Awesome / Critical Role Conclave Arc

The Chroma Conclave story arc begins when four ancient chromatic dragons attack Tal'Dorei and divide the kingdom between them. In order to defeat the dragons, Osysa — the gynosphinx who leads the Slayer's Take — sends Vox Machina on a quest to obtain "The Vestiges of Divergence": a series of famed magic items that are scattered throughout the world.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Episode 39: Omens

• Scanlan and Kaylie pulling off a father-daughter breakout from the stockade. Also, Percy being subtle in getting some sort of payback towards Scanlan due to him tossing The List into the acid pits beneath Whitestone.
• Say what you want, the mental image of dragons destroying the city of Emon, and having our heroes fleeing for their lives is an intense and awesome ending for an episode.

Episode 40: Desperate Measures

• Vex reveals that she multiclassed into Rogue.
• Scanlan still having a role in the battle against the white dragon, despite Sam not being there.
• Inter-party FIGHT!
• The cunning Grog displays when he manages to trick Percy and Vex'ahlia, of all people, into producing the wish-granting skull of the Githyanki from its hiding place, then isolates Percy and Vex from the rest of the party by cornering them in Percy's heavily secured workshop and sealing off the only door, and finally single-handedly overpowers both of them by using his immense strength to knock Percy prone and take the skull from Vex, while the rest of the party is helpless to do anything but watch. Grog only fails at getting everything he wants (and probably making things even worse) because of a critical fail he rolls at the very last second. The sheer cunning that Grog, a goliath with an intelligence of 6, brought to bear is simply jaw-dropping.
  • The in-story explanation for what prevents Grog shattering the skull is that as he's rearing back to spike the skull against a surface, he catches a glimpse of the look of disappointment on Pike's face, which is enough to suck all the wind out of his sails and let the skull fall harmlessly out of his grip.
• Keyleth silences everyone arguing over the skull and calls them out on not keeping her in the loop and falling apart at the seams.
  Vex'ahlia: Keyleth, you don't know what's happening.
  Keyleth: I would if any of my fucking party would for once tell me something!
• Allura's Get A Hold Of Yourself Man speech to Keyleth.
• Thordak gets a couple:
  • The massive ancient red dragon shows Vorugal, the ancient white dragon, who was boss. Thordak snatched Vorugal, who had been thrashing Vox Machina, out of the sky and threw him to the ground. Definitely showed just how strong Thordak is.
  • Allura tells the party the story of how she meet Thordak. She, her own adventuring party, and a whole bunch of mercenaries tried to outright kill the dragon fifteen years ago. He, and his lizardfolk army, defeated Allura's group so thoroughly that she ruled out combat as an option.
  • Instead, Allura turned to the Arcana Pansophical, a collective of powerful magic users across the land. They all worked together to trap him in the Elemental Plane of Fire. Three members of Allura's party committed a Heroic Sacrifice and it only held him for fifteen years. She knows he won't fall for the same trick twice.

Episode 41: In Ruins

• New guest party member! Jason Charles Miller^* a.k.a. voice of Drizzt Do'Urden as Garthok, the Half-Orc Rogue from the Clasp! Miller manages to play him quite well.
• Vox Machina and Garthok see looters picking over the remains of Gilmore's Glorious Goods and they immediately jump into battle once the looters attack them. Everyone in the party gets a moment of awesome. Namely:
  • Vex hammering the looters with Hail of Thorns.
  • Trinket ripping one guy's head entirely off his neck.
  • Grog going into a Frenzy Rage and getting multiple Natural 20s in one round and killing multiple looters in the same attack. And thanks to Craven Edge's abilities (and multiple failed saving throws on Matt's part), he gets stronger with almost every hit.
  • Percy running and shooting and killing a guy with his three shots that round then casually walking to the next foe.
  • Keyleth getting pissed and grabbing one of the looter's heads and shocking him (and herself, but she considers it Worth It) with a point-blank Call Lightning. She then follows it up with turning into Minxie once again, and pulling off ANOTHER Call Lightning while in her beast form.
  • Pike slamming a guy with 22 damage and then assisting Percy with her War Domain abilities so he can finish him off.
  • Garthok's sneak attacking with his Stiletto Spear and nearly instakilling the people he sneak attacked.
  • Scanlan dominating an enemy dwarf and then intimidating a guy at the end of combat to surrender with a parody of "The Joker"'s first verse.
  • Both Vex and Percy using Hunter's Mark and Hex on the same guy they're targeting just because they could.
• Gilmore. While Vox Machina was running for their lives, this not so humble shop keeper took on Thordak, the ancient red dragon, to save the lives of Uriel's family, Seeker Asum and Guardian Tofor Bratoris and lived thanks to the combined efforts of Pike, Vex, and Keyleth when they find him on death's door.
  • Doubles as one for Matt's dice-rolling skills as well. He'd been making secret rolls for the first half of the episode to see if Gilmore would survive, with the chance decreasing steadily (the next roll would have had a 80% chance of Gilmore's death). Pike choosing to use her one 6th-level spell to Heal him as hard as she could is awesome on top of that, as it shows just how well Matt has done at creating Gilmore's character.
  • Gilmore doesn't quit defending them either, even in his injured state. When a group of opportunistic looters fall upon the retreating royal family, Gilmore gets off Trinket's back and summons an impressive and intimidating display of arcane bolts to swirl around him, scaring off the would-be thieves easily before collapsing to the ground again after they're gone. Laura even calls it a "drop your sword" moment.

Episode 42: Dangerous Dealings

• After recently having terrible luck utilizing her 6th level spells, a newly leveled-up Keyleth gets some redemption by using 7th level Fire Storm against several Wyverns.
  • It's doubly awesome from an RP standpoint as Keyleth unleashed her rage against them in memory of her fallen brothers and sisters in the Fire Ashari.
• Vex's limerick to Scanlan was such a good burn Matt granted Laura DM inspiration for it.
• The argument between Percy and Keyleth is well-acted on both sides: Percy calling Keyleth out for costing VM an alliance with The Clasp due to her ego, saying that compared to himself, she believes that she's better than them and that they lost a valuable spy network. However, Keyleth points out that they don't need the assistance of the Clasp, and that giving them an in in Vasselheim and the other risks of such an alliance were not worth it. The best part of the argument is that they're both right: Percy's right in that they should have respected the Clasp more and that they missed out on a valuable deal and spy network because of that, and Keyleth's right about the risks potentially not being worth the reward.

Episode 43: Return to Vasselheim

• There are returns of a lot of recurring characters. Zahra, Kashaw, Vanessa and Murten Sindrial, Kern, Viktor the Black Powder Merchant, Lady Kima of Vord, a mention of Tyriock the Cartographer, amongst others.
• Lady Kima kicking a Platinum Knight, Udain, and taking his place as Vord's sent Champion.
• Matt had an entire creation myth prepared for his universe, and he finally gets to tell it. According to Q&As, he'd thought it up a long time ago, the party just hadn't asked about it until now.
• Matt's performance as Viktor the Black Powder Salesman makes everyone crack up, and he never breaks character while talking with Percy. Liam outright says he's going to go over to a corner and not stay in character because he's laughing too hard, and at the end, he gives Matt a standing ovation. Points must be given to Taliesin, too, for staying in character while everyone else is laughing their butts off.
• The fight between Grog, Vax'ildan, and Scanlan vs. Earthbreaker Groon.
  • Vax manages to avoid taking 10d10 necrotic damage with a saving throw.
  • Doing the splits to dodge the Lightning Bolt from Scanlan.
• Keyleth checking up on Vax'ildan after the fight, by hugging him (twice) and giving him a peck on the lips. It seems like they are moving into Official Couple territory.

