THAT'S HOW IT ENDS!?! Vox Machina 3x12 Episode 12: Souls in Darkness Reaction

[@nathandeppisch6674]

That final song was the last thing Sam recorded before he went in to get his tonsil cancer taken out which adds extra weight to it

[@AAAndrew]

This was the only episode Lance was not able to record. His widow asked that Levar Burton read his lines, so the combined voice is Cree Summer and Levar Burton. The golden lines are the threads of fate, and show whose fates are intertwined. When Vex dies and Vax says to take him instead the Matron cuts his tie to Vex, so his fate is no longer tied to Vex, but now tied to the Matron. And she told Vax that he was fate-touched as he can see and bend the fates around him. Vax now connected his fate to Percy.

[@operative2136]

According to Matt, he had the privilege of seeing Lance and Levar meet for the first time at the Star Trek: Picard premiere shortly before Lance's passing. I imagine they probably didn't have much of a problem getting Levar to do the recording since they are good friends with his daughter Mica (who was a guest player in the Mighty Nein campaign).

[@geak78]

Oh wow! Didn't know he was requested like that.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

😮 I didn't know that, that's cool!

[@loganrobson8624]

I had no Idea. Rest in peace Lance Reddick

[@rhokesh4391]

I think I can tell you now, Taliesin had actually been thinking about letting Percy stay dead (and introducing one very, very different character to VM as his backup 😆) and it was only Vex' speech that changed his mind. The way Matt handles resurrections in his games is by letting the players perform a ritual in which 3 characters have to pass skill checks, but ultimately it's still up to the player if they want their character to come back. And btw, those skill checks can be anything, Grog once intimidated a character back to life 😂 That orb in the last scene might remind you of something from way back in S1 😉

[@nickthedreamer4434]

"Sometimes your character and you are one."

[@OculusObscurum]

I think you're the first person I've seen to remember the "So chunky" line from Season 1 Pike - "Didn't you only have one ale?" Keyleth - "(continues vomiting)" Pike - "Ugh, so chunky." Delilah - "We are his blood" Zerxus - "We are his blood" Cultists - "We are his blood"

[@DracheLehre]

In the campaign, Keyleth did not kill Raishan. What she did instead was use the spell Feeblemind. It took the two things Raishan prized, her intelligence and charisma and set both to 1 and shut down her spell casting. Rendering her to little else than a slobbering, feral beast. She may have not given the final blow, (the honor went to a guest character), but at that point it was just a formality.

[@syntia13]

And Marisha was so shocked it worked that she fell off her chair 😂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3S1gX-Yi7Jjo6s

[@JoshuaH225]

She doesn’t believe Keyleth came alone. She just believes her Meter Swarm spell killed them. Got to say, I love the adaptation of a 9th level spell.

[@xxJOKeR75xx]

so you're saying she threw a METRIC ton of space rocks at them... (pun intended)

[@testytest69420]

Yeah, high level casters tend to have egos even when they aren't basically magic incarnate (which dragons in general are).

[@Lenny-ue8hk]

The “I would give my soul for one day of your happiness” Will be resolved next season when Vax sacrifices himself to buy Vex a super special cupcake

[@kristywestaway]

Blueberry cupcake?

[@Lenny-ue8hk]

@@kristywestaway yes with sprinkles

[@YoelSchwarz]

Then it gets stepped on

[@vgexpert20001]

It seeme like Grog and Pike are staying at their keep in Emon, most likely to help rebuild the city (and their keep!)

[@michaelward5302]

You're such a hopeless romantic Mosco. You're also up for a really badass fight scene. My kinda girl.

[@Nevermore-Nevermore]

I’m going to be honest and say that I cried through a good portion of this episode, it was brutal and well done.

[@quincyconnors9391]

Don’t expect there to be a Season 4 anytime soon. My country has made its worst decision since 2016, and our economy and civil liberties are on the line now. Mosco, I implore you, in the name of all that is good with my scarred black heart: Protect Elijah and her family as best as you can.

