The Legend of Vox Machina: Shadows at the Gates | Fate's Journey | Spark of Rebellion
February 4, 2022 10:30 AM - Season 1, Episode 4 - Subscribe

After ruining Sovereign Uriel’s diplomatic dinner, Vox Machina is confined to their Keep under house arrest...

4. Shadows at the Gates
After ruining Sovereign Uriel’s diplomatic dinner, Vox Machina is confined to their Keep under house arrest. While they stave off boredom, Keyleth convinces Percy to open up about his dark history and Pike fears she has lost her connection to her deity. Meanwhile, a looming new threat is on its way to confront Vox Machina.

5. Fate's Journey
Vox Machina journeys to Whitestone to confront the Briarwoods and help Percy reclaim his family home. As they travel, Scanlan studies Delilah Briarwood’s mysterious spell book to uncover clues. But the team’s first road trip is interrupted when the Briarwoods send horrific monsters to retrieve their missing book.

6. Spark of Rebellion
Vox Machina finds Whitestone's holy leader, Keeper Yennen, who tells them of a growing rebellion. The team realizes that to defeat the Briarwoods they will need the help of rebel leader, Archibald Desnay. But first they must stage a daring prison break and confront the Briarwoods’ sadistic jailer, Kerrion Stonefell.
posted by Karmakaze (11 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
These are dropping in threes, so I'm doing another cluster post like the series had for episodes 1-3.

I have not watched much of the liveplay Critical Role, though I do know enough D&D to spot the mechanics coming through. I am starting to evolve a theory that Percy is some kind of homebrew warlock (he has to be some kind of homebrew because guns are really not a thing in straight D&D except as bleedover from CR).
posted by Karmakaze at 10:35 AM on February 4, 2022


I didn't watch/listen to them, either, but I think that they were running Pathfinder for a while.
posted by Spike Glee at 12:29 PM on February 4, 2022


Yes, Percy was a Gunslinger in Pathfinder, then they switched to D&D 5e when they started streaming and he became...well, wait and see!
posted by The Tensor at 1:12 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


"Did we win a Prize"

I knew what was coming but that little addendum to the Sun Tree reveal was just.. oof.
posted by Faintdreams at 2:41 PM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Why doesn't Pike call her deity Sarenrae? I see from the wiki that Sarenrae is also called the Everlight, but "Sarenrae" is more high fantasy-esque.

I think this show is fine, possibly thin for people who don't follow Critical Role. I wish it was less gory though.
posted by Anonymous at 3:25 PM on February 4, 2022


I think Sarenrae is specifically a Pathfinder thing, so fine for a home game that became a twitch game, a little dubious for copyright reasons for an animated show.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:32 PM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


The Briarwood lieutenants are more interesting looking than I’d envisioned at the time, so that’s fun; I had pictured the giants as more undead-looking and less Attack on Titan-ish (and in general the gore also reminds me of AoT), but hey, it’s a cool visual either way. Also glad to see less Scanlan nonsense in general.
posted by tautological at 10:47 PM on February 4, 2022


I haven’t watched all of the C1 livestream but have watched this arc. I have enjoyed the latest few episodes more than I did the first couple. I think there’s a much stronger sense of stakes with the Briarwoods, given Percy’s connection. I do still find it a bit much with the gore and “not for kids” stuff for me personally—I can handle it a bit better in a narrated game I guess.
posted by synecdoche at 10:33 AM on February 5, 2022


Agree that these 3 episodes were stronger than the first 3. I'm not normally one for gore but here it feels authentic to my experience of D&D, which I think this series is capturing really well. I enjoy how legitimately scary/disturbing the monsters are.
posted by Emily's Fist at 7:12 PM on February 10, 2022


Also, "be quiet, be quiet, go to sleep" was hilarious in such a wrong way.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:45 PM on February 10, 2022


I did love them covering some of the early campaign moments via flashback - and Keyleth's anxiety reaction afterwards was hilarious.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:25 AM on February 12, 2022


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