Awesome / Critical Role Vecna Arc

The Cult of Vecna story arc revisits the mysterious and dangerous artifact that was activated beneath Whitestone Castle during the Briarwood story arc, and features Scanlan rejoining the team to fight the mysteriously returned Lady Briarwood, who is leading a cult based in the Shadowfell that seeks to summon the evil lich demigod Vecna. The first two episodes feature guest appearances by Jon Heder as Lionel "Chod" Gayheart, a slow-witted but kind-hearted half-orc "bardbarian."

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

Episode 100: Unfinished Business

• Delilah Briarwood is back. And with a 9th-level Prismatic Wall to boot.
  • To drive the point home, the party recalls how she dies, first killed and then with her body melted into the acid for good measure. With no body left, Revivify and Resurrection don't work, you need either a True Resurrection or a Miracle to recreate the body for a lesser spell, which still means that 9th level spells must be used. And the dialogue implies it isn't even that the case, but she took some precautions and did it all herself.
  • The last bit of it, she could control the orb in the pyramid. She can literally switch an Annihilation Sphere on and off again. The fact that the amulets possess supernatural powers that work despite an effect canceling effortlessly 9th level spells could count in itself.

Episode 101: Thar Amphala

• Doubling as a Heartwarming moment, Keyleth grabs Vax and urges him to stay alive while they are in the Shadowfell. And with that, she casts Foresight on him, a 9th-level spell that grants advantage on everything.

Episode 102: Race to the Tower

• As Vox Machina approaches the tower at the center of the city, they debate whether to fly to its top and confront the cultists and Delilah Briarwood, or fight their way through the inside. Keyleth and Pike Take a Third Option and destroy the tower with an earthquake. The apex of the tower remains floating in the air after the whole thing comes crashing down, but they managed to avoid multiple encounters that could have lead to a Total Party Kill.
• Vex getting a natural 20 on a saving throw against Delilah's Finger of Death—the spell that nearly killed her all the way back in the original Briarwood arc—is pretty incredible.
  Liam: AND I SAID BIIIIIIIIIIIIII—
• Percy shoots and kills Delilah Briarwood through her good eye - wanting him to be the last thing she's sees before death - but not before getting one last killer line at her expense, not knowing for sure if they'll survive.
  Percy: Delilah? Even if we die, it’s fucking worth it.
• After spending most of the episode having Vecna mop the floor with them, including Vex dying (before being saved with Pike's Revivify) and Vax being Disintegrated, Keyleth attempts to get the party out with Plane Shift, only to have Vecna attempt to counter it... and Scanlan ready to intercept it with his own Counterspell.
• There is one line that sums up the second half of the episode: "Welcome to the God War."
• Vecna is a villainous one. It's the first time since the Chroma Conclave's first attack that Vox Machina found themselves utterly powerless against their enemy. And he hasn't even ascended yet.

Episode 103: The Fate-Touched

• The guard captain in Vasselheim managing to see through all of Grog and Scanlan's deceptions and illusions, forcing them to run from him and the guards to keep their freedom.

Episode 104: Elysium

• Pike and Vex receive the blessings of Sarenrae and Pelor respectively. Of particular note is Vex's trial, as she has to prove her worth by struggling against angels to reach a beacon, while transformed into a red dragon by Scanlan.
  • This was a rare skill challenge. Two hourglasses of sand to complete it, and that includes making decisions and asking the DM for questions. When Keyleth casts a Flame Sphere, Marisha gives up on the specifics because they're not as important as Vex making progress towards the beacon.
• The Dungeon Master's Guide describes the Eye of Vecna as a very powerful magic item that can only be permanently destroyed if the creature wearing it is struck by a very specific sword. Pelor seemingly destroys it with a handwave. Time will tell if Matt follows the other part of the item's description or not.

Episode 106: The Endless Atheneum

• Scanlan succeeding in Ioun's trial by finding one very specific book in the titular, aptly named, Endless Atheneum, gaining both her assistance and the knowledge of the ritual needed to seal Vecna.
• While all of Vox Machina show different levels of defiance when a recently ascended Vecna offers them to join him, Percy gets one of the greatest burns ever:
  Percy: We don't like to associate ourselves with new money.
  • Vex's parting shot is pretty good too:
    Vex: I only serve gods with big dicks.

Episode 107: Scaldseat

• Grog of all people comes up with a genius solution to the underground caverns filled with poisonous gas and no fresh air: the party already had a Water Breathing spell cast on them, so Grog suggests filling his Alchemy Jug with fresh water and taking regular gulps of "air" from it like a portable air bubble.
• Scanlan making great use of his planetar form against the magma bulettes.
• Keyleth's interpretive dance results in the entire cast performing a perfectly-harmonized tribal chant completely out of nowhere. Now that's improv!