Episode 44: The Sunken Tomb

• Owlbears stalk the lake.
• Zahra gets another HDYWTDT, and against a beholder, causing the entire upper half of the monster to explode!
• Scanlan using Bigby's Hand to throw Grog at the beholder in a fastball special.
• Along with being a Tearjerker, Vex's revival ritual definitely qualifies. It starts out with Kashaw drawing upon Vesh's power, knowing full well that it could get them all killed, and culminates in Vax staring down the goddess of death and making this offer:
  Vax: Take me instead, you raven bitch.

Episode 45: Those Who Walk Away...

• The entire cast has fantastic roleplaying.
  • Vax'ildan and Percy work out a lot of issues regarding Vex's death in the previous episode. Percy takes his punishment like a gentleman.
  • Vex'ahlia talks with Keyleth about the resurrection ritual, and Marisha sounds truly uncomfortable about one friend's death and that another one (brother and not-quite-boyfriend, respectively) may be marked for death.
  • Funny as it was, Scanlan and Grog in the outhouse and the painter's workshop was also awesome.
• Percy giving Vex'ahlia a siege arrow, which he calls "An Evening of Unbridled Guilt."
• Keyleth using Speak with Animals and Vax (half-dressed) in the armor of the Raven Queen's Champion both fail to impress Galdrick, the black wolf contained within the Raven's Slumber gem. As he walks past Grog, the goliath pulls out Craven Edge, slams it into the ground next to the wolf's head and bellows "HEEL!" The wolf heels.

Episode 46: Cindergrove Revisited

• Keyleth, in her Fire Elemental form, manages to roll a Natural 20 on Intimidation to scare a salamander and some smaller elementals away.
• Vex pulls a slick con to swindle the guest, Gern, out of his flying broom. (However, it does bump her alignment to Chaotic Neutral for stealing from a guy trying to help them.)
• Keyleth uses her Tidal Wave spell to create 60 gallons of water that deals an automatic 60 damage due to elemental weaknesses (in addition to its base damage), and it automatically kills two fire elementals.
  • Then a Critter tweeted Taliesin with the calculation that it was actually 125 gallons of water. Matt's response is that there's no way in hell that they survived it.
• While Gern is laying in the lava and probably near unconsciousness, he hits the Efreet with a Disintegrate and deals 76 damage to it.
• Scanlan gets both How Do You Want To Do This killshots this episode, the first with Thunder Wave (which ends up backfiring awesome-wise because he's too focused on getting Gern's attention to watch it happen) and then the second one to finish off the Efreet with Lightning Bolt after trapping it inside his Otiluke's Resilient Sphere.
  • The Otiluke's Resilient Sphere basically took the Efreet out of the fight. By the time it gets out, all its allies are gone.
• Closing the eruptured portal to the Fire Plane becomes a skill challenge. In addition to all the Ashari pouring their magical might into the task, the party provides the final push.
  • Keyleth joins her people with a Plane Shift.
  • Gern sends one of his zombies forward with a Blink candle, and the undead survives long enough to use it.
  • Finally, Vax uses the Cape of the Mountebank to matador the portal closed, sacrificing the cape and flinging himself into the lava in the process. Incidentally, this makes a good impression on his crush's father: Korrin advises him to stay alive "for her sake".

Episode 47: The Family Business

• Magical Mansion, Casa Del Shorthalt. It leads to fantastic roleplay from everyone.
• A well-timed dinging sound right when Vex'ahila pulls out the flying broom.

  Sam: Whoa, how did you do that?

• With the help of a few whole-party spells from Vex, Keyleth rolls a 47 for Stealth.
• With some quick strategising and stealth on their side, the party is able to use a peasant farmer faking a broken ankle sucker the goliath "Horace" into entering a cropfield, where they are able to bind, tackle and interrogate him without breaking stealth. Grog, being the one interrogating, and upon hearing that Kevdak and the Herd are sworn to Umbrasyl, dispassionately executes his kinsman by bisecting his ribcage vertically with Craven Edge, making this a crossover into Nightmare Fuel.
• Craven Edge really doesn't like switching wielders. The current holder must make a charisma save in order to relinquish it. This means Grog has trouble giving it to Scanlan (to check if Scanlan can hear Craven Edge's voice like he can). Scanlan resolves this trouble with a Suggestion (he's Grog's House Of Lady Favors buddy, so of course its a reasonable request). Then, after listening to Craven Edge's usual "I will give you power" pitch, he nonchalantly hands it back to Grog (thanks to a Nat 20). Matt's narration is the icing on the cake. He says this mystical, sapient and powerful weapon has encountered many people and killed many more, but it has never met a gnome like Scanlan Shorthalt.

Episode 48: Into the Frostweald

• After learning the hard way that using it in combat is a bad idea back in Episode 39, here we see how Wind Walk is supposed to be used: as an awesome, fast method of travel.
• "Vax'ildad" telling a boy named Simon, that he named his serpentine belt after the kid.
  • Asking Simon if he wanted to see something cool.
• Pike receiving the Gauntlets of Ogre Power from Grog. She's now stronger than him!
• Anytime a party member chooses to not avert their gaze when attacking the Basilisks, meaning they don't get disadvantage on their attacks but have to make a Constitution save to avoid being turned to stone. Everyone who does so ends up shrugging it off like nothing.
• Pike, once again showing she's the best, by rolling a Natural 20 Insight check on Vax.

Episode 49: A Name Is Earned

• Mixed with Funny, Scanlan rolling into the Orc camp. They needed a diversion, and this got everyone's attention. Sam's line leading into it is pretty awesome too.
  Matt: What was your stealth check, Sam?
  Sam: 15, but it doesn't matter: I'm walking forward.
• Keyleth goes Earth Elemental and attempts to throw an Orc into the spike pit "this is Sparta" style. She succeeds!
• Grog's How Do You Want to Do This moment against the Orcchief of stabbing Craven Edge into the ground hilt first and then impaling him onto the blade is cruel yet awesome.
• Percy, Keyleth and Vex are responsible for figuring out basically every riddle in the lead-up to the fight with the Androsphinx. Percy speaks Celestial, so he reads out all of the inscriptions, and Keyleth not only figures out that they have to dive into the pool of water to advance, but also saves Grog from drowning. Percy deduces how to open the columns in the next room, then Keyleth and Vex manage to save everyone from the sand trap it triggers. During the actual fight, Percy uncovers a hint that helps Vex figure out how to find the clues to the Androsphinx's name. Then Percy, Keyleth and (eventually) Grog gather the rest of the clues. To top it all off, Percy manages to keep a clear head while half the party is knocked out, seriously injured, frightened, or paralyzed, and he figures out the Androsphinx's name just in time.
• Described by Travis as "going Super Saiyan", Craven Edge gets "full". Creepy Awesome powerup ensues.

