore closure, but having now started on "the search for Grog" I'm glad they took care of that. I can tell Sam was insisting on it (I guess he realized that was something the community felt was missing and he noticed). Damn I love this character so much!! How he evolved from "business man first" to "savior of Taldorei" (out of love of Vax and Vox Machina). His reaction to finding out Vax was dead was heartbreaking.

Currently just thinking about Sam saying "what a nice story" and Travis saying "let's do it again"... And well, catching up on campaign two won't be as easy I think... But oh how I want to.

[ravenquingvax]

ignoring the horror of whatever the fuck campaign 3 episode 51 was

I am thinking about...

What if Vax was a dad.

What if Vax didn't have to go away with the Matron at the end of campaign one and he became a dad instead?

Whether he's with Keyleth, alone or with someone else; whether the baby is adopted, surrogated or what have you; just imagine Vax as a dad.

He'd be terrified of fucking up, but he'd work so hard to give his kid the best life.

Idk about everyone else but I'm picking this over whatever the fuck the canon reality is.

[punkrockgenasiashton]

So, as I catch up with Critical Role Campaign 3 (just last week’s episode to go before I’m completely caught up again), I found myself thinking this morning about why I found it so much easier to connect with Campaign 1 and Campaign 3, but always feel like there’s a disconnect between me and Campaign 2. And after some thought, I think it’s because it really is a sandbox game in that there isn’t a real overarching plot. Like, there are smaller, incidental arcs that are loosely connected but, it doesn’t have “save Tal’dorei from the Chroma Conclave/ save Exandria from Vecna” or “follow the trail/stop the villains from unleashing the Ruidus God Killer” overall “this is the point of this campaign.” And that’s fine, the characters in Campaign 2 are really great, and if you want a character forward game, it’s probably your favorite...but idk, I guess I need something a bit more Plot Forward to keep my interest/engagement high.

[wizardhubrisapologist]

+ relevant addition

so essentially…

[criticalbeauregard]

tal is doing the tal thing where you die on the hill of just saying it’s all going according to plan no matter what happens (other examples include: “stabbing” raishan that one time)

[cannonball5]

Spoilers for Campaign 1/Legend of Vox Machina

Thinking about the Vestiges and how while most of them were clearly designed with particular players in mind, almost none of them have (with the exception of Mythcarver and the Spire of Conflux which require a Bard and a spellcaster respectively) have limitations on who can use them.

Imagine the crazy combinations we could’ve gotten:

-Vex or Percy with Deathwalker’s Ward

-Grog or Vax with Mythcarver (if they took Bard levels obviously)

-Vax or Pike with the Titanstone Knuckles

-Percy or Vax with the Fenthras Bow

-Pike or Scanlan with the Spire of Conflux

-Vax or Vex with Cabal’s Ruin

-Grog or Percy with Whisper

-Percy with Plate of the Dawnmartyr (he’s the only other person with Heavy Armor Proficiency)

The possibilities are so much fun to imagine, like Vex having to take levels in Cleric, Grog learning how to play an instrument to multiclass, etc. I just think it’d be fun.

[marvelousbelladonna]

Vax’ildan is back!!!!! 🥹😭