puzzle-dragon asked: Hi! Love the work you guys do. Must take so much time and effort. Thought I'd just pop by to suggest a Vaxleth moment that could be added to the updated list (if you choose to update it at some point): At 1:12:07 in Episode 27 "The Path to Whitestone" Vax makes a point to check on Keyleth and ask if her recently broken hand is alright and if she needs anything; Keyleth responses coldly, still angry at Vax for his comment in the previous episode about her killing the kid pre-stream. :)

Thanks! Totally going to add it right now… Along with ANOTHER moment that just happened….

anonymous asked: Hello! Would it be possible to get statistics on the number of time Mercer has said Sigil and has been teased by Vox Machina for his pronunciation of the word? Thanks a lot, love your blog!

Thanks for following! Rest assured, we are most certainly updating our records and keeping track of it.

On a related note, for those who are curious what we’re actually working on, we have one of two options to satiate your curiosity. The Current Projects pagecontains the list of acknowledged requests. For those of you who want more details, we also share our Current Projects table, where we and our volunteers keep track of what work has been covered and by whom, and what still remains to be accomplished. If you’d like to help move things along, we would welcome the help!

Also, “Sigil.”

Heehee. Gif by Critical Role Source.

inevii asked: Don't suppose you have any idea what levels the characters are currently at? Love your blog!! <3

Thanks! An idea? Sure. Terribly accurate? No, but we work with what we’ve got:

• Level 12: Vex’ahlia, Scanlan, Grog, Percy, Vax’ildan, Keyleth, Tiberius
• Level 11: Pike

We’re working from the assumption that the party members of Team 1 got a bit more XP from Rimefang. This might be untrue or negated by other XP-earning events since then, but for the time, this is what we think. They could also level or have their cards updated again by next stream; we’ll definitely have our eyes on it!

Vaxleth: Half-Elven Moments

The following intro has been provided by NeoArcadiaComms. Updated as of Episode 32; regularly updated here. Editor’s note and credits at the bottom. Enjoy!

One of the most popular topics in the Critter community, much like other fandoms, is that of shipping. And there’s no surprise that one of the most popular ships is that of Vax'ildan and Keyleth, otherwise known as “Vaxleth.” The hints have been sporadic in early episodes, but ever since the departure of Pike in episode 16, they’ve become more common. Then again, it’s to be expected of two members of an adventuring party having their bonds and relationships change. In the case of Vaxleth, Vax clearly has shown hints on his end. As for Keyleth, it’s hard to tell whether she’s oblivious, preoccupied, or simply not interested when it comes to these signals.

However, they have not gone unnoticed by Vex'ahlia. Or by the Critters. Here’s the moments we’ve found, both minor and more notable.

07 The Throne Room

• (1:31:00) Minxie Keyleth gifts Vax a literal heart. Vax scratches her ears.
  

09 Yug’Voril Uncovered

• (1:24:27) Vax’ildan’s insight into Keyleth and his heartwarming reassurance towards her.
  
• (2:00:07) As they go through the tunnel leading to Yug’Voril the next day, Vax reassures Keyleth again that he and the rest of Vox Machina are there for her.

10 K’Varn Revealed

• (2:28:50) Vax slaps Keyleth to get her out of her Scrying spell before K'Varn can seriously harm her.

15 Skyward

• (1:57:30) Vax hangs out with Keyleth and helps her with her scroll making. When Vex remarks that she thought Vax was into Gilmore, he says that he’s “hard to pin down.”

20 Trial of the Take Part 3

• (0:57:18) A minor one, but during the team’s investigation into the Rakshasa’s whereabouts, Vax offers 10 gold coins to a mask seller in hopes of buying information. Keyleth wants a mask herself, so he immediately slides one of the coins he offers away from the pile to buy one.
• (1:44:27) The “marriage” proposal. Vax offers to pretend to be married to Keyleth. She accepts, albeit awkwardly.
• (1:52:30) “Coraline” grabs “Scanlan’s” hand; he folds her arm in his as they walk through the Velvet Cabaret.
• (2:27:24) As Tiberius explains that Hosin is the Rakshasa, Vax panics. “You left her with him!?” […] “I shove past [Tiberius] and I go running out the door.”
• (2:33:02) After Tiberius tricks the guards to go about their business, Keyleth and Vax continue the charade of being “married” while pursuing the Rakshasa. Before he checks a locked door, Vax tells her to wait a moment.
• (2:35:54) “Did you stub your toe, darling?”
• (2:45:45) Keyleth: “I’ll follow my husband.” […] Matt: “That’s weird.”

21 Trial of the Take Part 4 

• (2:37:50) “Vex is gonna kill us.” “Yeah…” [muffled yell] “Oh no. We just heard them scream from the other room.”
  
• (2:38:38) “Thorbir has no attachment to this carpet.” “Nor does Kashaw.” “Nor does Tiberius.” “WELL I DO!” “I KNOW!” “MY SISTER IS GONNA KILL ME!” “VEX IS GONNA BE SO ANGRY!”
• (2:38:51) Keyleth gives Vax a hug, sharing a half-elven moment while the rest of the party “doesn’t care at all.”
• (2:39:23) As players, Liam/Vax and Marisha/Keyleth hug to mourn the loss of the carpet. “Bye, carpet.” “Bye, carpet.”

22 AraMente to Pyrah

• (0:36:45) Keyleth talks about the club and pretending to be married to Vax. Vex responds coldly; Vax protests that it’s not THAT hard to believe.
• (0:39:07) Vax tells everyone about Kashaw’s kiss. Keyleth reminisces on it fondly, and Vex chills once she realizes that Keyleth isn’t THAT serious about Vax.
• (0:54:10) The first time Vax calls Keyleth “Kiki.”
• (1:00:40) The subject of Kashaw being married to the god Vesh is brought up. The group wonders if she would be mad at Keyleth for kissing Kashaw and Vax says “Tell her to get in line.”
  
