SPOILERS for Critical Role Episode 114 (obviously). Go check out the full episode at GeekandSundry.com!
Our recap of Episode 113 can be found here.
Vox Machina fights Vecna, the Whispered One.
Previously on Critical Role
Vax, after being strangled by Artagan, came back to life and rejoined the group. After a day’s rest, they teleported back to Thar Amphala. The party met Arkhan, a dragonborn that is a friend of Keyleth and Percy. Together, they ascended to tower in the center of Thar Amphala, killing Delilah Briarwood along the way, though Sylas escaped. They fought cultists, but before reaching the apex of the Entropis, they accidentally killed their friends, who were disguised by Vecna to trick the party. The party brought them back to life and sent them to Emon. Arkhan offered to fight the death knight they had faced before while they venture on to stop Vecna.
Now
Scanlan casts unseen servant and hands it a whip. He instructs his double to only come into the chamber beyond when the whip falls.
Vax quickly pulls Keyleth aside.
Vax: “Forever. Forever and always.”
He kisses her.
Pike asks them all to hold hands. She tells them how much they mean to her, and she casts holy aura on the party.
They ascend the tower, heading towards the green glow that tops the tower. Through breaks in the clouds, they see Vasselheim below. The titan’s feet crush the outside of the city. The city attacks the feet of the titan as it walks.
They see green bolts of energy surrounding a skeletal Vecna. He clutches a tome in his right hand and tendrils of souls entwine with the bones of his limbs. His left hand, however, is whole.
Vox Machina looks up at Vecna and notices Velora, the half sister of Vax and Vex floating in Vecna’s ribcage. Vecna smiles at them.
Vecna: “I was curious who would seek my blessing first. You all have proven driven enough to deserve the personal touch of my wrath. When I discovered your wily tricks–merely shifting about beneath my nose–the humor of it was not lost on me. This omniscience is still new, and I learn to push my limits with each passing moment. I thank you for showing me. I reward you by sharing with you the ruin of this once beautiful city, a familiar oblivion to you each. Now perfect it.”
Grog casts enlarge as Vecna taunts them.
Vecna lifts his hand and rips through space and time. Flaming rocks plummet towards Vasselheim. The rocks hit the temples of Kord, Sarenrae, and The Raven Queen. However, the party is distracted by the meteor heading towards the tower.
The rock flies into the tower, splitting it into pieces and smashing into the party. Trinket immediately goes back into Vex’s necklace. Pike loses her concentration on the holy aura spell. Vecna flies above them.
As the tower splits and meteor crashes into them, they struggle to stay on top of the tower. Scanlan falls off the side of the tower. The unseen servant drops the whip.
The arcane energy surrounding the top of the tower keeps the sundered pieces floating near one another.
Grog attaches the chain of returning to Kas. He throws the sword up at Vecna. Vecna is unhappy to see the sword.
Suddenly, Grog vanishes from the battlefield. He finds himself in a tunnel: a small part of a larger labyrinth.
Vex runs over to where Grog stood moments before and looses her arrows at Vecna. She attempts to restrain him with brambleshot. The attack is successful, but he breaks out of the restraint.
Vecna attacks Vex, and her blessing of Pelor damages the newly ascended god in return.
Vax flies towards Vecna. He throws his daggers at the god.
The bones and corpses around them begin to rise and attack.
Scanlan’s double clutches onto the side of the tower. He casts Bigby’s hand and punches Vecna. Vecna tries to cast a spell, but Scanlan 2 uses counterspell to stop it.
Keyleth casts sunburst in front of Vecna. He is damaged by the attack, but is unable to be blinded.
Velora drops from Vecna’s chest and falls through the cracks down the tower.
Percy casts hex on Vecna and fires at him with Animus. While shooting, he uses Cabal’s Ruin to inflict extra damage.
As Scanlan falls, he inspires himself. With few remaining options, he casts dimension door and teleports into Vecna’s chest where Velora once was. He climbs onto the outside of the rib cage. He casts healing word on Vex before grabbing onto his double’s Bigby’s hand.
Pike flies around the battlefield and casts mass cure wounds. She then casts shield of faith on Vex.
The titan punches into the center of the city. Dozens of bodies fly through the air. Vecna laughs.