[@warriorwitchwillow]

1:52 She thinks she killed the rest of Vox Machina with her Meteor Storm last episode.

[@xseedingme]

What I LOVE about this finale is simple yet subtle. Raishan, during the time she wasn't a direct enemy to VM, was learning EVERYTHING about the group including the Vestiges and so had a magical counter for all of it! But the one thing she was unaware of (due to either in D&D what is a save roll for Keyleth to keep Raishan from scrying or she was caught off-guard because of her inherent superiority complex) was Keyleth's newest powerup! She had NO IDEA what was coming for the first time. Brilliant!!!

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

Actually she didn't know about it because that's the way the script wanted it. This fight was nothing at all like the game itself. In fact, the whole season was off the rails in terms of following the game. They hit a lot of the major moments, but they were drastically different than how they happened in the game. SPOILERS for campaign 1 In the actual campaign, they prevented Raishan from taking over Thordak's body, and they were able to defeat her by Keyleth casting Feeblemind on her, which dropped her intelligence to 1 (basically making her a feral animal and preventing her from using her magic at all). And it was actually this fight where Scanlan was killed (rather than just knocked in a coma during the Thordak fight).

[@Becky31389]

​@@jonathanhibberd9983that's because this is an adaptation of the campaign, not a one-to-one follow. They have hundreds of hours to work through and adaptations are necessary. The story is still beautiful even though things had to be changed up.

[@pabloc8808]

@@jonathanhibberd9983 You must be unfamiliar with the concept of fun, for which I pity you.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

@@pabloc8808 Not sure what you're talking about. My point was that Raishan not knowing about Keyleth's ability wasn't a roll because that wasn't in the campaign, it was specifically written for the show. I didn't imply any judgement. I actually like that they haven't felt confined by the campaign, so that people who have been long time viewers of the campaign are also being surprised by the story. About the only thing I miss from the campaign is Keyleth's line "Call me child one more time!" to Raishan. They seemed to be setting her up for that, but they didn't actually use it. But that's the nit-pickiest of nit-picks. I've been thrilled with this season.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

@@Becky31389 Never said it wasn't. I was just explaining that this wasn't from the campaign, so it wasn't a roll.

[@syntia13]

Re: your musings about soul/body/death situation - in D&D there are several spells that can bring someone back to life. They differ widely in what level they are, what character class can use them, prerequisites, like how long ago you died, if there's a body, what material components you need, etc., and effects. Among those, there is (was?) a druidic spell, 'reincarnation', that would put the soul and memories of the deceased person in a new body, the race of which would be totally random. (In older editions you could end up as an animal, I believe). So yeah, in theory we could have gotten a very different-looking Percy. :D Fortunately it didn't come to that.

[@Shadowace724]

Vax's main goal is his sister's happiness. He would sacrifice everything for her. As a brother I completely understand his reasoning.

[@InkyPetrel]

I'm so sad your reactions for this series are over, I've enjoyed them so much :) Now we wait for season 4.

[@Janice.Helluvabosfan]

I was like VAX NOOOOOO NOT HIM TAKE ME INSTEAD LEAVE MY DARLING BOY ALONEEEEEEEE also love your vids ❤😂

[@maciekzelichowski1411]

Question: What do I wish for Season 4? Answer: The marriage of Percy and Vex'ahlia

[@summertime6785]

Now that wait for Season 4 (and The Whispered One’s return) begins.

[@GameMasterToolbox]

And somehow the Whispered One returned.

[@zippomage]

we have Mighty Nein coming up next. That'll be a whole different kind of ride.

[@EternalSentinal]

I still want Mark Hamil to play the whispered one, being a fan favorite choice, and I think Hamil himself said he wanted to play them

[@rhokesh4391]

@@EternalSentinal Wait. Wait. Wait. Are you saying Mark Hamill knows about Vox Machina? O.O

[@andyenglish4303]

@@EternalSentinal Mark Hamill has been my fan cast for Vecna since i watched Campaign 1.

