Do not worry. The eggs have not taken a turn in the combat yet. So Vaxildan, the egg assassin, can sneak attack them. It will be over easy. Prepare to be scrambled.
These have become my favourite LoVM reactions! I feel Zach’s excitement and pain at bringing a newbie through it. I’ll miss the dynamic of Zach knowing the show but I’m looking forward to seeing his first time reactions to stream moments he knows!
When Scanlan was reading that book in the beginning, there was a bunch of runic script on the page before it changed to Wake Up. That script was actually a language, and it was a letter written by Patrick Rothfuss (Kare) for Keyleth after he guest-starred for a couple of episodes.
If you haven't watched on your own, reacting to the mashups of the actual play and the animated series moments are great. Particularly the suntree and the door moment but most of them are really fun. It could be a way to bridge the gap for the next 7 weeks
The bittersweet feeling being caught up. I've really enjoyed your reactions to this series. I've watched a TON of reactors for LoVM. You guys are some of the best. I'll be looking for your Season 3 videos (and extras), after I binge Season 3 myself, of course.
Oh no! These reactions helped make the wait for season 3 not as bad but now you're caught up and we still need to wait! Though I'm very much looking forward to you reacting to the next season, there's some moments I'm VERY excited to see in adaptation
If you want to get technical with game mechanics, every single member except for Grog and Percy can heal with some form of magic. I'm pretty sure they toned it back to make the stakes higher and to simplify the story for the sake of keeping it flowing.
At this point, everyone in Vox Machina except for Grog can heal. Pike, Keyleth, and Vex'ahlia are divine casters. Vax'ildan just took his first level in Paladin, so he is on that divine train now, too. Scanlan is a Bard. Percy can burst heal himself as a Fighter with his Second Wind ability.
I saw someone pointed out the foreshadowing in the intro, but did you pick up on the bigger foreshadowing from episode 10? When Grog kills Kevdak with that drop, and is badly hurt, Pike runs up and says "we have to work on your landings!" The very next day (even if two episodes later) they have to regret not working on his landings and splat. Also, after you said Kiki is the coolest for her bird form, did Vax manage to surpass her with HIS wings? 🙂 Loved your reactions and I'll be watching them in season 3! Thanks for making this content!
Love both of you! I have loved watching Nicole learn (then Zach hold back) EVERYTHING! So much for old critters has been dropped subtly and beautifully played towards the newcomers. Season three here we come!
"all hope is lost" - but they just *killed* the Hope Devourer. alas, they did remove most of the healing capabilities of everyone but Pike. they did make it so Keyleth could do minor stuff with a lot of time and energy in S1, and maybe she did what she could when she splinted Grog's leg, but they removed the Cure Wounds effect pretty much - even Pike struggles. looking forward to seeing your take when you get to watch "live" in October! I still think Vax is a little too settled into the role. No zealot like a convert, I suppose, but he is a bit too cult member for my tastes right now.
To be fair... him leaning in really hard to serving the Raven Queen was accurate to where he was in the campaign... I've been re-watching some of the episodes surrounding this point in time in the campaign and yeah... Vax drinks The Raven Queen Kool-Aid pretty fucking hard. I think once Liam realized that they were going to go forward with this storyline he just leaned into it. Because Vax was kind of slightly interested in the gods prior to the whole sunken tomb situation. But he was leaning more towards Sarenrae, Pikes god. But then the sunken tomb thing happened and he had to pivot to the Raven Queen. So yeah he was kind of dipping his toes into a religious plot line... Just with different god. And then once the worshiping a God plotline was locked in he just leaned in SUPER hard and accepted it. So yeah it's a little bit strange and happening quickly especially in the show where they have to truncate things significantly but it is campaign accurate. 100%.