Episode 50: Best Laid Plans

• Craven Edge killing Grog is sad and scary but how the party reacts to it is awesome.
  • Percy gets into a shadow vs. shadow 'contest' with Craven Edge, demanding it return Grog's soul. This leads to Staring Down Cthulhu.
  Percy: (stonefaced) If I were you, I'd put it back. Or else it will be the last meal you ever eat, because I will find an abyss so deep and so far you will never taste a drop of blood again.
  • Pike breaks its attunement to Grog with Greater Restoration. Matt's narration is fantastic.
  • Finally, the evil sword is gotten rid of for good thanks to Keyleth sending it into a pocket dimension with Plane Shift.
• The party needs a distraction so they can lure their enemies into a trap. Scanlan delivers! He invisibly sneaks into Westrunn, thunderwaves six of Kevdak's herd, and then escapes while they're surprised.

Episode 51: Test of Pride

• As tense as their relationship is, Scanlan and Kaylie make a formidable team by Scanlan using Minor Illusion and Kaylie throwing her voice by pretending to be Stonejaw Strongjaw and saving the lives of the people in the church together. Scanlan also uses Seeming and high Deception rolls to disguise them as a band of orcs and then get them past Goliaths and into the sewers safely.
• Scanlan's first usage of Mythcarver, stabbing straight through the face of a halfling without any resistance or sound: a glimpse of the power the wielded Vestiges might hold.
  • Blood doesn't stay on it. Mythcarver vibrates the blood off it. That's how sleek it is.
• Grog's epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech to both the current state of the Herd of Storms and Kevdak himself, followed by challenging Kevdak to single combat. Travis' acting in general is amazing in this episode.
  Grog: Well, it would be such a shame. It seems all of you would be missing out on the greatest show of your life. You see, in this bag, I carry the very thing that will topple the mighty Kevdak. You know what I remember? I remember a herd that nations used to part for, I remember a herd that towns used to quake and run from, I remember a herd that was so proud and dangerous, they would never hole up in a shit-stick city like this. But what do I see when I come here? Kevdak prancing up in a place like this and what, bending the knee to a dragon? How far you have fallen. Now, if you have any honor in you at all, you’ll take me to Kevdak and you will see what I have for him. And then maybe, just maybe, you can call yourselves warriors again instead of piss pot squatters.
  • And later...
  Grog: (to Kevdak) Hello, uncle. The piece of shit you wiped off your boot has come home. When last we saw each other, you saw it fitting to beat down a mere child. I remember another child that got a beating. Seems like he came from your nut sack. [...] See, I’ve grown, I’ve learned. I’ve also watched as dragons took the mighty Kevdak, wielder of the Titanstone Knuckles, and made him bend the knee. I was wondering, do you also squat when you piss now? [...] You’ve shown this herd exactly who you are and what they can expect: to live a nice domesticated life, where the booty runs dry, where the women are scarce, where I’m sure there are plans this very minute to unseat you from your high horse. But I’ve come to do them a favor, they’re not going to get that chance. You and me. I challenge you to single combat for the pride of this herd.
• How tough is Kevdak? Well, first of all, he's older and bigger than Grog. Then he has the Titanstone Knuckles, the legendary gauntlets that Vox Machina is looking for, and these makes him even bigger. Then he rages and a bear tattoo appears on his chest, thus revealing that he is that infamous tank barbarian known as the Bear Totem, which resists the fire damage of Grog's Firebrand Warhammer. Then he disarms Grog of said Firebrand Warhammer using a Battlemaster maneuver. On top of all that, his own Blood Axe deals necrotic damage, which Grog cannot reduce by raging. After several exchanges, he deals twice as much damage to Grog as Grog has to him.
• When Kevdak proves too tough to defeat in single combat, Grog calls upon his friends, and it is epic:
  "VOX MACHINA! FUCK! SHIT! UP!"

Episode 52: The Kill Box

• The entire fight against Kevdak and Grog's former herd is entirely awesome, but special mentions:
  • Scanlan's Hold Person spell completely neutralizes Kevdak. The party follows up by focusing fire on his arms until he can no longer hold a weapon, meaning that he never makes a single attack during the entire battle.
  • Percy puts the Gloves of Missile Snaring to work against an enemy archer, snatching an arrow from midair and breaking it in one hand. He stares down the unfortunate guy, who promptly regrets his life choices.
  • Percy gets another moment right after Kevdak is healed for 70 HP by Greenbeard. While the rest of the party worries that the tide of battle is turning against them, Percy plugs away with Bad News, and wipes out almost 50 of those hit points in a single turn.
  • Pike casts Spiritual Weapon to attack Kevdak; it takes the form of, as Matt describes it, "a large greathand sword, almost a light reflection mirror-image of the Craven Edge", the very same weapon that almost killed Grog in the previous episode.
  • Vex'ahlia tanking four out of five attacks of opportunity to save Grog, who later states he only had 20 HP left. She swoops down on the broom and, in a stroke of brilliance, scoops Grog into the "pokeball" locket from which she'd earlier released Trinket.
  • Grog falling 50ft through the air to land the HDYWTDT on Kevdak after being rescued via locket by Vex on her broom the previous turn, and cleaving Kevdak vertically in two. The falling damage took him down to 0 HP, but nobody cares - Matt, without prompting, mentions that Grog falls unconscious smiling.
    Grog: "FOR STRONGJAW!"
  • Matt later revealed that had Grog not done this, the rest of the Barbarians would've kept on fighting, meaning this action likely saved the party's lives.
  • Unable to reach Grog in time to heal him, Vex instead calls out "Witness Grog Strongjaw and bend the knee!" She rolls a natural 20 for intimidation!
• After the fight, they find out that Zanror was to be executed for speaking against Kevdak, since he wanted the herd to take action against the dragon. When Greenbeard prompts Grog to finish Zanror off, Grog announces that he's going to eliminate a weakling in order to return the herd to its lost glory and then pivots to drive the ax into Greenbeard, killing him. Greenbeard's head parted company with his body before he knew what was happening. Grog might not be very smart, but he's got cunning.
• Grog among his people in general. With Vox Machina and up against people whose intelligence is more than 6, Grog can be easily dismissed as a child, albeit a murderous one. The arc against Kevdak gives him a chance to shine as the party trusts him and defers to him for his insights into (and manipulation of) the Herd's culture and warrior spirit. Thanks to "fucking teamwork", Vox Machina's victory is a well-earned one.

Episode 53: At Dawn, We Plan!

• Wilhand being a Shipper on Deck for Scanlan and Pike after learning that Scanlan has a Magic Mansion.

Episode 54: In the Belly of the Beast

• Plan A: Percy builds a trap to keep Umbrasyl on the ground. Pretty good plan, right? Plan B: Dimension door into a Dragon's stomach, and place an immovable rod right in its gullet. Awesome. Suicidally insane, but awesome.
• Once the trap is sprung, Vex gets the first turn on initiative on Umbrasyl for almost a hundred points worth of damage in one round.
• Umbrasyl is up against Vox Machina, the Herd of Storms, a magic stone golem and a local abjuration wizard. They catch him in a trap and wail on him. Then they remember that they are up against an Ancient Black Dragon. He breaks free from the trap, wrecks the Herd of Storms, frightens the abjuration wizard, resists stone golem's magic, along with all the other debuffs Vox Machina attempts, and then escapes once he is bloodied. His full name isn't "Umbrasyl the Hope Devourer" because of marriage.
• Evil as it is, the cliffhanger at end of session is pure crazy narrative awesome, as a heavily-injured Umbrasyl escapes the battlefield, tearing the immovable rod from his own gut in the process with Vax and Scanlan still trapped and alive inside him. Also, he's dragging an extra-large Grog along by the chain of his waraxe.