[@liamgradwell2998]

This season was just amazing. They really outdid themselves with the animation. All the characters shown in their own moments, but especially Keyleth. She’s my favourite character and this showed her coming into her own as a leader, like how Marisha Ray envisioned for her character. The Critter cast were all great as usual, and that Mosco’s reactions got recognised by them. Absolutely stellar. Now, while we wait for Season 4, we can look forward to the Mighty Nein next year! I’m really looking forward to it, having watched this campaign from the start.

[@amuppet8855]

The whispered one walked so stranger things could fly 😅

[@cabezadecerveza7635]

I believe that the name vekna was based on a fantasy writer that the creators of D&D happened to like. His name was Vance. I could be remembering that wrong but it's something close to that.

[@Dyerdon]

Everything Vax has ever done has been for his sister. He stood up for her against their father, stood by her side before they even met the others (which is in a comic, by the way, which is great, takes place in Stilben), when Vex died, Vax made a deal with the Raven Queen ("Take me instead you Raven bitch!"). So when this version of Vax saw his sister was broken, it was never a choice from him. He needed to make her happy again... no matter the cost.

[@FluffyJackie]

Again: I really hope they retrieve Ripley's Cloak for Percy🤔

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

So they didn't know that they would get a season 4 until recently, so a lot of this season was written with the idea that it would be the final season. Because of that, they made a TON of changes so that they could end the story on a happy note. I'm assuming that the final scene with the cult was produced but not added to the episode until they confirmed they had been renewed.

[@Rixec2]

And now we all wait for season 4.

[@JacqueGumu314]

They made this with an open ended scene, not knowing that S4 will he green lit. This isn't much of a spoiler nor a fake one, there's an animatic clip for the sequel season. It's the 2nd Campaign of Critical Role. I thought after S3 we'd get Camping 2, but now I'm looking forward to S4.

[@andyenglish4303]

mighty Nein is the next thing on the docket I believe

[@johnobrien7562]

poor Vax, that's twice now he's had to sacrifice himself for Percy and Vex's mistakes. but he'd already pledged his soul for his sister's happiness, this seems to be hastening that deal.

[@TenebrousFilms]

I suppose neutral druids would be as willing to cooperate with evil dragons as well as good - balance of nature - but being green doesn't mean Raishan has any affinity with nature... does it? Either they changed things, or this is lore I have yet to encounter. I'm still stalled in the middle of the second campaign, and I haven't watched any of the Calamity stuff. Regardless, this is coming from the Diseased Deceiver, so take whatever she says with a giant gob of salt. Whatever wacky hijinx the ziggurat is capable of, the vestiges date back to that time. Because resurrection is treated differently in the show, I suppose this makes sense. What happens to Vax in the livestream happens for different reasons. And Scanlan's departure was far more belligerent and heartbreaking... and what he did in the last ten minutes of that episode had both cast and crew up in arms. *Nerf guns were involved.*

[@darrenrichardson6146]

Your thinking too rigidly in regards to DnD Alignments, just because someone is evil doesn't mean they can't work with other people if it benefits themself, and in Green Dragons rulewise, they're Lawful Evil, which further strengthens the fact they are willing to work with others if it benefits themselves. In any case, Alignments are just guidelines in how creatures MIGHT interact with others, not set in stone.

[@hhylobates4098]

This is a change for the show, at this point it all looks to be making more connection between Keyleth and Raishan...and making Keyleth look more in the right with her arguments. Raishan was not goign to destroy the Ashari villages because it was not them who cursed her, and there was no history of them working with dragons. A least part of what she says _has_ to be an outright lie; she talks about the Ashari claiming nature for themselves when all they do is stay in the 4 specific locations guarding the rifts.

[@cabezadecerveza7635]

I do have one prediction for season 4. Someone will die and not come back. We've been teased about death too strongly for not to actually happen

[@michaelward5302]

I like seeing your sub total steadily growing. You think 60k is out of the question before the end of the year?