@FandomFuse Ok Nicole, let's talk about Grog and Craven Edge since I completely forgot to revisit it in my comment on your Episode 10 video. 😅 They cut out a lot when it came to Grog and Craven Edge and I think they should have kept most of it because it explains a lot. You see, in the Campaign, Vox Machina knew about Craven Edge and even confronted Grog about it. And when confronted, Grog told his backstory about how Kevdak beat him nearly to death with the Titanstone Knuckles (which they kept for the Animated Series). What they DIDN'T keep was why that story was relevant to Craven Edge. Grog outright states that he knows the Craven Edge is sentient and evil and is coercing him, but he doesn't care. Why? Because he sees Craven Edge as the means to killing Kevdak, exacting his revenge, and freeing The Herd of Storms from his tyranny. I believe Travis' response went something like this, "I ain't afraid a' death. I'll willingly die for each and every one a' ya. And I don't really care what kills me. I'll die to a Dragon, sure. But the one thing I refuse to die to is Kevdak. So, no, I won't give up Craven Edge because I need it to kill Kevdak. To ensure he doesn't kill me. After Kevdak dies, I'll give up Craven Edge." So yeah, Grog is willingly using Craven Edge because he feels it makes him strong enough to kill Kevdak. They allude to this in the Animated Series, but they never come right out and say it. And I think that's a mistake because, as Non-Critter Reactors like yourself have shown, by removing Grog outright giving his reasons, it makes him seem far more gullible and stupid than he really is. Now one change I do like is Grog snapping Craven Edge in half. As players of D&D yourselves, I'm sure you're aware that in D&D, Magic Items cannot be destroyed by conventional means. Basically, Grog would have been physically unable to snap Craven Edge. And in the Campaign, that is exactly what happened. Vox Machina tried to destroy Craven Edge and failed. Eventually Grog's curiosity (or more accurately, Travis' curiosity) got the better of him. You see, Craven Edge's description states that slaying enemies with it charges it and buffs the wielder. If Craven Edge has any charge on it and the wielder decides to "rest," all the charges and buffs are reset. HOWEVER, if Craven Edge is fully charged and, thus, is providing max buffs to the wielder and the wielder decides to "rest," the wielder must roll. If they succeed the roll, the charges and buffs are rest, as per usual. If they fail the role, however, Craven Edge feeds on the wielder, instantly killing them. Of course, they didn't really have a convenient way of identifying magic items with this party so Craven Edge was never properly identified so nobody knew what would happen if Craven Edge reached max charge. And, as I stated above, Travis' curiosity got the better of him and Grog. Travis, intentionally, had Grog not rest and take exhaustion for a couple days just to get Craven Edge to full charge just to see what it did. After experiencing "Full Charge Craven Edge," Travis was like ok I'll go to sleep to get rid of the exhaustion." And that's when Matt was like, "Roll." Travis failed the roll and Grog died. With Grog dead, of course, that meant Vox Machina could do whatever it wanted with Craven Edge since Craven Edge no longer had an attuned wielder with which to protect it. This is when they tried to destroy Craven Edge. Nothing worked because "Magic Weapon." So they did the only thing they could. Keyleth banished Craven Edge to another plane of existence where, to the best of my knowledge, in the Campaign Version of Exandria, it still resides. I'm rather shocked they haven't run back across it in Campaign 2 or 3. Oh and, obviously, Pike revived Grog. But yeah, changing the story to allow Craven Edge to be broken, I think, was the right decision from a narrative standpoint, having Grog make the decision to get rid of Craven Edge instead of his friends staging an intervention. Especially since they outright removed his reason to want to keep Craven Edge, turning him into a dumb, muscle-bound, brick that only craved strength and power. While breaking Craven Edge made sense for what we got, I still, much prefer the Original Campaign Version where Grog isn't dumb and power hungry, where he has a legit reason for doing what he's doing and he's doing it with full knowledge and awareness of Craven Edge. It makes him a more complex character, in my opinion. And with that complexity incorporated, the intervention makes far more sense than Grog deciding to break Craven Edge on his own. Because a person who sees their addiction as the solution to a very personal issue isn't going to kick that addiction, even if they're perfectly able, but a person who is only remaining addicted for addiction's sake will immediately kick the addiction to the curb, if they're perfectly able, once that addiction harms (or in Grog's case, nearly kills) someone they love. Now... having said all that, I can, kinda, understand why they chose to go the route the did with Grog. I have to assume it was because "How do you deal with addiction when the addiction is about more than just the addiction?" is something they already tackled throughout the entirety of Season 1 with Percy and Orthax. Keeping the actual events of Grog and Craven Edge from the campaign would, basically, be retreading old ground, in that regard. Oh, also, Vox Machina intervening on Grog's behalf to, basically, force him to ditch Craven Edge also allowed them to show Grog that his true strength wasn't in some weapon or some magic, but in them. They showed Grog that he didn't need Craven Edge to beat Kevdak. In the Campaign, the entirety of Vox Machina walked into that fight with Grog. They told Grog that they would be in the crowd and that they were prepared to wipe out the entire Herd for him. They said if he needed their help, he would only have to say the word and that they would not do anything unless he ordered them to. Which is where that great moment came from, "VOX MACHINA! FUCK! SHIT! UP!!" Completely improvised by Travis on the spot. So yeah, in the campaign, Vox Machina was there the entire time, watching from the crowd, the constant reminder to Grog of where his true strength comes from. I don't know. I'm of two minds. I like what we got and, narratively, it made sense given the direction they took the character. But in the end, they actually dumbed down Grog... which is a feat considering he has an Intelligence of 6. And thinking about it now, I'm not sure that sits well with me because the thing about Grog that made (and makes) him such a fan favorite is the fact that he's NOT as simple a character as he seems to be on the surface. Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk about Grog Strongjaw. And thanks for allowing me to actually compile my thoughts and feelings and reflect on them. I hope you found my musings interesting. I can't wait for Season 3 and The Mighty Nein!
