The Legend of Vox Machina: Season 3
The Legend of Vox Machina is an adult animated series based on campaign 1 of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role. Critical Role is a group of professional voice actors that get together to play D&D 5th edition. The cast own the intellectual property and have already produced a number of licensed works based on the show. A single Critical Role campaign will consist of a series of story arcs, played over multiple sessions. Between or sometimes within the major story arcs, the characters rest, resupply, or go on side quests. While each campaign centers on a different party of adventurers, the campaigns are all set on the various continents of Exandria, a world of Matt Mercer's creation.
Campaign 1 ran from March 2015 to October 2017; totaling 115 episodes with an average runtime of 3 to 5 hours per episode. It follows the adventures of the Vox Machina party and is set primarily on the continent of Tal'Dorei in locations such as the metropolis of Emon and the city-state of Whitestone. The Critical Role cast reprise their characters for the show, which consists of 12 (24–28 minute long) episodes.
Episode 1: A Deadly Bargain
The green dragon Raishan explains that she is afflicted with a deadly disease. Thordak had the knowledge to cure it and offered to do so if she set him free from his flame prison. He never made good on his end of the deal, and with the heart crystal (soul anchor) in his possession, Raishan is too weak to confront him alone. Thordak also has a clutch of eggs ready to hatch. Vox Machina takes time to bond and to decide whether or not they should trust Raishan.
Raishan suggests they seek out the vestige of the Dawnmartyr in Ank'Harel due to its reputation as a dragon killer, but the group decides to go for the eggs first in order to determine if Raishan is speaking the truth. The group is quickly discovered by Thordak in his lair, forcing Raishan to sustain injuries while saving them. Following this, an alliance is arranged and the group travels to Ank'Harel where they encounter Dr. Anna Ripley in the midst of stealing the Dawnmartyr. Orthax the demon has also become her ally. She manages to steal the Dawnmartyr and takes Percy de Rolo captive.
Episode 2: Prisoners of Ank'Harel
Vox Machina is pointed in the direction of Ripley by children who witnessed the crime. Vox Machina follows the trail to a building where Ripley is performing experiments on two vestiges. She escapes with the vestiges but the team manages to rescue Percy. The city guards then arrest Vox Machina for the break ins and theft because they had been seen at Ripley's crime scene. The empress, J'mon Sa Ord, finds vestiges in Vox Machina's possession and (rightly) assumes that they had come to the city to steal Dawnmartyr. Furthermore, the victims at the crime scene were all murdered with a unique weapon identicle to the one used by Percy. To spare his friends from execution, Percy takes the blame for everything.
Meanwhile, Scanlan had gone to see his daughter Kaylie performing with Dr. Dranzel's Spectacular Traveling Troupe. His attempts to bond with Kaylie don't go well and have to be put on hold when he hears about Percy. Scanlan presents Mythcarver to J'mon which reveals the true thief. J'mon then clears Vox Machina of all wrong doing and reveals that the Dawnmartyr Ripley stole was a fake. The real Dawnmartyr is hidden in Hell.
Episode 3: Vexations
Back in Whitestone, Percy and Vex spend the night together while Vax> and Keyleth end their relationship. The next day the team travels to Draconia where Lady Kima and Allura say a portal to Hell is maintained by thier former traveling companion Dohla (dragonborn). Lady Kima, Allura, and Dohla must stay behind to open and close the portal while Percy and Vex stand guard. Dohla however, had secretly been bitter for years about not getting a seat on the council and as an act of vengeance against Kima and Allura, summons the white dragon Vorugal. Vorugal promptly devours Dohla.
Raishan was present for the fight with Vorugal in the game, and fought him to prove her allegiance to Vox Machina.
Episode 4: Hell to Pay
In Hell, Pike tries purifying a soul which alerts all of Hell's denizens to their presence. A mysterious voice leads them to a powerful demon who holds the vestige and offers them temporary protection in Hell. The demon explains that J'mon lost the artifact in a game of cards and to get it back they'll need to play for it. Pike wagers her soul and looses. Another round is arranged for the souls of her friends which she wins.
"There is no difference between the the gods above and below. They all lie!" -Demon
Episode 5: The Frigid Doom
On their way back through the portal the group is pursued by a powerful ape-like demon which ends up colliding with Vorugal. The two behemoths fight, with Vorugal coming out the victor. Vox Machina then collectively finishes the white dragon off.