Episode 55: Umbrasyl

• Vax and Scanlan, using their own skills and ingenuity, manage to escape from inside Umbrasyl. Vax carves his way out with the Dragonslayer Longsword, while Scanlan uses Bigby's Hand to fist his way through.
• Vax'ildan, Paladin of the Raven Queen.
  Vax: When I went into this dragon, I was lost and a wanderer. But as I'm shat out its side, I come forth a Paladin of the Raven Queen. And the last thing I think as I shoot out its side is "If you have any wings to lend me, now is the time."
• Umbrasyl successfully knocks both Grog and Vax off his body while he is flying two hundred feet up in the air. It looks as though Scanlan will have to choose which friend to save since Bigsby's hand can only reach one of them in time. He takes a third option - save Grog with Bigby's Hand, dismiss Bigsby's Hand and immediately Polymorph Grog into a giant eagle and then hold on while Grog dives to catch Vax.
• Despite falling through the air after using the Gate Stone to teleport to Vax (who was already rescued by Scanlan and Grog while the latter was polymorphed into an eagle), Keyleth decides to use her Sparkstone power while still being an earth elemental, light herself on fire, and plummet like a meteor into the Bramblewood, leaving a massive crater... and still managing to come out relatively unharmed thanks to the elemental's HP.
• Chris Perkins joins the party for the episode as an elderly goliath fighter named Shale who happens to know Grog from his younger days.
• Thanks to some quick thinking, the party manages to get up Gatshadow quickly so they can continue pursuing Umbrasyl before he could recover all of his strength.
• Percy goes to town against Umbrasyl with six frantic slashes of his dragonslayer longsword, dealing 172 damage in one round thanks to his Action Surge.
• Scanlan shines as party support in the lair battle.
  • Bardic Inspiration enables several attacks to strike true.
  • Stinking Cloud costs Umbrasyl an action and even delays an Acid Breath attack.
  • Cutting Words cuts out chunks of damage to the party, both tail and Acid Breath attacks.
  • Bigby's Hand moves Grog across the field to keep him within melee range when Umbrasyl tries to put distance between them.
• The fight with Umbrasyl takes up the entire session. The party uses most of their resources (spells, Inspiration, Action Surge, Heroic Second Wind etc.). Percy almost broke both of his guns. Even then Percy and Trinket are knocked unconscious, with several others close to it. The Hope Devourer really made them earn their victory, which made it all the more satisfying when Matt said, "How do you want to do this?"
• Grog gets the HDYWTDT against the Hope Devourer with his new Retaliation ability, scoring their first victory against the Chroma Conclave! Better yet, everyone survives!

Episode 56: Hope

• Similar to Episode 45, most of the awesome here comes from the top-notch roleplaying from Scanlan, Keyleth, Vax, Percy, and the guest: author Patrick Rothfuss.
  • In particular, Percy gives an incredible, subdued and heartfelt speech in support of preserving Westruun instead of evacuating/abandoning it.
  Percy: How long do you live?
  Keyleth: If I complete my journey it can be upwards of a thousand years or more.
  Percy: How long do you think I live?
  Keyleth: Less than a hundred?
  Percy: No. I am Percival Frederickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III. My ancestry dates back thousands of years and will continue for thousands more, unless Whitestone falls. I live as long as Whitestone lives. This place [Westruun] is the human soul. This is what we have built with our tiny moments. To lose a place like this, we don't feel it immediately but... it would ruin everyone. In small ways. [...] This is good we do here. This is great good. And it's not about idolising ourselves, it's about a very long story which we are, even you, a tiny part of.
• Matt shows off his DMing ability once again by taking just three seconds to answer an obscure trivia question about Westruun.

Episode 57: Duskmeadow

• Vax's visit to the Temple of the Raven Queen and speaking directly to her. Percy later speaks to her as well. Matt's roleplaying is some of his best.
• The cliffhanger of the episode is also one of the best, as Hotis the Rakshasa returns and manages to, under the guise of Gilmore, trick Vax into completely disarming himself and removing his armor as well as isolating him from the others so that he can exact his revenge for what happened when he was killed the first time.

Episode 58: A Cycle of Vengeance

• After the previous cliffhanger, many members of the party get a chance to shine during the showdown:
  • Vax throws himself and Hotis from the tower, unwilling to let the Rakshasa slip away to potentially compromise all of Whitestone and everything Vox Machina accomplished.
  • Keyleth, ambushed by an assassin in her bed, manages to slip behind him and blast him through the window with a Thunderwave, before carving a path directly to the courtyard where the battle was happening.
  • Percy manages to take out both of the assassins the group was facing in the castle once everyone had gotten up. Bonus points for the fact that he sleeps with his handgun under his pillow, which Matt allows because "of course he does".
  • Scanlan jumps from the tower, hitting Hotis with a plunging attack from Mythcarver and pulling Vax from near death at the same time.
  • The HDYWTDT goes to Pike, who barely survives the assassin attack on her before emerging in the courtyard wearing nothing but a shield and bringing down a 7th level Flame Strike, the only magical attack to touch Hotis all night, reducing him to ash.
• The NPCs are not to be outdone, either. Lady Kima, Kashaw, and Gilmore utterly trounce the assassins sent after them, in increasingly impressive ways. Specifically:
  • Lady Kima arrives dragging the corpse of the assassin sent after herself and Allura, while wearing a long nightgown implied to belong to Allura and toting her maul. The corpse's face is so badly broken that it noticeably affects Pike's attempt to use Speak With Dead afterward.
  • After much of the fandom had hoped for Matt to avert the dreaded Bury Your Gays trope, Gilmore uses an unknown spell of his/Matt's own design to utterly crush the assassin sent for him, squeezing the body and causing it to be, as Matt describes it, "wrung out like a wet towel".
  • At first it appears something terrible has happened to Kashaw, with the walls, floor and even the ceiling of his room being absolutely covered in blood. Then Kashaw is revealed to be covered in just as much blood, calmly sitting on the end of his bed seeming quite cheerful about the whole situation. He wisely decides to have a shower before joining the celebrations.
    • This is due to a moment of Awesome for Matt Mercer, who originally didn't have anything planned for Kashaw, but then was reminded he was also in the group that fought Hotis originally, and comes up with the new scenario entirely on the fly.
• After many days of tinkering, Percy finishes his modifications to the broom, renaming it "Death From Above". And to celebrate, Vex manages to score a perfect shot on a chicken thrown by Keyleth while on the broom.

Episode 59: Into the Feywild

• Laura Bailey's roleplay as Vex is excellent, showing a layer of vulnerability and anxiety that had never really been seen from the character up to this point and portraying Vex's fears while staying true to the walls she tries to put up.
• If you try to con Percy, make sure he doesn't find out, as we discover when he learns Garmelie the Satyr magically charmed him. (What makes it is Taliesin maintaining a perfectly serene smile throughout.)
  Percy: Friend, I applaud your cleverness. I am excited by this deal. And I just want you to know—god forbid—if something comes up, where I come from I am possibly the worst person you've ever met.