Vecna takes notice of Keyleth and reminds her that she created their escape when they last met. Scanlan notices that Vecna is attempting to cast feeblemind, and he cast counterspell.
Vecna, prevented from casting his spell, flies higher. Scanlan casts Bigby’s hand.
Scanlan: “You’ll leave when Burt Reynolds says you can leave.”
The spell, however, misses.
Grog begins to wander the maze. He calls out for Pike and Scanlan, but they cannot hear him. Frustrated, he takes out his ale and uses his amulet of the drunkard to heal himself. As he heals, his mind begins to drift to thinking of the deck of many things in his bag.
Vex flies over to Velora’s body. She lifts her sister, but Velora does not awaken or move.
Vax throws his daggers at the tome in Vecna’s hand. It is destroyed, but Vecna does not seem to care.
Vecna casts feeblemind on Keyleth again, but she manages to shake off the spell.
Two gloomstalkers crash onto the battlefield. J’mon arrives.
J’mon: “Your time is done, Old One. Fall before us all.”
J’mon uses their breath attack on Vecna. Vecna is clearly damaged by this attack. He looks towards the dragon, but instead of attacking them, he dispells Scanlan’s double. Scanlan falls from his double’s Bigby’s hand. He lands on one of the fractured pieces of the top of the tower.
Keyleth turns into a planetar.
Percy shoots at more of the skeletons, regaining his grit ability along the way. He then turns his gun on Vecna. When the bullet hits, Vecna looses concentration on his spell, and Grog reappears on the field.
Percy shoots once more, critically hitting.
Seeing that his friend has returned, Scanlan turns into a giant eagle. He picks up Grog and takes him to Vecna.
Pike casts guiding bolt, and critically hits Vecna.
Vecna is weary of the sword Grog is carrying towards him. He casts firebolt on Scanlan’s eagle form.
Vecna: “I’ve enjoyed toying with you. Playing with all this fantastical experience of seeing what you’re capable of. But, you’ve severely angered me, so let’s end this. Now.”
Vecna casts meteor swarm once again, hitting everyone except Pike and Vex. Scanlan falls unconscious and loses his eagle form. He falls towards the ground once again. His death ward activates, leaving him awake but severely injured.
Vecna flies across the battlefield. He casts a force cage around J’mon, trapping the brass dragon.
Vex takes her sister and realizes that she is dead. She tucks her away in the stone before flying back to the battle.
Vecna casts firebolt at Scanlan, knocking the gnome out.
Vax casts lay on hands on Scanlan. He flies into Vecna’s face and grabs on. He casts smite.
Vecna speaks to Vax.
“Good night, bitch’s prince.”
He casts circle of death.
Suddenly, two wyverns fly by while being chased by gloomstalkers. The party notices that Zahra and Kashaw are riding the wyverns.
Zahra flies by and casts finger of death on Vecna. Kash casts mass cure wounds on Grog, Percy, and Scanlan.
The arcane energy holding the top of the tower together begins to fray.
Keyleth throws Grog into the air. He launches the sword at Vecna.
Scanlan stands up and casts fireball, Vecna avoids half of the damage.
Everyone is healed back to full health.
Vecna: “First and foremost: no friends”
He casts hold monster on the wyverns, Zahra, and Kash. The wyverns with Kash and Zahra plummet from the sky and out of view.
Vecna pulls Kas out of his ribs. He casts telekinesis to move the middle column. He maneuvers it to maximize the effects of meteor swarm. The platform is destroyed in the impact.
Vax gives Keyleth a superior healing potion and throws whisper at Vecna. It critically hits. He teleports to Vecna. Vecna’s eye is burning with green flames.
Vecna notices that Scanlan looks the most hurt. He shoots another firebolt at the gnome, but Scanlan still stands. Vecna summons more skeltons.
An armored hand grabs the ledge of the tower. Arkhan pulls himself up over the ledge. A potion has allowed him to sprout wings and fly. He flies around Vecna, throwing his javelin at the recently ascended god.
Keyleth picks up Grog and flies him over Vecna. He swings Kas at Vecna. Everytime the sword connects, the sword grows more ecstatic.
Vecna is damaged to the point that three orbs appear in his form. They realize that these are where the trammels need to be placed.