Thought I finally comment after watching you bring your partner up to date with the series. It’s been a pleasure watching you both enjoy the series together especially the knowing looks whenever certain comments are made but you have to hold your tongue. Like yourselves I can’t wait till season 3 and look forward to your future reactions
Fun fact that might not have come up yet, Scanlan's vestige originated with a character called the White Duke, a nod to real life bard David Bowie. Now, let me tease Nicole with the knowledge that one of Kiki's most iconic moments is absolutely going to come up in the next season and it's glorious.
If you want some non-spoiler CR content to react to until the next season, there are a series of "The Legend of the _____ of the Legend of Vox Machina" videos that are fun to check out. They're basically a "making of" for different aspects of the show.
Do not worry. The eggs have not taken a turn in the combat yet. So Vaxildan, the egg assassin, can sneak attack them. It will be over easy. Prepare to be scrambled.
These have become my favourite LoVM reactions! I feel Zach’s excitement and pain at bringing a newbie through it. I’ll miss the dynamic of Zach knowing the show but I’m looking forward to seeing his first time reactions to stream moments he knows!
When Scanlan was reading that book in the beginning, there was a bunch of runic script on the page before it changed to Wake Up. That script was actually a language, and it was a letter written by Patrick Rothfuss (Kare) for Keyleth after he guest-starred for a couple of episodes.
and after this episode, even though the character appears to have been adapted out, Zach could show Nicole that scene... it's just so well done.
3:44 "Scanlan Shorthalt slayed the dragon Umbrasyll."
Dude, spoiler!
If you haven't watched on your own, reacting to the mashups of the actual play and the animated series moments are great. Particularly the suntree and the door moment but most of them are really fun. It could be a way to bridge the gap for the next 7 weeks
The bittersweet feeling being caught up. I've really enjoyed your reactions to this series. I've watched a TON of reactors for LoVM. You guys are some of the best. I'll be looking for your Season 3 videos (and extras), after I binge Season 3 myself, of course.
Oh no! These reactions helped make the wait for season 3 not as bad but now you're caught up and we still need to wait!
Though I'm very much looking forward to you reacting to the next season, there's some moments I'm VERY excited to see in adaptation
Mythcarver as tuning fork for opera singer's harmony bard song is so badass!
Considering how the story turned out, it's wild to think that Matt created the death walkers ward with Percy in mind.
If you want to get technical with game mechanics, every single member except for Grog and Percy can heal with some form of magic. I'm pretty sure they toned it back to make the stakes higher and to simplify the story for the sake of keeping it flowing.
What healing magic did Vaxildan have?
Paladin lay on hands
And with his bag of holding, Grog could rage heal with all the potions in his possession
At this point, everyone in Vox Machina except for Grog can heal.
Pike, Keyleth, and Vex'ahlia are divine casters. Vax'ildan just took his first level in Paladin, so he is on that divine train now, too. Scanlan is a Bard. Percy can burst heal himself as a Fighter with his Second Wind ability.
I saw someone pointed out the foreshadowing in the intro, but did you pick up on the bigger foreshadowing from episode 10? When Grog kills Kevdak with that drop, and is badly hurt, Pike runs up and says "we have to work on your landings!" The very next day (even if two episodes later) they have to regret not working on his landings and splat.
Also, after you said Kiki is the coolest for her bird form, did Vax manage to surpass her with HIS wings? 🙂
Loved your reactions and I'll be watching them in season 3! Thanks for making this content!
Love both of you! I have loved watching Nicole learn (then Zach hold back) EVERYTHING! So much for old critters has been dropped subtly and beautifully played towards the newcomers. Season three here we come!
