#chroma conclave arc

[manueltorresart]

All hail to the Cinder King. Here is finally Thordak, the ancient red dragon who leads the Chroma Conclave. Voiced by Matthew Mercer on @criticalrole and by Lance Reddick (who passed away last year) on The Legend of Vox Machina.

[onyxbird]

Vax: *falls in love with Keyleth and gently breaks things off with Gilmore to pursue that relationship.*

Matt, who already had Gilmore's parents and childhood home on another continent ready and fleshed out for the meet-the-parents stage/wedding: "...I am going to get them over there to meet this nice old couple somehow, dammit."

(Given Vox Machina's usual life, this is hardly a blip on the radar of difficult/awkward, but in general, I do feel like "The place I'm teleporting you to is a closet in my parents' house" is a detail that would be helpful to explain in advance.)

[blorbologist]

Hot take, apparently, but

a) Percy's hair in TLOVM isn't that bad. It's simple and effective and the built-in shading really helps give dimension to his head. And, more importantly...

b) consider that in the earlier concept art, he does have cool hair. So the hair he ended up with was a conscious choice by Taliesin and Phil Bourassa (and any other artists involved in the process).

Look. He went from this...

... to this:

It doesn't seem all that easier to animate (and if Percy being a pain in the ass was an issue, wouldn't the simplified coat/etc. already accomplish that?), but the main thing that stands out is how much younger it makes Percy look.

Which, y'know, is important, given S1 focuses on his trauma suffered as a teenager. Which was not all that long ago.

He is young, the second youngest of Vox Machina! And a core part of Percy's character is that, despite thinking he and Vex are the only adults in the room, he is not nearly as mature as he thinks he is. Which is also apparent in his more silly moments in S2, which are also complimented by the more boyish hairstyle.

Percy shouldn't be taken too seriously, which I think is emphasized by how much Taliesin makes a point to underline his flaws and bully the character when he can. With the gunslinging and shock-white hair and cool coat and shadow demon and a castle to put it all in, he's already bordering on too cool; making him look like a stud when he's really just a nerd would make it harder to pull off comedic moments with him. On top of emphasizing the horror of what happened to him at the hands of the Briarwoods and Ripley; he's still so young.

And as an audience we need to be reminded of that when he's pulling off a cool pose or trying to flirt with Vex or getting all raspy with the Orthax voice.

Anyways, art is subjective, but Percy as a character walks the fine line between 'coolass anime protagonist' and 'cringefail nerd' and I think the artists and Taliesin knew what they were doing refusing to let him be too #badass or #hot when he's an early-mid twenties nerd wailing that he's very flammable and sniffling pathetically after giving a girl he coat.

[hayleysayshay]

locking down some season 3 tlovm predictions before we get any teasers:

there will not be three dragon boss fights in a row. i don't mean literally in a row (like 10/11/12), I mean more as the wider story. I think they'll rearrange Vorugal to be the opener. I think Vorgual- Thordak- Raishan is far too much dragon. I think Ripley and Glintshore is a perfect way to break up the season and the show has rearranged things before.

And Vorugal will only be one episode near the start because who rly cares, you can shove that character stuff in anywhere else. We could have a montage with Raishan helping VM train to defeat Vorugal or something, then episode 2 or 3 could be Vorugal.

We can see Ripley sneaking about in the early episodes, and will reveal herself to VM, and then VM wil be like 'oh she's alive and being an active problem' and Percy can be like 'yeah I heard that' (as Viktor mentioned it to him in s2) and then Vax/Scanlan/Keyleth can be like 'and you didn't think to mention this?' and Percy can be like. 'haha we were busy. but yeah i'm terrible', and then they can distrust Percy, then we can get depressed Percy, the man was not depressed enough in s2 to lead into his death.

I am torn if they'll finish the whole of Chroma Conclave or not. One one hand I thnk they could, and Bard's Lament is the perfect sad end to the season. On the other hand, this arc is DENSE and they could maybe leave Raishan to the next season as a cliffhanger. Then Scanlan leaves, Bards Lament in episode 3 or something, then episode 4 BAM TARY TIME.

We won't get Scanlan's first death or Percy's second (I am 90% sure of this). I hope we get instead of Percy's second a sexy moment where Vex says 'Not again bitches' and saves him.

