A draconic encounter upends Critical Role fans’ expectations and introduces a new set of obstacles for The Legend of Vox Machina to overcome.
This article contains major spoilers for The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2, Episode 6, “Into Rimecleft” and Critical Role Campaign 1.
A dragon and a sphinx clashed in The Legend of Vox Machina episode “Into Rimecleft,” leaving the adventuring party in fresh peril in circumstances much different than they experienced in Critical Role’s actual-play format.
“Into Rimecleft” saw the promised meeting between The Legend of Vox Machina and Kamaljiori, a sphinx possessing the knowledge they sought regarding the Vestiges of Divergence. Scanlan’s bardic prowess proved worthy of the challenge the ancient being set for the party to wound him. This format saw a significant divergence from Campaign 1’s “A Name Is Earned,” in which the party encountered Kamaljiori and had to plunder through treacherous elemental planes to learn his name and unlock his knowledge.
How Vox Machina Differs From Critical Role
The end result of both encounters with Kamaljiori remained the same, as the party earned another Vestige of Divergence in the sword Mythcarver. However, The Legend of Vox Machina added a twist when the acidic dragon Umbrasyl descended on the party in the sphinx’s lair. The stakes of the Chroma Conclave arc ratcheted when Umrasyl slayed Kamaljiori and made off with Mythcarver. As neither of those dire consequences befell Vox Machina in Critical Role’s actual-play format, fans were taken by surprise.
Critical Role’s animated adaptation was not finished keeping audiences on their toes, as the unexpected encounter with Umbasyl put Ashley Johnson’s Pick Trickfoot in Craven Edge’s path. In the heat of battle, Grog Strongjaw impaled his best friend upon his cursed and literally bloodthirsty blade just as the party plane-shifted into the Fey Realm. Pike’s fate was further complicated when the party arrived separated in the Fey Realm, ending their latest batch of episodes on another cliffhanger regarding a Vox Machina member’s fate.
During Critical Role’s first and second campaigns, Johnson’s schedule pulled her away from the table, meaning her characters were absent for specific story arcs. Season 1 of The Legend of Vox Machina even incorporated this element of their at-home game by fleshing out a faith-based arc for the cleric that accounted for her time away from her friends. The Fey Realm arc denotes another portion in which Johnson was mostly away from the table, lending more flexibility in Pike’s storyline for the animated adaptation. Though foreshadowed through Grog, Pike paying the price of Craven Edge’s hunger shook the audience’s expectations familiar with Critical Role’s first campaign.
Pike’s ultimate fate and further twists to the established Critical Role canon will unveil themselves weekly, with new episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina arriving on Amazon Prime on Fridays.
Source: Prime Video
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