Episode 60: Heredity and Hats (LIVE)

• Percy reveals that he made Vex a titled noble of Whitestone. For Vex, who was mercilessly bullied as a child for being a biracial daughter of a commoner and was never supported by her prejudiced father, it is absolutely delightful for her to rub it in Syldor's face.
• After being charmed by Garmelie in the last episode, Percy gets his revenge and out tricks the trickster that the party had gotten into a deal with. To elaborate, the things Garmelie asked for from this deal are one of High Warden Tyrelda's hats and a piece of a Threshold Crest. The Threshold Crest in this case referring to the blue stones on the city wall that allow Syngorn to travel between the Material Plane and the Feywild, and the party worries that tampering with one of the stones may prevent the city from plane-shifting back. In an impressive use of Exact Words, Percy instead has him clarify that he would be satisfied with any piece of a threshold crest, and with that in mind he has Keyleth stone shape a symbol of a Whitestone crest from the "threshold" of a door, breaks it, and gives it to him. And it works.
• Trinket saves Vex from a bear spirit that was going to kill her and forces its submission (as well as giving him a power-up).
  Bear spirit: She is your charge?
  Trinket: She is everything to me. You take her, you take ME.

Episode 61: Denizens of the Moonbrush

• If you thought Taliesin was insane with his streak of Natural 20s, this episode is tied with Episode 55 for having the highest number of Natural 20s among the party (as well as the most Natural 1s).
  • Most notably, Scanlan rolling two Natural 20s in a row and two Natural 1s in a row!
• The pixies proving to be both a decent challenge and a large annoyance for Vox Machina, as they were able to cast Counterspell in addition to Polymorph and petrification spells.
• After Grog was turned to stone by the pixies, Travis held the same thumbs-up position for over seven minutes in real time without flinching, despite the best efforts of Liam, Laura and Sam to make him flinch.
• Scanlan is a liar; a natural liar of fantastic talent. Even with a level of exhaustion from sleep deprivation he is able to sell Blatant Lies. He convinces Lord Ukurat that the attempt to trick him with Hallucinatory Terrain, trying to welch on their deal by running away, the former feeble attempt to convince him otherwise, and then the battle with the pixies where they called him just as it was ending was All According to Plan.

Episode 62: Uninviting Waters (LIVE)

• Scanlan cleverly using his Magic Missiles not to attack the creature, but to sever the rope that was keeping the party tied together and severely limiting their movement.
• Grog, swallowed by a Feymire Crocodile, uses the Titanstone Knuckles to double his size and force the beast to vomit him back up.
• Keyleth finally gets to use her Blight spell on a plant-based enemy with devastating effect^note When used on a plant-based enemy, Blight does the maximum damage without requiring a roll, so her Blights did 64 damage each, the second time earning her the HDYWTDT on the creature - her first since the Whitestone arc and only her third on-stream. Even better was the audience's reaction of chanting her name.
• The fact that they recognize Matt as the DM could do anything within certain restrictions, so he masterfully trolls the party with the possibility of Vex's broom suffering the same fate as the magic carpet. The entire party is on edge, as well as the thousands in attendance, to see what happens. The broom still flies fine, and both Laura and Travis^*Laura broke character to tell Travis she would kill him if Sam and Ashley's sojourn with it resulted in its loss, since it was Grog/Travis who suggested the idea. Travis is visibly shaken at this and takes leave of the table a few times when it looks bad for the broom. visibly unclench upon this realization.

Episode 63: The Echo Tree

• Keyleth goes fire elemental on the two treants supporting Saundor and, with some ingenious use of Tree Stride, destroys them thanks to their vulnerability to fire.
• After spending most of the previous fights in the Feywild in various states of incapacitation, and desperately trying to get a hit during their fight with Saundor, Grog lands the HDYWTDT on Saundor by throwing the Javelin of Lightning through his mouth and causing his entire body to explode. The Shut Up, Hannibal! right before it ("Nobody cares!") was also particularly appropriate.
• The description of Saundor and his conversation with Vex. Matt using aspects of Vex's backstory that had just been revealed in a short story makes for one of the most atmospheric villains the party has encountered yet.

Episode 64: The Frigid Doom

• When the dragons fly over, Gilmore and the other mages in Whitestone manage to create an illusion that hides the city from them. Doubly impressive since dragons have Truesight and can see through most illusions.
• Of all people, it's Keyleth who (with a damn good Persuasion roll of 25) manages to persuade Tooma into trusting that her tribe and Vox Machina have similar goals and therefore are people of their word. Even the party is impressed with her words, especially since she wasn't very successful with negotiating in the past.
  Keyleth: (in response to Tooma's claims) I think faith and trust are not mutually exclusive. I cannot trust you and still have faith, and you should not feel a lack of pride for living in the dirt or surviving. There's nothing wrong with that. But I understand your urge to want to rebuild, become the great culture that I know you all are. So... you should at least trust that we have similar interests in the end.
• The local leader overhears the party talking about Whitestone and threatens to tell Vorugal about it if they do not return within the agreed upon time. Scanlan negates this threat with a successful Modify Memory. He switches out one word in the overheard conversation. Instead of remembering "Whitestone", the dragonborn will only remember "Emon".
• The group learns of one retroactively upon their arrival in Draconia: though it ended in his death, Tiberius lead an attack against Vorugal in an attempt to save his home.

Episode 65: The Streets of Ank'Harel

• Liam and Marisha's RP in the opening moments of the episode, especially from Marisha as Keyleth confesses her love to Vax after keeping him waiting for so long. And best of all, not even Liam, who had dropped the mic himself when Vax confessed to Keyleth in Episode 33, saw it coming.
• The party finally made it to Marquet!
• Scanlan trying to buy "spice" from two teenaged kids is this and hilarious, because he has no idea what he is doing or what the spice he's looking for is, but he consistently bluffs others into thinking that he does, and evidentially stumbles onto what my be a real dealer in some licit substance.
• The soothsayer that Percy, Keyleth, and Vex visit to get information from is suitably mystic and atmospheric. It was all off the top of Matt's head as he gave his card readings.
• As funny as it is, the unplanned synchro answers given by Keyleth and Percy about whether or not to drink the alcohol is also pretty awesome.

Episode 66: A Traveler's Gamble

• J'mon Sa Ord wants a demonstration of Vox Machina's ability so as to know that they are worthy of help. A giant metal construct descends to fight them. They work together to shove it out the window of a very tall tower, and this is how they do it.
  • Scanlan casts BIGBY'S HAND! to blow out one of the windows. These are described as being thick and durable glass and Scanlan punches clear through it.
  • Keyleth wild shapes earth elemental and shoves the construct five feet closer to the window. This sets up Grog to finish the job.
  • Grog goes into a frenzied rage to gain three attacks, which he uses to shove the construct all the way out the window.
    • After the third successful shove, Matt sheepishly asks "How do you want to do this?" and the cast goes nuts. Travis decides to flavor the three shoves as a Shout-Out to 300.
  Grog: This! Is! VOX MACHINA! *Sparta Kick!*
  • Percy, despite being unable to do any relevant damage (due to the construct's immunity to all but his d6 of necrotic damage), manages to be helpful by casting Hex. This keeps the enemy at disadvantage on his strongest attribute check, which helped it fail to resist all the shoving (although Taliesin himself didn't seem to realize it).
  • The construct itself gets an awesome moment for surviving the fall. It was waiting for the party when they exited J'mon Sa Ord's throne room. Percy compliments the ruler on the construct's splendid craftsmanship.
• J'mon Sa Ord turns out to be a far greater ally than any of them could have hoped. Possibly the best ally against a conclave of chromatic dragons, a metallic dragon. Yes, the reason why Ank'Harel has had the same ruler since its founding is because said ruler is an ancient brass dragon.
• Matt had rules for every game at the Casino! Which wasn't even somewhere VM needed to go.
• Crosses over with Funny, but when Vex and Percy play the dice game Avandra's Favor (where you have to roll a 7 or 12 on two dice), Percy gets a 7 on his first try. Because of course he does. He doesn't even look at his dice, like he instinctively knew he would roll what he needed.
• In terms of cliffhangers, Matt does it once again as the episode ends with Vox Machina sneaking into the place where Mistress Asharru, wearer of Cabal's Ruin, may be hiding in... only to find her dead, the cloak having already been stolen. The party finds bullets in the wall, meaning that Dr. Anna Ripley is back.