Episode 108: The Core Anvil

• The entire encounter against the forge guardian was a tense battle, pushing Vox Machina to their limits with its powerful strikes, blindness curse and extremely high AC and HP. Despite being mildly spent from the bulettes and the constructs from earlier, they still managed to pull through without losing anyone.
  • Keyleth, taking a cue from Scanlan, casts Shapechange to transform into a planetar herself, and uses her Healing Touch ability to act as an emergency medic for the party. She even gets the finishing blow against the guardian, using the planetar's Holy Avenger.
• Forging the trammels! After all this time, it finally happens.
  • This is a series of skill checks, using both STR and DEX. The players can't luck their way past this trial. Travis roleplays an exhausted Grog, and one can get the sense that, yeah, it really was exhausting.
  • Matt crafts an epic Forging Scene for Grog. This giant hulk of a man standing at this divine anvil and bringing down a hammer with the strength of a titan, crafting weapons meant to defeat a god. He compares Grog to the Allhammer, Moradin himself, back at the dawn of time.
  • This is truly a team effort. It requires the knowledge granted to Percy and Grog from Ioun, Scanlan's inspiration, Keyleth's buff spells, as well as Scanlan, Vex and Vax to provide the beads of divinity. Even then there are some very close calls. Even so, the party manages to forge the divine trammels needed to seal away Vecna.

Episode 109: The Ominous March

• Keyleth manage once again to pass a Perception DC of 30, which literally means succeeding in an almost impossible task. This allows her to spot a small flow of water on the Titan's body for Vox Machina to climb.
• Also, the titan. Vecna raised the remains of a massive primordial Titan (his footprints are 150 feet long), the same one from whose heart were made the Titanstone Knuckles, and uses it to transport Thar Amphala on its back.
• The plan to stop Vecna: while Vox Machina sneaks their way to him to try and seal him away, a distraction will be provided by J'Mon Sa Ord (in their full, dragon glory) sieging the city with an army of wyvern riders. Awesome is an understatement.
• When Vecna interrupts the war council arrayed against him to threaten the specific loved ones of those present. Longtime Vox Machina ally Allura Vysoren flips out and dispels his illusion; one archmage who refuses to be taunted, even by a god.

Episode 110: The Climb Within

• Despite Ashley's absence, Pike gets both of the HDYWTDTs this episode (controlled by Liam and Laura).
• Vax deals over 100 damage to the undead dwarf king with one dagger, defeating him in one blow.
  • Later, he does the same to a nothic ("Liam knows what this is, but Vax doesn't"): almost 60 damage with his first dagger is enough to defeat it.
• She doesn't get to use it, but Keyleth creating a flaming sword is still awesome.
• One for Matt: Those darn trolls ate up four of Percy's Grit points by making all of their saves against his shots at a 40% chance.

Episode 112: Dark Dealings

• Keyleth manages to quickly recover from a Natural 1 on Stealth that attracted gloomstalkers nearby by quickly turning into an earth elemental and sinking into the ground before they can find her.
• The titan's march towards Vasselheim created a hard time limit on how much Vox Machina could rest and restore their abilities. However, the party were able to come with with an genius way to take a Long Rest before the climatic encounter with Vecna (thus entering the final boss battle at full strength) without burning through a whole eight hours: they Plane Shifted over to the Feywild- where time flows differently- and bribed one of its most powerful inhabitants to magically manipulate their return so that 24 hours in the Feywild would equate to one hour of time on the Material Plane.

Episode 113: The Final Ascent

• The fact that Arkhan is played by Hollywood actor Joe Manganiello is a moment of Awesome for everyone involved.
• Arkhan's first action is to tame a Gloomstalker as a mount.
• Delilah Briarwood is back—oh, but she dies before her second turn, and Matt notes that this time she's gone for good as she hasn't had time to make a new clone. Two turns later, Sylas is reduced to mist as well.
  • Special mentions go to Percy, who shot her wand out of her hand and pushed both her and Sylas off their dracolich mount; Grog, who got a Brutal Critical plus two other hits on her; and of course Vex, who not only got the opening salvo, but also the killing blow, pointing towards Delilah in mockery of her Finger of Death.
    Vex: How's it feel, bitch?
• Right before the break, a huge swarm of Gloomstalkers are closing in on the heroes...until J'mon and the wyvern knight army burst through the opening in the threshold barrier and start cleaning house.
• Three enemies are in a room where they don't notice the party on the stairs. Vex and Vax drop one each while Arkhan injures the third. It's Negated Moment of Awesome afterwards with a heavy dose of My God, What Have I Done? though, as they were revealed to be Cassandra, Kaylie, and Gilmore under Vecna's spell, which makes this an awesome moment for Vecna. As Matt himself puts it in the post-episode, "When you revealed to a god how close and dangerous you were last game, there were going to be repercussions."
• At the end of the episode, Arkhan charges the Death Knight by himself to give Vox Machina time to face Vecna.