"all hope is lost" - but they just *killed* the Hope Devourer.
alas, they did remove most of the healing capabilities of everyone but Pike. they did make it so Keyleth could do minor stuff with a lot of time and energy in S1, and maybe she did what she could when she splinted Grog's leg, but they removed the Cure Wounds effect pretty much - even Pike struggles.
looking forward to seeing your take when you get to watch "live" in October!
I still think Vax is a little too settled into the role. No zealot like a convert, I suppose, but he is a bit too cult member for my tastes right now.
To be fair... him leaning in really hard to serving the Raven Queen was accurate to where he was in the campaign... I've been re-watching some of the episodes surrounding this point in time in the campaign and yeah... Vax drinks The Raven Queen Kool-Aid pretty fucking hard. I think once Liam realized that they were going to go forward with this storyline he just leaned into it. Because Vax was kind of slightly interested in the gods prior to the whole sunken tomb situation. But he was leaning more towards Sarenrae, Pikes god. But then the sunken tomb thing happened and he had to pivot to the Raven Queen. So yeah he was kind of dipping his toes into a religious plot line... Just with different god. And then once the worshiping a God plotline was locked in he just leaned in SUPER hard and accepted it. So yeah it's a little bit strange and happening quickly especially in the show where they have to truncate things significantly but it is campaign accurate. 100%.
October 2024 - LET’S GOOO! 🔥❤️🔥
@FandomFuse
Ok Nicole, let's talk about Grog and Craven Edge since I completely forgot to revisit it in my comment on your Episode 10 video. 😅
They cut out a lot when it came to Grog and Craven Edge and I think they should have kept most of it because it explains a lot. You see, in the Campaign, Vox Machina knew about Craven Edge and even confronted Grog about it. And when confronted, Grog told his backstory about how Kevdak beat him nearly to death with the Titanstone Knuckles (which they kept for the Animated Series). What they DIDN'T keep was why that story was relevant to Craven Edge. Grog outright states that he knows the Craven Edge is sentient and evil and is coercing him, but he doesn't care. Why? Because he sees Craven Edge as the means to killing Kevdak, exacting his revenge, and freeing The Herd of Storms from his tyranny. I believe Travis' response went something like this, "I ain't afraid a' death. I'll willingly die for each and every one a' ya. And I don't really care what kills me. I'll die to a Dragon, sure. But the one thing I refuse to die to is Kevdak. So, no, I won't give up Craven Edge because I need it to kill Kevdak. To ensure he doesn't kill me. After Kevdak dies, I'll give up Craven Edge." So yeah, Grog is willingly using Craven Edge because he feels it makes him strong enough to kill Kevdak. They allude to this in the Animated Series, but they never come right out and say it. And I think that's a mistake because, as Non-Critter Reactors like yourself have shown, by removing Grog outright giving his reasons, it makes him seem far more gullible and stupid than he really is.
Now one change I do like is Grog snapping Craven Edge in half. As players of D&D yourselves, I'm sure you're aware that in D&D, Magic Items cannot be destroyed by conventional means. Basically, Grog would have been physically unable to snap Craven Edge. And in the Campaign, that is exactly what happened. Vox Machina tried to destroy Craven Edge and failed. Eventually Grog's curiosity (or more accurately, Travis' curiosity) got the better of him. You see, Craven Edge's description states that slaying enemies with it charges it and buffs the wielder. If Craven Edge has any charge on it and the wielder decides to "rest," all the charges and buffs are reset. HOWEVER, if Craven Edge is fully charged and, thus, is providing max buffs to the wielder and the wielder decides to "rest," the wielder must roll. If they succeed the roll, the charges and buffs are rest, as per usual. If they fail the role, however, Craven Edge feeds on the wielder, instantly killing them. Of course, they didn't really have a convenient way of identifying magic items with this party so Craven Edge was never properly identified so nobody knew what would happen if Craven Edge reached max charge. And, as I stated above, Travis' curiosity got the better of him and Grog. Travis, intentionally, had Grog not rest and take exhaustion for a couple days just to get Craven Edge to full charge just to see what it did. After experiencing "Full Charge Craven Edge," Travis was like ok I'll go to sleep to get rid of the exhaustion." And that's when Matt was like, "Roll." Travis failed the roll and Grog died. With Grog dead, of course, that meant Vox Machina could do whatever it wanted with Craven Edge since Craven Edge no longer had an attuned wielder with which to protect it. This is when they tried to destroy Craven Edge. Nothing worked because "Magic Weapon." So they did the only thing they could. Keyleth banished Craven Edge to another plane of existence where, to the best of my knowledge, in the Campaign Version of Exandria, it still resides. I'm rather shocked they haven't run back across it in Campaign 2 or 3. Oh and, obviously, Pike revived Grog.