Episode 67: The Chase to Glintshore

• The twins, Grog, and Keyleth all reached level 15, marking some impressive changes for the four:
  • Vax is now capable of casting spells and Divine Smite as a level 2 Paladin.
  • Vex is now a level 2 Rogue, which grants her Cunning Action.
  • Keyleth can now cast 8th-level spells, which means she has amazing options such as Control Weather, Tsunami, and Sunburst.
  • Grog is now capable of Persistent Rage, making him a nigh-unstoppable raging killing machine.
• The episode's MVP is definitely Keyleth because she scores several awesome moments.
  • She discovers the "bug" on Retort that was placed inside by Dr. Ripley, thus enabling the party to neuralize it.
  • She manages to scry on the doctor as Ripley fled towards the Ozmit Sea to hunt down Whisper, which makes possible the party's pursuit of her.
  • When the ship is heading into a dangerous storm, thus forcing a detour, she casts Control Weather for the first time to part it in a radius of five miles. Matt describes her as basically the mermaid on the brow of the ship, guaranteeing safe passage in rough weather. Lampshaded by Vex:
  Vex: (to Vax) You know, I thought it was a possibility, but this is the first time I'm sure your girlfriend is way cooler than you.
  • She teams up with Vax to go "Keyteor" on Ripley's boat so that they could sink it.
  • Even while Ripley's ship is sinking, she tears open the hull of the ship as an earth-elemental, then succeeds in grabbing two fistfuls of documents in her normal form. She then escapes quickly to the surface by controlling the water around her, essentially water-skiing as soon as she is on the surface.
• A subtle one should also go to Dr. Ripley. She predicted that someone would eventually steal her pistol, so she enchanted it with a (supposedly permanent) means of spying on that person. Because this person turned out to be Percy, she now knows about everything the group has discovered about the Chroma Conclave and the Vestiges. This allowed her to completely one up Vox Machina on finding Cabal's Ruin, as well as make significant progress in locating Whisper before the party could even get to her. She's even fashioned a new gun and hand in the time when she was last seen.

Episode 68: Cloak and Dagger

• Dr. Ripley manages to draw Vox Machina into a clever trap, using illusions of herself and Kynan Leore and then detonating the entire forest in a massive fiery blast, severely wounding the entire party, scattering them away from each other, and leaving them wide open to the attacks of her crew. Oh, and Ripley made a pact with Orthax, as well.
  • In a bout of Fridge Brilliance, you realize she did what VM did to Umbrasyl, which makes sense since she's been keeping track of them.
• Percy manages to roll a Nat 20 to keep his concentration for Hex after taking a large amount of damage at the very beginning of the fight with Ripley. This one is especially fun because it's preceded by Matt saying that nothing short of a natural 20 would do the job...
  Matt, staring: Jesus Christ, Taliesin.
• Scanlan and Keyleth were both the MVPs of the encounter:
  • Despite being on death's door several times throughout the fight, having already expended her Wild Shape and her magic slowly being depleted, Keyleth managed to keep on fighting and focus on keeping Percy alive for as long as possible.
  • Even when they were knocked out by a mage's Chain Lightning, Keyleth losing concentration on her Whirlwind spell and Scanlan losing his for Reverse Gravity caused the trapped mage to plummet into the crevasse and get splattered.
  • Scanlan managed to Counterspell Ripley's Fireball spell, which prevented a TPK. Later, as retribution for Percy's death, he manages to encase Ripley inside Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, setting up the coldest kill for an adversary yet.
• Dr. Ripley becomes the first villain to kill a member of Vox Machina on stream, dealing the killing shot to Percy.
• Late in the fight, after having stabbed Keyleth multiple times, Kynan turns his blade on Orthax instead after having realized what he did and Vax managing to persuade him.
• As tragic as the scene is, all of Vox Machina taking vengeance on Ripley for Percy's death is probably the best How Do You Want To Do This? moment in the entire show. To wit:
  • Vax carves all the way around the shoulder of her fake arm, severing it completely.
  • Scanlan carves the de Rolo crest into her forehead.
  • Grog slices his axe across her middle.
  • Keyleth strangles her with Grasping Vine.
  • Vex fires an arrow through her heart—and then one through her throat as she screams.

Episode 69: Passed Through Fire

• When Pike's resurrection ritual is blocked, Keyleth is the one who casts Greater Restoration and frees Percy's soul from being consumed by Orthax. It's the only thing Percy remembers when he wakes up, and he thanks her sincerely. Doubles a a Moment of Awesome for Travis/Grog, who's the one who remembers how they severed his connection to Craven Edge in a similar way, without which Keyleth wouldn't have known to cast Greater Restoration.
• Keyleth gets a surprise, handwritten letter from Kerrek, narrated by Patrick Rothfuss himself. As the final touch, the envelope also contains a gift: a ring forged from the metal of a sword, engraved with the words "I have passed through fire".
• For the episode's cliffhanger Matt drops another massive hammer onto the group that has Travis and Laura jumping off their seats with excitement: Seeker Asum has a private meeting with Vox Machina and reveals that he is Raishan, the Chroma Conclave's green dragon, in disguise. The whole time that "Seeker Asum" has been in Whitestone, that was actually Raishan. So she isn't kidding when she said If I Wanted You Dead..., she could have made it happen anytime she wanted. She doesn't want them dead right now; right now, she wants their help to kill Thordak, the Conclave's leader.

Episode 70: Trust

• Keyleth holds nothing back in a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Raishan.
  Keyleth: You want to feel the burning inside of you? Oh, you will feel it, Raishan. But it will not be from Thordak, or whatever proposed cure he made up. The burning you feel will be from the souls of ten thousand Fire Ashari as they sear your flesh. And the last thing you will see, will be my face...as I watch you suffer, as you watched a quarter of my civilization burn!
  Raishan: Child...I commend your bravery in the face of certain doom. But, think before you give in to such base passions. There is much to be gained by us working together and so much more to be lost.
  Keyleth: Oh, you commend me for bravery? Oh Raishan, for someone who is supposed to be so smart, I am not afraid! I know what you are. You are a parasite. You walk around calling yourself a "magnificent ancient dragon", you are nothing more than a leech. You consumed the energy of my people for years. And we're supposed to just trust you?!
  Raishan: Child, your anger is mis-
  Keyleth: Call me "child" ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME!
• Raishan, Magnificent Bastard that she is, is still just as amazing throughout the episode, baiting Keyleth but never rising to her bait, effortlessly controlling conversations even when everyone else is clearly hostile to her, and very possibly sneaking with them to Draconia through the Sun Tree, despite Percy telling her that they would meet her there so as not to clue her in to Kima traveling with them.
  • Conversely, during the talks with Raishan, Percy manages to remain calm enough to prevent Keyleth from attacking (which would probably have destroyed Whitestone). He also takes the lead in convincing Raishan to help fight Vorugal, and later manages to twist the deal to allow Lady Kima to join the fight, despite the fact that Raishan explicitly told them not to tell anyone else. By the end of their conversations, even Raishan develops a grudging respect for him - and it's all capped off by the reveal that Percy has been terrified the entire time, as he collapses in panic after Raishan leaves. It just goes to show that when Vex and Keyleth told him how much they needed him during his resurrection ritual, they were not exaggerating in the slightest.
• Vex's insanely awesome plan to summon the demon holding the Spire of Conflux from the Abyss and let it fight Vorugal. Percy's reaction is a literal gasp of awe.
  Percy: It's brazen. I like it.
• Lady Kima landing a nat 20 on a retaliatory maul swing at Scanlan is this plus Funny.