"You should be careful about what you chase. You might just catch it." -Kima (to Vorugal)
Episode 6: The Coming Storm
Scanlan sets out on his own temporarily to spend time with his daughter while the rest of Vox Machina return to Whitestone. To their horror, the city is besieged by Thordak's young. Once the flames have been quenched, they end their alliance with Raishan, who claims she could not have alerted them without Thordak becoming wise to their alliance.
Episode 7: Cloak and Dagger
A rare gem found only on the Isle of Glintshire alerts everyone to the fact that it was Ripley who ratted Whitestone out to Thordak. Once on the Isle, Percy is once again captured by Ripley who needs him to solve a power surge problem with her factory. The factory produces guns designed by Orthax who gets the souls of anyone killed by them. And in return anyone from any walk of life or social class gets a weapon they can use; in Ripley's eyes, allowing the working class to rise up against those in power who would oppress them. Ripley and Percy get into a shootout that ends with Percy offering to spare Ripley's life. She fatally shoots him.
Episode 8: The Siege of Emon
A funeral is held for Percy. Afterward Grog suggests that they gather warriors from all the places they've visited since Thordak is a threat to everyone. Raishan reappears and offers to rekindle their alliance, but the information she provides turns out to be a trap.
Episode 9: Thordak
Instead of the baby dragons they were expecting, the gathered armies are pitted against Thordak, and the team has to devise a new way of getting Grog and Scanlan near the unhatched eggs. During the battle Kashaw is smashed to death and Scanlan gets stuck in a coma. Pike uses the Dawnmartyr armor the reflect Thordak's attack back at him, smashing the heart crystal. Vax then lands the killing blow.
After the battle Keyleth finds Raishan performing a ritual over Thordak's body, teleporting it to places unknown.
At the table, Vox Machina had agreed beforehand to let Raishan have Thordak's body. After the battle they reneged on their end of the deal.
Episode 10: To the Ends of the World
Keyleth leaves on her own to find Raishan. She reaches out to the Ashari who inflicted the disease upon Raishan to ask that that they teach her their scrying abilities.
Elsewhere, Pike convinces Kaylie to see Scanlan while Vex and Vax set out to find Ripley.
Episode 11: Deadly Echoes
Vex and Vax are successful in tracking down Ripley. After killing her, Vax believes he can hear Percy's voice in her gun. Scanlan awakens to Kaylie's voice and the entire team convenes to pursue Raishan. Having divined her location the team finds Raishan transferring her soul into Thordak's body, becoming a dragon lich.
Episode 12: Souls in Darkness
Keyleth uses her earth form to absorb Raishan's old body. Then using a root system, transfers the disease into the new body, causing it to rapidly decay.
"You think I'd help you acquire these vestiges if they were a threat to me? I pulled your strings and you danced." -Raishan
Against the Raven Queen's wishes, Vax and the rest of Vox Machina attempt a ritual to transfer Percy's soul from Ripley's gun back into his body. Successful in their endeavors, everyone goes their own way to pursue their own goals. However, under whitestone a cultist group awakens an evil from the dark sphere in the ziggurat.
"Sometimes you should go against the wishes of your deity. After all, the gods didn't create us just to blindly obey them, right?" -Pike
Thoughts
Season 3 takes more liberties with the story and sequence of events
compared to its predecessors, and diverges the most from the tabletop
game. Kashaw dying, Pike's blood having magical healing powers and
Thordak's eggs hatching never happened in the tabletop game. Raishan
also assisted in the fight with Vorugal and never succeeded in
performing her ritual. Instead Keyleth managed to cast "feeblemind" on
Raishan against all odds, essentially turning Raishan into a dumb
animal. It was ironic and I was sad to see that it didn't get
adapted to the screen. This season was also very
relationship heavy, juggling two couples with similar issues which isn't
my cup of tea, especially when the drama comes off as inorganic and
over the top.
Something about the characters in general felt off. Grog gets pushed into the background for a good chunk of the
runtime and when he does get a moment in the spotlight his usual
heartfelt and comedic moments just aren't there. The ruthlessly
pragmatic "no mercy Percy" decides to try and spare the demon
possessed Anna, predictably getting himself killed and leaving his
companions to finish the job. Pike also puts the entire party in danger by trying to save a damned soul after
her god told her not to. It's clear
that most of the changes this season were made in order to raise the stakes and to create tension, and that the action and drama was prioritized over story and
character development.
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