Keyleth rageee (I am begging you)

Vaxleth getting together will not happen this season, for some reason. Perc'ahlia will (this is actually the wildest prediction). Perc'ahlia will be mid season, if Vaxleth happens it will be end of the season.

[kymal]

WE WONT GET DRUNK PIKE IN AN EMPTY BAR WITH GROG PASSED OUT AT THE TABLE BESIDE HER TALKING TO A SCANLAN THATS NOT THERE ABOUT HER DAY BECAUSE SHE MISSES HIM AND WISHES THERE WAS SOMETHING SHE COULD’VE SAID THAT WOULD’VE MADE HIM STAY 😭

[warriorwitchwillow]

Just had a thought re: Critical Role Campaign 1 and The Legend of Vox Machina

Imagine the absolute chaos that would have been unleashed upon Exandria if Vox Machina hadn’t screwed up the Briarwoods’ timetable and they had succeeded in bringing You Know Who back to the Prime Material Plane on the Solstice.

That means he AND Thordak would have been released on the same day. An all-powerful lich attaining godhood and the Chroma Conclave devastating Tal’Dorei AT THE SAME TIME!!?

Oof.

[narnia-dreamer]

I think I kinda figured out why many people are not enjoying Critical role campaign 3 very much and that's the exact same reason why I actually love it and I am struggling with campaign 2

[suaimhneas-gairid]

so I fell in love with my husband's husband recently and went to follow his tag on here and the featured post for the tag is my own stupid post after the daggerheart stream

[twicedailyquotes]

Keyleth,

I write to let you and your companions know that the repair of Westruun is proceeding well. I will not bore you with the details. Suffice to say that our children are well-fed and safe, our elderly and infirm are cared-for and comfortable. Without the help of you and yours, this would not be the case.

The folk in charge argue constantly, but that is to be expected. And it is no bad thing; they all want the same good things in different ways. I listen mostly, and do what I can to make sure they listen to each other. Without listening, nothing good can happen.

The town… when I say the repair is going well… It is a hard thing for me to talk about. I am not a particularly clever man, and much of this is new to me. When you make a mistake with metal, you can melt things down and start fresh. It is irritating, and it costs in time and soot and sweat, but it can be done. There is a comfort in iron, knowing that a fresh start is always possible. But a city is not a sword. It is a living thing, and living things defy simple fixing. Roots cannot be reforged. They scar, and broken branches must be cut and sealed with tar. And this makes me angry, as it always has, and my anger has no place to go.

It was easier when I was young. I could use my anger like a hammer against the world. I was so sure of myself, and my friends, and my rightness. I would hammer at the world, and breaking felt like making to me, and I was good at it. And while I was not wrong, neither was I entirely right. Nothing is simple.

I do not work in wood. I am not brave enough for that. There is a comfort in iron. A promise of safety. A second chance if mistakes are made. But a city is more a forest than a sword. No… it needs more tending than that. Perhaps a city is like a garden, then.

So these days it seems that I have become a gardener. I dig foundations in the earth. I sow rows of houses. I plan and plant. I watch the skies for rain and ruin. I cannot help but think that you would be better at this. But circumstance has put both of us in our own odd place. You are forced to be a hammer in the world, and my ungentle hands are learning how to tend a plot of land. We must do what we can do.

Did you know that there are some seeds that cannot sprout unless they are first burned? A friend once told me that. She was… she was a bookish sort. I think of gardening constantly these days. I wear your gift, and I think of you. And I think it is interesting that there are some living things that need to pass through fire before they flourish.

I ramble. You have the heart of a gardener, and because of this you think of consequence, and your current path pains you. I am not wise, and I do not give advice, but I have come to know a few things. Sometimes breaking is making. Even iron can start again, and there are many things that move through fire and find themselves much better for it afterward.

I have enclosed a gift. Once it was a sword, but it has changed. It is a small thing and silly. Please forgive an old man for his foolishness. Still, I hope it brings you some small comfort.”