Episode 71: Vorugal

• Scanlan summoning Yenk with barely a passing roll (DC was 19, the roll with every buff and assistance combined was 20) and then successfully dominating Yenk's mind. Picture it - this little gnome pulling this giant demon out of its home dimension, singing a cheery tune to it, giving it an order, and it obeys him.
• The entire first part of the battle is an epic display, though Matt jokingly describes it as everyone "watching him play with his toys."
• Vax entering the fight by flying in and dealing 84 damage with an auto-crit Sneak Attack.
• Percy shooting and hitting Vorugal three times in a row and knocking him out of the sky. He is perched in his little sniper nest taking shots at this gargantuan creature while it is distracted by larger prey and forcing it to the ground with his skills and invention.
• Divine Intervention finally works. Saranrae tells Pike she'll "do what she can" and then smites Vorugal. Matt's description of the event is exemplary of how this sort of thing should go down. This giant glowing fist appears in the sky and punches the dragon. It knocks Vorugal to the ground and leaves a giant fist sized crater for 50 points of damage, 24 bludgeoning damage from the fall, and pinning the dragon to the ground.
• Grog and Lady Kima tag team Yenk. Kima proves that she's still the same badass she was in the Underdark by going to town against the goristro with her Holy Thunder Maul and Divine Smite, and Grog hits for an obscene amount of damage using reckless attacks and great master; he hits for 129 points of damage in a single attack action and later gets the HDYWTDT by ripping Yenk in half like a wishbone.
• Vex gets the HDYWTDT on Vorugal by sending an arrow through the wound opened by Yenk at the start of the battle and into Vorugal's heart. Dragons are her favored enemy, no matter how big and old they are.
  • This is followed by a Pre-Mortem One-Liner from Raishan, who rips Vorugal's throat out with her teeth.
  Raishan: Tell your master on the other side... it was worth it!
• Keyleth finally gets her prized Vestige. And it's a Vestige that has been used by her people previously!

Episode 72: The Elephant in the Room

• The casual confidence with which Percy kisses Vex.
• Kima gets Holy Avenger. When Grog suggests inheriting her maul, she casually hefts both onto her shoulders and says, "Nah. I'm good." Grog agrees that is awesome.

Episode 73: The Coming Storm

• During a war council meeting between Vox Machina, every major NPC in Whitestone, and Raishan, Percy abruptly becomes sick of secrets and lies and attacks Raishan in Seeker Assum's form, revealing the truth to everyone in the room and forcing her to come clean to the major power figures in Whitestone.
• Vex is absolutely on a roll with her brilliant battle strategies. Three episodes ago it was Yenk vs Vorugal, and this time it's convincing Raishan to fake her death in order to draw out Thordak. Time will tell if that plan succeeds, but even Raishan considers it seriously.

Episode 74: Path of Brass

• Not familiar with the culture in the City of Brass, half the party is being herded away from the others by efreet to be forced into slavery. Nothing Pike, Grog, or Keyleth tries is at all effective in getting them out of the situation. Who saves the day and gets them away scot free without a fight? Scanlan, with one well-placed Dominate Monster.

Episode 75: Where The Cards Fall

• Despite not being as eloquent as Scanlan or Percy, and due to being one of two members of Vox Machina to not be in chains, Keyleth manages to successfully negotiate with the fire giants of the City of Brass not once, but twice. The first time being when she bartered with a blacksmith for information and the second time with two guards defending the house of the one who owns the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, her efforts granting them access to the owner's abode.
• The owner of the Plate of the Dawnmartyr successfully beating Scanlan in a game of chance.

Episode 76: Brawl in the Arches

• Vax's dive towards Keyleth, grabbing her, and kissing her while simultaneously casting Heroism. Becomes much, MUCH more hilarious once they all realize that the druid looked like Vex at the time. But Vax? He didn't care.
  • Even more amazing is Vax being able to maintain concentration on Heroism despite suffering multiple heavy attacks. Not bad for someone with only 10 Constitution.
• The Pit Fiend summons an Erinyes to back him up in the fight, and she spends the bulk of it running away from Grog. Even after taking flight, she still can't get away from him, because he uses his new magic jumping boots to follow her up a tower. One can understand why: he resists her Rope of Entanglement, tanks her arrows, and does a whole lot of damage to her.
• Scanlan awakens Mythcarver, which allows him to perform four attacks in a row against a Pit Fiend. It's the HDYWTDT. And that's not even the coolest part: immediately afterward, Scanlan uses Modify Memory to brainwash a witness so the group doesn't get arrested/murdered/pursued by the fifty thousand Efreeti guards in the City of Brass. Easily the most clutch Scanlan victory since the triceratops rampage.

Episode 77: Clash at Daxio

• Level 16, like level 12, marked even more noteworthy changes that are mentioned in this episode.
  • Vax took the Oath of Vengeance as a level 3 paladin.
  • Vex took the assassin archetype as a level 3 rogue.
  • Keyleth took the War Caster feat, giving her advantage on concentration checks and the ability to cast spells as opportunity attacks.
  • Grog multiclassed into Fighter.
• Vax throws Whisper up at Vex on her broom, yells "catch!", she grabs it, and he teleports through it onto her broom.
• The enemy spellcaster (Xanthas) managed to Feeblemind Allura her under everyone else's nose before the battle started and then mind-controlled Vex for a good portion of the fight. He managed the latter by slipping out of the grasping arrow she put him in without her knowing.
• Lady Kima enters the battlefield. How? By throwing away the aforementioned spellcaster and striking him twice. To make it even sweeter, the second hit is a critical and breaks his concentration, freeing Vex.
  • Vex then gets payback on Xanthas for Charming her, shooting him straight in the face and killing him.
    Vex: I always thought you were a dick back in Emon! Don't FUCK with me!
• Credit must be given to Vox Machina's sheer endurance, since they managed to fight this battle despite coming from a very harsh fight with a pit fiend.

Episode 78: The Siege of Emon

• Kashaw joins the group he is quick to find and fill the holes in Vox Machina's plan. It is revealed just how much Will knows about war tactics and how to win a battle.
• Grog showing his vestige's siege abilities.
• Zahra and Kashaw staying behind to hold back Thordak's fire giants while Vox Machina sneaks through.
  Mary/Zahra: Go! Go! We’ll find you if we can! In the meantime, my love, shall we have some fun?
  Will/Kashaw: Let’s do this thing, baby!
• One goes to Matt for the descriptions. Everything, from the sight of Emon's ruins to the arrival of Thordak himself gives you the scale of what they are facing, and what's at stake. And, once again, Matt ends with a cliffhanger, right after Thordak senses the presence of intruders.

