Volume VIII
The End of Vox Machina, Episode 16:
The Chapter Closes
"The Chapter Closes"
is the sixteenth episode of Chapter 8, The End of Vox Machina. It is the Grand Finale of Vox Machina's five-year campaignnote .Starring:
- Liam O'Brien as Vax'ildan note
- Laura Bailey as Vex'ahlia note
- Ashley Johnson as Pike Trickfoot note
- Taliesin Jaffe as Percival de Rolo note
- Marisha Ray as Keyleth note
- Sam Riegel as Scanlan Shorthalt note
- Travis Willingham as Grog Strongjaw note
- Matthew Mercer as the Dungeon Master
Guest starring:
- Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Zahra Hydris note
- Will Friedle as Kashaw Vesh note
Tropes in this episode:
- Artifact Domination: The Sword of Kas tries to influence Grog to keep it in his possession...and succeeds, until Pike uses Greater Restoration to sever its tie to him.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Vax walks into the afterlife at the Raven Queen's side.
- Babies Ever After: Percy and Vex, Zahra and Kash, and Pike and Scanlan all have children of their own after settling down—at least five for the de Rolos.
- Back from the Dead: Kash is able to successfully cast Raise Dead on Velora. Before that, of course, Kash and Zahra are revived after their fall due to a Death Ward spell.
- Blatant Lies: Grog does a poor job of convincing Zahra that he's used the Moonhammer she made for him.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Grog has trouble making use of her Fly spell, Zahra tells him to think of being a flying cow, as he's been before.
- Scanlan produces the gun he stole from Percy ages ago and shows off a bit before giving it back.
- As promised, Percy's last words to Vax are irritable and angry.
- Converting for Love: Discussed, for laughs. Scanlan wonders if he'll have to convert to following Sarenrae for Pike, as an "Iounian."
- Cue the Sun: Vecna's sealing lifts the supernatural clouds over Vasselheim.
- Deal with the Devil: Percy almost invokes his contract with Ipkesh to stop the Raven Queen from taking Vax.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Though the most violent the exchange gets is freezing Percy in place, the Raven Queen gets a little frosty when Vox Machina tries to stop her from collecting on her bargain with Vax.
- Face Death with Dignity: Vax meets the Raven Queen calm and unafraid.
- Fertile Feet: Vax Druidcrafts a field of snowdrops from his feet as he goes to the Raven Queen, revealing he multiclassed into Druid for his 20th level.
- Grand Finale: This is the final episode of Vox Machina's campaign.
- Gun Twirling: Scanlan rolls a natural 20 when he decides to fire the gun he stole from Percy, to Percy's great chagrin, and does a lot of twirling and flipping when he fires.
- Happily Married: Pike and Scanlan get hitched!
- Heartbroken Badass: Over the rest of her long, long life, Keyleth never fully recovers from Vax's death.
- The Hero Dies: Vax goes willingly with the Raven Queen after fulfilling his end of the deal.
- Heroic BSoD: All of Vox Machina falls into one after Vax's death. Particularly notable is Percy's; after almost invoking his contract with Ipkesh, he finally admits that he misses his family, remembers a long-forgotten and discarded dream of being a clockmaker, and feels the weight of all the terrible things he did since his family's deaths.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Grog immediately weeps when Scanlan asks if he'll carry him down the aisle at his wedding.
- Karma Houdini: The group decides not to pursue Sylas Briarwood as he flees Vasselheim in bat form.
- Mistaken for Gay:Scanlan: [to Kash] Pregnant?! I thought you were gay!
- Mood Whiplash: The episode goes from Vax's emotional departure to the comedy of Grog trying to shake himself of the Sword of Kas.
- Morphic Resonance: Zahra recognizes Keyleth's planetar form because of her antlers.
- Noodle Incident: Vox Machina has to spend two deeply unpleasant weeks after defeating Vecna hunting down Grog's soul in the Halls of Pandemonium. They are not pleased with him.Keyleth: [backhanding Grog] I should be mourning right now!
- Pre-Sacrifice Final Goodbye: The Raven Queen allows Vax a moment to say his goodbyes to Vox Machina.
- Refuge in Audacity: When Keyleth fails to Scry on Sylas Briarwood, Vex tries to use Locate Object on his pants. It only fails because Sylas is in bat form.
- Soul Jar: Grog draws the Void card from the Deck of Many Things, pulling his soul from his body and trapping it in a gem in the Halls of Pandemonium. Needless to say, he loses deck privileges after Vox Machina takes two weeks retrieving his soul.
- Take Care of the Kids: Vax entrusts Simon the snake belt to Velora as part of her resurrection ritual.
- Together in Death: Keyleth rejoins Vax in the afterlife when she merges with the Raven Tree at the end of her life.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The episode wraps up with one; Matt goes to every player and asks how they live out the rest of their days.
...And every day, that raven comes to visit.