Kindly, Ker

[llycaons]

misty IS actually very entertaining; I think she's better in fights because her player commits to helping her fellows, and her theft of magic items from her fairy queen was really fun of her, and as long as she doesn't interact with anyone who works for her I like her fine. but I'm actually quite fond of priya's narrow-minded naive artsy pretentiousness too. also, I really enjoyed willy being a friendly golem, and the horny spider.

there are so many fights in this tho! like almost every episode, a really serious showdown with some antagonist or another. and the plots are fine and the fights are very well-designed, but structurally speaking, it's quite straightforward. crit role obviously had a whole world built over hundreds of hours of gametime, so matt had a lot more flexibility, but the crit role experience was much more varied - treasure hunts, shopping, exploring, bartering, finding work, and traveling, along with the big fights

[manueltorresart]

The last of the Chroma Conclave, the ancient green dragon Raishan. The head started based as a meanier dilophosaurus thingy and I'd like to think the crest is retractable. Also I added some kind of goose tongue because those beast have the meaniest tongues in nature. Voiced by Matthew Mercer on @criticalrole and by Cree Summer in The Legend of Vox Machina.

[onyxbird]

Scanlan: "Listen, I get it, I know. I know why you acted, and I probably would have done the same thing had I been closer, but just next time, give us some sort of a heads up, alright? We have a code word and everything."

Vax: "HolyshitI'mthrowingthedagger."

Vex: "Jenga, I think it's jenga."

[the-french-belphegor]

I finished my rewatch/relisten of the Vox Machina campaign in mid-December (although I recently re-embarked on the second half of the Chroma Conclave arc hoping season 3 of TLVOM will be announced (released?? 🤞) by the time I reach "A Bard's Lament"). Predictably, I bawled, AGAIN, but by then I'd already been scribbling and sketching ideas for this for... a couple of weeks? Hence the little WIP preview last month.

I'll never shut up about this moment. It's just as beautiful as it's heartbreaking, in- and off-game, especially taking into account all the context of characters/people involved.

Also, bonus, because after I finished sketching that 6th frame I thought a hug was needed.

"You broke my heart." and all of ours as well 💔

(edit: added image descriptions. I apologise for not thinking to do it sooner!)

[monarchetype]

I'm seeing some people bring up the "two cakes" thing re: TLOVM and I think that's missing the point of the two cakes thing. A second cake is a straight up improvement over one cake if you were only expecting one cake. The second cake is a freebie, and freebies are always great (even if the cake ends up not being to your taste.) TLOVM is not a freebie bolt-from-the-blue second cake with no expectations. Myself and many other were under the impression that TLOVM would be an opportunity to tell the story of CR1 in a concise & visual format. Changes made to the source material would be ultimately in service of telling that same story, either by polishing it, condensing it, or tweaking to better suit the different medium and format. Seasons 1 and 2 very much seemed to be in line with that philosophy. Season 3 meanwhile seems to chuck CR1's structure and subplots out the window and tell a significantly different story that is only inspired by CR1. And so instead of it being a polished and refined version of CR1, it's a different story that feels only equally or even less polished and refined than the original, discarding CR1's stumbles in favor of entirely new stumbles. The appeal of seeing the most iconic moments in a visual format is also lost because the story is so different that the highlights are either unrecognizable, underwhelming, or fall flat.

Let me put it this way: CR1 was a massive chocolate cake. TLOVM was supposed to be a cupcake version of that same cake that refines the proportions of the ingredients. TLOVM season 3 is like if you'd taken 2 bites of this chocolate cupcake only to find a surprise raspberry filling, and not only was the filling not present in the original cake, it's clearly a first attempt at a raspberry filling.

I feel like with Season 3 TLOVM's design philosophy completely changed. Instead of adapting C1 into a more condensed form it instead decided to be only loosely inspired by it, and it really suffers for this choice. All the oomph of the big moments from the campaign was totally gone, the character arcs feel rushed, everything is sanded down and flattened. Kind of a bummer.