Keyleth swings her great sword at Vecna.
The titan continues to stomp through the city, and gloomstalkers attack Vasselheim.
Grog takes out his trammel. He jams it into the side of Vecna’s head. Vecna screams in pain. The trammel glows. Grog takes a few more swings with Kas.
Vax takes out his trammel and hands it to Grog. He then attacks Vecna with his daggers and takes a greater healing potion.
Arkhan flies up to Vecna and swings his weapon at the god. He then casts smite.
Grog hands off Vax’s trammel (the weakest one) to Keyleth. She flies over to one of the orbs, and attempts to stab it in. However, as it begins to pierce Vecna, the trammel shatters in her hand.
Pike flies up to Grog, holding the final trammel. She casts guidance on her goliath friend. She hands him the trammel. However, right as she does, Grog’s haste wears off, and he is stunned.
Vecna casts banishment on Pike and Grog, but Scanlan casts counterspell to prevent it. Vecna looks at Scanlan with seething hatred. He casts finger of death on Scanlan. Vex then flies down and heals Scanlan from the damage he received during the spell. In return, he uses minor illusion to turn her skin green.
Vecna, still frustrated with Scanlan, turns him into a fox.
Vax flies over to the fox and attacks. The fox quickly turns back into Scanlan. Vax uses lay on hands before flying away.
Vecna tries to use banishment again, this time on Grog and Scanlan. He succeeds, but Arkhan immediately attacks him, causing both to quickly reappear.
Scanlan readies the tome of isolation.
Vecna begins to cast teleport through the hand. Percy shoots at Vecna in an attempt to stop him. Grog swings his sword at Vecna as well. However, none of these are enough. Scanlan, knowing he has a single ninth level spell left, uses it to counterspell the teleportation, even though it means he can no longer use wish to save Vax.
Grog grabs the trammel from Pike and stabs it into Vecna’s chest. As soon as it sinks in, Vecna’s form begins to fall apart. Scanlan tells the others that, if Vecna is destroyed, then he will simply reform elsewhere. He tells the others to stop attacking and simply use the book to banish him.
Vax takes a look at his friends before grappling Vecna. The grapple fails.
Arkhan then grapples Vecna’s left hand. Keyleth grabs the other arm while Grog takes his torso.
Scanlan begins to read from the book. He reads powerfully and strong, but it is not enough.
Keyleth flies down and tries to read the book. Scanlan inspires her before she reads. Vecna casts dominate person on Scanlan, but he counterspells again.
Pike casts sanctuary and guidance on Keyleth.
Vecna banishes Scanlan.
The titan’s arm suddenly swings up above the tower, poised to swing down. They sense that Vecna is running out of options.
Grog hits Vecna, bringing Scanlan back from his banishment.
Vax flies down to Vecna to try and shield Scanlan from further attacks. Keyleth flies next to Vax, and begins to read.
The trammels sticking out of Vecna begin to glow. The titan’s arm keeps moving. Vecna begins to scream. The lattice of the divine gate begins to spread out around his body. There is a large clap that throws them all back. Vecna blinks out of existance. They begin to fall as the shield around the city disappears and the gloomstalkers die. The titan halts in place.
Grog and Arkhan catch a nearby platform before plummeting off the tower. The tethers remain, holding the tower together, but begin to visibly weaken.
In the aftermath of the battle, they hear thousands of people cheering in the city below and in the sky above.
The celebration does not last long, however, as Vox Machina goes to Vax, who they know will soon be gone now that their mission is complete.
Arkhan kneels next to the hand. He raises his axe above his head as if to destroy the Hand of Vecna. Instead, he cuts off his own hand, heals himself, binding the hand to his body. He teleports away from Thar Amphala to an unknown location.
Arkhan: “I’m sorry. It was just business. Til we meet again.”
To be continued…
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About the Artist: Nick Uroseva (@Nick_Uroseva)
Nick is a professional graphic artist from Youngstown, Ohio. He has a BA in Multimedia Technology. When he isn’t doodling for one thing or another, he spends is his time writing and Dungeon Mastering several D&D games, enjoying craft beer, shooting zombies with Nerf blasters, and tweeting about #CriticalRole.