But yeah, changing the story to allow Craven Edge to be broken, I think, was the right decision from a narrative standpoint, having Grog make the decision to get rid of Craven Edge instead of his friends staging an intervention. Especially since they outright removed his reason to want to keep Craven Edge, turning him into a dumb, muscle-bound, brick that only craved strength and power. While breaking Craven Edge made sense for what we got, I still, much prefer the Original Campaign Version where Grog isn't dumb and power hungry, where he has a legit reason for doing what he's doing and he's doing it with full knowledge and awareness of Craven Edge. It makes him a more complex character, in my opinion. And with that complexity incorporated, the intervention makes far more sense than Grog deciding to break Craven Edge on his own. Because a person who sees their addiction as the solution to a very personal issue isn't going to kick that addiction, even if they're perfectly able, but a person who is only remaining addicted for addiction's sake will immediately kick the addiction to the curb, if they're perfectly able, once that addiction harms (or in Grog's case, nearly kills) someone they love. Now... having said all that, I can, kinda, understand why they chose to go the route the did with Grog. I have to assume it was because "How do you deal with addiction when the addiction is about more than just the addiction?" is something they already tackled throughout the entirety of Season 1 with Percy and Orthax. Keeping the actual events of Grog and Craven Edge from the campaign would, basically, be retreading old ground, in that regard.
Oh, also, Vox Machina intervening on Grog's behalf to, basically, force him to ditch Craven Edge also allowed them to show Grog that his true strength wasn't in some weapon or some magic, but in them. They showed Grog that he didn't need Craven Edge to beat Kevdak. In the Campaign, the entirety of Vox Machina walked into that fight with Grog. They told Grog that they would be in the crowd and that they were prepared to wipe out the entire Herd for him. They said if he needed their help, he would only have to say the word and that they would not do anything unless he ordered them to. Which is where that great moment came from, "VOX MACHINA! FUCK! SHIT! UP!!" Completely improvised by Travis on the spot. So yeah, in the campaign, Vox Machina was there the entire time, watching from the crowd, the constant reminder to Grog of where his true strength comes from.
I don't know. I'm of two minds. I like what we got and, narratively, it made sense given the direction they took the character. But in the end, they actually dumbed down Grog... which is a feat considering he has an Intelligence of 6. And thinking about it now, I'm not sure that sits well with me because the thing about Grog that made (and makes) him such a fan favorite is the fact that he's NOT as simple a character as he seems to be on the surface.
Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk about Grog Strongjaw. And thanks for allowing me to actually compile my thoughts and feelings and reflect on them. I hope you found my musings interesting. I can't wait for Season 3 and The Mighty Nein!
Love the mustache in the picture at the beginning
Thought I finally comment after watching you bring your partner up to date with the series.
It’s been a pleasure watching you both enjoy the series together especially the knowing looks whenever certain comments are made but you have to hold your tongue.
Like yourselves I can’t wait till season 3 and look forward to your future reactions
Vax's Father Figure saying "I believe in you" must've hit nice
Fun fact that might not have come up yet, Scanlan's vestige originated with a character called the White Duke, a nod to real life bard David Bowie.
Now, let me tease Nicole with the knowledge that one of Kiki's most iconic moments is absolutely going to come up in the next season and it's glorious.
is it...the speech?
@@thatguyzackrobb the very one!
Love the end of the season. You guys are so awesome. Looking forward to season 3
When the shot pans over the hoard there is a very prominent red gem in the foreground...i am sure its nothing important😢
If you look closely you can also see that keeper Yennen is missing her mole on her face, it seems Raishan isn't that good with details ;)
The owl head at the text at the beginning 😂😂😂 hilarious
Scanlan is 69 years old.
Is it October yet?
Please don't conflate dragons and pickles.
Zach is absolutely bringing the drip, as the kids say.
oh my goodness, thank you so much!
I mean gnomes aging in DND is a whole thing considering they live hundreds of years. It seems a little loosey goosey until you take that into account.
I think Pop Pop (Pike's great-great grandfather) is 300+ himself.
If you want some non-spoiler CR content to react to until the next season, there are a series of "The Legend of the _____ of the Legend of Vox Machina" videos that are fun to check out. They're basically a "making of" for different aspects of the show.
We actually watched those between 1 and 2! They should be in our VM playlist! ~Nicole
I think Craven Edge has a cameo in season 3