[@EditDeath]

There was a great moment from the campaign skipped over at this point in the series, but for good reason. It's called "the Bard's Lament." Instead of a coma, Scanlan died and they brought him back, still with his daughter present, and he had a meltdown on them before leaving the party. Even if just on your own time, give it a watch, it's great acting by Sam Riegel. The reason they gave for not including it here is that they didn't know if they'd get another season, and didn't want to end things on a low note. What wasn't mentioned is that voicing this season was the last thing Sam did before starting his throat cancer treatment, so they must've wanted to give the character a positive send off in case the worst happened. Happily he was able to recover from the treatment, and he's back in the current campaign, performing as great as ever.

[@hhylobates4098]

The writing and voice work was completed ages ago, before the cancer issue, because that all has to be done before the animation so they can sync mouth movements to lines. Music however is done after, its just the song he was recording right before surgery.

[@joemichener2337]

When are you going to react to the Amphibia series? Elijah reacted to a few of them. They gave her a range of emotions and made her very animated.

[@Haz-009]

I know that this isn't related and I don't know if you're a big music person, but I would highly recommend listening to this album called Charm by Clairo.

[@hollowbrinethehollowfiedsu6365]

Technically she is a dracolitch now

[@elbruces]

*Dracolich.

[@hollowbrinethehollowfiedsu6365]

@elbruces one letter off

[@niefali]

Next week we are back to Ducktales?

[@marsmeetsearthproductions6279]

Can’t wait for Mighty Nein

[@bullmonty764]

Still waiting for the return of DuckTales, but hopefully this being the season finale will alleviate my concerns a little

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

It is, no new Critical Role until they release probably The Mighty Nein next year.

[@RWorkman-r3c]

Vecna... Lord of the undead... Enjoy your research.

[@steventaylor546]

What a way to wrap up the season. Definitely different than the original campaign, but also similar. The campaign actually had a time skip so I'm kind of hoping that we get a peek into what happens during the time skip at the start of season 4 as the big bad starts to get revealed.

[@matthewrooney8834]

You going back to ducktales ?

[@rickymoranjr9609]

thank god they brought Percy back from the dead, Vox Machina wouldn't be the same without him. plus I'm not too fond of shows when they kill off a great character and replace them with a character that isn't as good

[@elbruces]

Well, it's an adaptation of a D&D game, so which characters die, whether they somehow come back, or whether they get replaced isn't up to the writing room.

[@rickymoranjr9609]

@@elbruces gotcha 👍

[@andyenglish4303]

@@elbruces I mean that's a bit untrue. Archibald Desnay and Kash did not die in battle in the campaign

[@zephyrfields9977]

It's nice to see someone comment on the Raishan corpse, last episode, we ended with it frozen straight up in an ice cocoon. And in episode 12, we now have it resting on the ground with no time having elapsed since the end of episode 11. Continuity goof. As for the Scanlan speech at the end, there are so many ways this could have been worded better "You're like family but I have a real one" Dude. Chosen family is no less real. But I guess this is better than how he left back in the Original

[@nicolaspereyra420]

Are you going to keep reacting to the dragon prince after arcane?

[@SK-qo4qs]

See I told you no one important dies.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

Kash 😭

[@SylvaGardenia]

Everyone dies eventually, just ask Vax, him being the Champion of Ravens and all.

[@elbruces]

They did die, just not forever. @@jonathanhibberd9983 Kash showed up like twice in the entire campaign.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

@@elbruces Four times - during the initial Slayer's Take arc, during the quest to get the Raven Queen vestige, during the attack on Emon and Thordak, and during the final battle. Plus if you're listening to the Reslayer's Take, he shows up in there.

[@dragonlemur3271]

Raishan actually did turn Keyleth to ash, it’s just that that doesn’t kill her anymore. She was able to come back as an earth elemental