Episode 79: Thordak

• The whole battle is probably a crowning moment for Matt as a DM. Not only is he controlling Thordak, he's also playing as multiple friendly NPCs and keeping track of the lair actions. On top of all of that, he keeps adding elements as allies of Vox Machina and Thordak join in the already incredibly chaotic fight. And all the while he's giving a nightmare-inducing performance of Thordak's rage and insanity.
• As if all the already licensed music being used wasn't enough, Blizzard gave Matt permission to use their music, just in time for the epic Thordak fight!
• Pike's Beacon of Hope really helps the group while it is active—every healing spell gets maximized which is clutch in their fight against Thordak.
• As the battle gets underway, under the backdrop of an Air Ashari-induced thunderstorm, a shape appears in the sky. The party is concerned...until it turns out it's the bow of the skyship Deera, coming to their aid as they promised. And even though it's being assailed by wyverns, it actually manages to land a few hits on Thordak himself!
• Gilmore ripping nearly a hundred points of damage out of Thordak with a Disintegrate spell, exposing Thordak's Power Crystal.
• Vex and Vax avenge their mother's death by making the most decisive moves of the battle to defeat Thordak:
  • Vex uses a special dragon-slaying arrow to not only seriously hurt Thordak, but destroy his Power Crystal and weaken his overall power level.
  • Vax is the one to finally finish Thordak through a combination of the dragonslayer sword and awakening Whisper. He blends his paladin and thieving abilities very well, notably when he combines the Sneak Attack, Smite and Hunter's Mark damage with a critical hit for a total of 102 damage with one hit.
  Vax: I hear the voice of my mother in the morning. Fuck you!
• The ending, finding out that Thordak was experimenting on dragon's eggs, apparently managing to mix different dragon types into one. To top it off, "Meteor Swarm", a 9th level spell, was cast.
• The entire episode itself is made of this, as months of playing time and build up finally pay off in a spectacular climax. Not only is all of Vox Machina present, but so are some of their oldest friends. It takes all of their effort to finally bring Thordak down, and even then it was a very close thing.

Episode 80: Raishan

• Pike single-handedly resurrects both Vex and Scanlan during the fight with Raishan, successfully pulling off a one-woman resurrection ritual not once but twice, even doing so while the battle is still going on around her for Vex.
  • It's worth noting that the above happened while Ashley wasn't even at the table, turning this into a moment of awesome for Liam for the first mini-ritual and Laura for the second for being able to pull that off with a character that isn't even there.
• Scanlan Counterspelling a Prismatic Spray.
• Raishan outmaneuvers the party at nearly every step of the fight, causing no fewer than two deaths while also keeping most of the party unconscious to boot. The only thing to really throw her off is another awesome moment all by itself: after much persuasion from the rest of the party and with the fight rapidly going downhill, Scanlan plays the flute and summons Dev'ossa, the ancient bronze dragon that rules Ank'Harel.
  • What's even better is that despite Vox Machina and their allies giving everything they've got in this fight and outnumbering their opponent 11 to 1, Raishan wins. While she does take a nearly fatal beating in the process, the Diseased Deceiver manages to accomplish her objective of escaping with Thordak's body and two intact dragon eggs while giving her enemies one hell of a bloody nose in the process, and she finds out about their trump card, Dev'ossa. The significance of her triumph cannot be understated; Raishan now has all the tools she needs to have the best possible advantage over Vox Machina and even all of Tal'Dorei, and nobody but she knows where she's going or what she'll do.
  • The sheer deadliness of the fight with Raishan is a massive Moment of Awesome for the green dragon: she kills two of the group - something no other member of the Conclave achieved - and at one point has knocked five of them (Vax, Vex, Scanlan, Pike and Gilmore) unconscious at the same time.

Episode 81: What Lies Beneath the Surface

• Kerrek gets a Dynamic Entry back into the story, striking down a fire giant to save Vox Machina.
• Allura (an arcanist) becomes the second person able to resist the effects of Grog's alcohol, and unlike Pike, she does not make the mistake of trying a second time.
  Grog: [awestruck] Teach me your sorcerous ways.
• Scanlan somehow managed to get through the past two episodes and still have an 8th level spell available.

Episode 82: Deadly Echoes

• Percy and Scanlan reach level 16, with Percy bumping up his intelligence to a max of 20.
• Taliesin and Marisha's performances as Scanlan while Sam is absent. It's also a Funny Moment because they both sing as Scanlan, Taliesin after using Dispel Magic and Marisha when inspiring Percy.
• The group discovers that gravity is reversed in the room with the rope bridge while Percy is crossing it. So Percy activates his Spider Climb boots to anchor himself to the bridge.
• The entire reverse gravity chasm sequence. It's an amazingly creative idea from Matt, which even the players acknowledge is awesome (even while it's trying to kill them), and every party member gets to shine in using their skills to try and get past it. And for Matt as a DM, for managing to keep track of everyone's actions, even he admits it got way more complicated than he was expecting but he still loved it.

Episode 83: The Deceiver's Stand

• Percy using his reaction to absorb Raishan's Meteor Swarm spell, and awakening Cabal's Ruin to its exalted level.
• Pike just barely survives Raishan's Disintegrate spell, thanks to her magical armor. In an episode with no less than two PC deaths, she manages to survive being partially turned to dust!
• After Vox Machina systematically exhausted Raishan's legendary resistances, Keyleth lands a tide-turning spell on her. The spell? Feeblemind, which reduces Raishan's Intelligence and Charisma to 1 and, more importantly, renders the ancient green spellcasting dragon unable to cast any spells for 30 days (at least). Poetic justice at its finest as Keyleth achieved vengeance in the most fitting way possible.
  • Even before the battle, the confrontation between Keyleth and Raishan. It's a testament to the character growth that Keyleth has experienced over the course of the Conclave arc.
  • When Kima and Allura are discovered to be struggling to stay afloat in the vast ocean after a failed teleportation attempt, Keyleth does a desperate scan of the ocean and beyond to try to find them, the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack. Her Perception check? Natural 20, with a bonus of +11. It was most likely considered by Matt to be impossible, but Keyleth pulled it off, which eventually led to Vex retrieving them and saving their lives.
  • And on top of that, Allura attempts to grab onto Vex's broom while keeping a heavily armored Lady Kima afloat. With no modifier, she rolls a natural 20 on her strength saving throw to do so. Doubles as heartwarming.
  • Matt revealed on Talks Machina that if Keyleth hadn't managed to spot Kima and Allura, they would have survived the ocean anyway, even building themselves a boat if necessary.
• Kerrek, a level 7 Paladin, scores the killing blow on Raishan. Matt's reaction after the fact just about sums up this baffling stroke of cosmic fortune:
  Matt: I can't fucking believe that just happened.
  • Kerrek's line is also excellent, as he stands defending Percy's dead body:
    Kerrek: No. No further.
• Keyleth places the Spire of Conflux near Raishan's corpse, just to see the reaction, and the disease (that was first cast by a druid that served Melora, who also created the Spire) rapidly withers and decays the body, finishing her off completely.
  Keyleth: That was for Scanlan from the Ashari, you bitch.
• Travis's roleplaying is excellent in this episode. Grog has gotten some quiet and emotional scenes before, and some good character development, but he really gets to show off his range here in Grog's furious heartbreak at Scanlan's death.