Episode 114: Vecna, the Ascended

• Matt brings out the miniature for Vecna. Some small skeleton mini the size of every other medium creature in the game? Nope, he brought out a heavily modified Nagash.
• During the first round of combat, Grog launches a few attacks at Vecna using the Sword of Kas that deal a lot of damage. Vecna then decides to force him to another dimension and use his Legendary Resistances to make sure not to fail his Concentration spell saves. Let that sink in: Vecna was so scared of letting Grog stay on the battlefield with that sword that he willingly tanked hits when needed, just to prevent the Goliath from attacking him. Plus, this also means that when Grog is finally able to return, he's able to fight at relatively full power since he was away from the battlefield when Vecna exhausted most of his high-level spells.
• Vox Machina are aided by a procession of Eleventh Hour Rangers: a rotating cast of first J'mon Sa Ord in Brass Dragon Devo'ssa form, who blasts Vecna with a Fire Breath; then Kash and Zahra, bringing healing, more damage to Vecna, and a huge morale boost; and then Arkhan, having won his fight against the death knight.
  • Especially noteworthy on Zahra's part: she cast Hex on Vecna to give him disadvantage on all Intelligence checks...which is why he failed his attempt to Counterspell Pike's Mass Heal. And that Mass Heal came right before Vecna cast another Meteor Swarm. Zahra's simple 1st level Warlock spell saved the party's lives.
• Pike's 9th-level Mass Heal gives everyone a much-needed Heroic Second Wind, putting them all up to full HP.
• Percy goes into the fight assuming he won't be able to do much against Vecna directly and spends most of his time killing any Gloomstalkers or undead flunkies that might bother the party...which he does a marvelous job at, but he also manages to score two Hemorrhaging Shot critical hits on Vecna, ensuring that he has to take extra damage during his next round and opening a wound large enough for a trammel to fit into. It's especially satisfying when you remember that Percy's family was killed by two servants of Vecna who were trying to bring him to godhood—without the Briarwoods, the Token Human Badass Normal never would have been in a position to help banish Vecna in the first place.
• The battle against Vecna showcases the true power of both sides, with Vecna's first spell cracking the battleground itself into pieces. After a long fight that exhausts both parties, Vox Machina successfully banish Vecna with no party member deaths and only one (Scanlan) going unconscious (but with no death saves). Furthermore, they avoid killing his avatar form (which would have allowed him to retreat to his phylactery), albeit with a mere 10 HP remaining. The one who manages to do the deed: Keyleth, after Scanlan's first attempt at using the Rites of Banishment fails due to Vecna burning his last Legendary Resistance. In fact, she's the only other one able to do it, as none of Vox Machina are proficient in Arcana—but she can read and speak all languages while Shapechanged into a Planetar.
  • Vecna heals 50 HP per turn. Combined with his immunity to non-magical damage, he is incredibly hard to destroy and as aforementioned, actually "destroying" him wouldn't have defeated him anyway. It's a powerful ability that makes the fight much harder. However, it becomes the cause of his downfall when Vox Machina finds a way to exploit it, since the spell he uses to banish Scanlan requires concentration and healing himself gives a chance to break it they wouldn't have had otherwise. It happens at least twice, but the last one is the most noticeable: Vecna only had few (10) HP, but after he recovers those 50, Grog comes in and strikes, dealing him exactly 50 points of damage.
• Scanlan succeeds on all five Counterspell attempts, nullifying several of Vecna's spells when they would have swung the battle heavily in his favour: most notably a Feeblemind spell on Keyleth (which would have made it impossible for her to read the Rites of Banishment) and later an attempted escape via Teleport and rolling a Nat 20 on a check to counter a Dominate Person. At one point Scanlan seems to waste his turn by only moving and using his Bardic Inspiration on Grog, only to later reveal that it was actually done to move back within Counterspell range; a reveal that even has Matt applauding.
  Scanlan: That's why I moved closer, motherfucker!
• Arkhan suddenly stealing the Hand of Vecna after the battle and making a clean getaway via teleport, which catches everyone off-guard. He even pretends to destroy it by saying as much and raising his axe, only to cut off his own hand so he can graft the Hand of Vecna to the stump. "Nothing Personal", he says as he escapes. Joe sublimely reminds everyone that he is, in fact, a Token Evil Teammate with that move.

Episode 115: The Chapter Closes

• Even when the Raven Queen herself comes to collect Vax, Percy tries to put himself between the two of them. The Goddess freezes him in place with a spell, but Percy continues to glare daggers at her for the rest of the scene. If looks could kill, the Raven Queen would be long gone.
• The last rolls of the campaign are natural 20's.
• Percy giving up making weapons to go back to his forgotten dream of being a clockmaker was a beautiful conclusion and send-off for his character. It was also a decision made spontaneously during the episode by Taliesin, drawing on an old aspect of the original script he pulled Percy from.