[your-turn-to-role]

other things about campaign vox machina i have now decided it's vital for tlovm only fans to know about - so they were all in the slayer's take for a while, there was a whole mini arc about it

and the way slayer's take bounties work are often "so and so magic user needs this magical creature's body parts as spell components, so go find one and kill it, and then bring back everything on their list - money will be taken off the final reward for any parts you failed to recover or damaged in the process"

which is where vox machina learned just how expensive everything on a dragon from its eyes to its teeth to its skin is

and they've got a vex in the party

so yeah they killed the chroma conclave for the good of exandria, and in the case of thordak and raishan, personal revenge

but then with every dragon they killed they stole as much hide and scales and claws and teeth as they could physically fit in their bags of holding/colding (and i do mean that literally, there was a lot of math done over what in there is worth less than dragon skin so they could swap it with yet more dead vorugal)

but they didn't sell all of it

we may get this at the start of s4 we may not, because this time skip is when they had them made

but i feel like it's important to note after this point in the story vex's primary clothing colour was white, rather than blue, because she had a full set of leather and scale armor made from the cured remains of vorugal

and percy grabbed a dragon scale from each dragon for every one of his friends, and commisioned a jeweler they had helped earlier on their travels to make all of vox machina jewellery pieces of their choice (not all were mentioned but keyleth has a clasp holding her mantle/cloak together, vex has a hairpiece, it was suggested grog affixes his to his gauntlet), that were the five colours of dragon scale fanned out and inlaid with gemstones, in recognition of what they'd achieved

(and because percy is percy, as a way to recognise each other if it ever came to that, because each one was in some way unique to the person carrying it)

and while i don't know if the show will do a full costume change for vex (they did for keyleth, so we'll see, but the dragon scale pieces are probably too intricate for animation), i'd love to see more fanart that includes these bc they're really cool

[arcadecoconut]

There's a lot of great meta about how Bells Hells never seemed to realise how powerful they became over the course of the campaign, and how this skewed perspective gave them a strange and at times hypocritical relationship to authority. There's also been a lot of discussion about how having a single-focus plot established early in the campaign was detrimental to individual character development, but I don't think I've seen much about how the single-focus plot is directly connected to their ignorance about their own power level. I think one of the key benefits of having various smaller arcs across c1 & c2 was not only that it supported individual character development better, it also gave the parties a sense of their own growing capability and power scale in the greater world. By having distinct arcs with enemies who were overcome and defeated, the PCs have concrete evidence of their own growth. Each arc follows a mini heroes journey too. For the MN, the Lorenzo and Obann arcs both involve PC characters being killed or overtaken early on, setting high stakes and establishing difficulty. Eventually, with persistence and planning, the Nein were able overcome and eventually defeat them. For Vox Machina, it's the Briarwoods, then the Chroma Conclave, then Vecna. At the start of each arc, every mission feels like an impossible task but again with persistence and planning, they conclude each arc in a stronger position - not just on their character sheet, but with concrete in-world elements too - the resources of Whitestone, key allies in powerful government positions, etc. These victories give each party a material sense of their achievement, which is mirrored by their internal acknowledgement, which is so natural it's mostly not explicitly acknowledged unless they're pointing out how they're capable of stepping up and helping more people. Bells Hells, by comparison, got very few distinct arcs. As a result, they never really achieved the same smaller victories to give them a sense of escalating power and agency over the course of the campaign. To be clear, it was possible this could have been achieved anyway, even within the constraints of the moon-plot. Defeating Otohan, defeating or flipping Lilliana, severing the alliance between the Unseelie Court and Ludinus, explicitly winning allies out of The Volition, or the Grim Verity, or Vasselheim and the Judicators - each of these could have been distinct arcs with victory conditions that would have served as markers of Bells Hells growing power. If they'd had concrete mini-goals to achieve along the way to dealing with Ludinus/Predathos, they could have taken time to focus and plan. In this way, we could have gotten larger investment into the world and NPCs. Imagine what it could have done for her personality if the party had to research Otohan’s role in the Apex War! Maybe if they needed to broker peace between the Grim Verity and Vasselheim to unite them against a greater threat, we could have seen Bells Hells establish their own authority in Exandria. Instead, all these potential villains and world building hooks ended up largely ignored or accidentally achieved along the path of some other muddy goal. By not giving the characters this sense of growth, BH and particularly Ashton and Laudna ended up with a very skewed perspective of themselves. They never realise their power grew well above average, putting them in a much more privileged position than the average Exandrian. It’s this skewed perspective - and their resulting attitudes towards various NPCs - which gave many viewers an 'ick' factor about their interactions. I also can't help but juxtapose this with exu: divergence, where the party's relationship to power (both their own and others') has been a core element. Their story has also been conducted over a very short time period in-world, yet their responses show a marked difference in awareness and empathy.