• (1:22:33) Vax shows his full support towards visiting Pyrah for Keyleth’s sake.
• (1:43:49) “Keyleth, I saw you piledrive a beholder. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna be all right.”
• (3:06:33) Vax conquering his phobia of lava by diving into the portal after Keyleth into the Plane of Fire.

24 The Feast

• (0:35:16) “Keyleth… Kiki?” Getting her attention to ask how the party intends to arrive at Kraghammer.
• (1:31:12) Vax stealths away to find Kainan. Keyleth attempts to notice him, but is distracted by Tiberius’s critical fart.
• (2:18:30) Vax and Keyleth tie pink bows and flowers in Trinket’s fur. Vex was not amused.

25 Crimson Diplomacy 

• (0:40:27) Vax thinks of Keyleth specifically before going unconscious at the hands of the Briarwoods. Definitely one of the strongest moments.
• (0:41:38, 0:43:00) Marisha tears up to Vax’s final thoughts.
• (1:24:19) Following up on Scanlan’s action, Keyleth also uses Healing Word on Vax.
• (1:25:53) Vax shares an awkward glance with Keyleth as he runs for his life.
• (2:35:44) Vax screams in jubilation, and Keyleth asks what happened.
• (2:37:02) Vax briefly apologizes to Keyleth.

26 Cows and Consequences

• (0:35:41) Vax, intending to play moderator between Tiberius and Keyleth, brings up the child in comparison to Tiberius killing an old woman. Keyleth, who is very sensitive about that, responds appropriately.
• (2:17:15) Drunk Tiberius tattles on Vax’s crush. “Vax just WALKS away, off the roof, out of here. I’m gone.” “Human kissy mouth!”
• (2:35:05) “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean [to call you a cow].” “That’s okay, what Vax said was way worse.”

27 The Path to Whitestone 

• (2:28:55) Vax takes a flower from Keyleth’s garden.

28 The Sun Tree

• (1:02:48) Keyleth asks for one of Vax’s daggers to harvest the Behir’s lightning breath gland.
• (2:04:29) Keyleth compliments Vax on his “nice helmet.” Clarota’s old psionic-resistant skullcap is apparently quite “aerodynamic.”

29 Whispers

• (0:16:34) After swapping weapons for his Blinkback Belt, Vax goes to a very nervous Keyleth, asking if she needs anything for reviving the Sun Tree.
• (2:28:57) Keyleth tries to use Enhance Ability on Vax by touching his shoulder, only to realize that he doesn’t need the advantage. Despite that, she still wishes him good luck.
• (2:35:50) Vax holds Keyleth’s hand (and Grog’s) as he sneaks towards Sir Stonefell’s room. Vex was, once again, not amused. In fact, she was “offended and hurt.” Vex attempts to give the evil eye through her crazy-eyed grandma illusion. Keyleth shrugs.
• (3:48:05) Compared to Percy, Scanlan, and Grog, Vax and Keyleth are in agreement regarding how they plan to go forward with the rebellion, stating that things may be going too far.

30 Stoke the Flames

• (1:15:56) After turning two of the vampire spawn into ash with Sunbeam, Keyleth comes to Vax’s aid by using Grasping Vine to pull the third vampire away from the rogue.
• (1:28:47) Vax and Keyleth take watch after relocating to the cellar in the tavern. Vex makes sure they’re not alone.

31 Gunpowder Plot

• (p1.1:23:12) Keyleth compliments Vax’s table slide.
• (p2, 0:51:27) “Kiki, I…” Vax nervously trying to convince her to come down from the tree.
• (p2, 0:53:39) Vax looks upon Keyleth in the tree, trying to stay underneath her. Vex chastises him for looking up Keyleth’s skirt. Scanlan didn’t think she was wearing a dress the whole time; Vax thought she was wearing leaves.
• (p2, 1:01:22) Vax grabs Keyleth’s hand as they flee from the approaching skeletons.

32 Against the Tide of Bone

• (0:18:28) As Keyleth escapes Vax’s grip to take on the skeleton horde, he immediately runs back to catch up to her.
• (0:23:56) Vax climbs the Wall of Stone up to Keyleth, right behind Percy.
• (1:51:06) Keyleth runs up to heal Vax’s burned hands (which she accidentally burned by using Heat Metal on his daggers) after the zombie giant was slain. She takes his hands to heal them, and he takes hers in his, holding a little longer than needed for the spell. Cue interference from Vex.
• (2:41:56) While in the tunnel leading to Castle Whitestone, Keyleth speaks with Vax on sneaking off on his own again.

This project had been sitting on our backburner for a little while, with the odd contribution from our volunteers as they covered each episode. However, thanks to the determined efforts of NeoArcadiaComms (who originally put in the request that we log them), it received enough attention to get launched forward in the queue. Thanks to him, @burdenedwithnopurpose, @kathatherine, @thesingingbadger, and @vaxleth for helping us get these!

bearcubjay asked: How does Vax have plus double digits in proficiencies?

Let’s look at his expertise in Stealth. Since stealth is a Dex skill and his dex is 20, that starts him at +5. At level 12, his proficiency bonus is +4. As a level 12 rogue, he chose to use one of his four Expertise points in Stealth, doubling his proficiency bonus for it (+4 again). This brings him to 13 total for Stealth (it’ll be 15 at level 13!).

anonymous asked: What skills does Vax have expertise in?

Rogues and Bards both have a feature called Expertise, in which their proficiency bonus is doubled for two skills or tools with which they are already proficient. At their current levels, both Scanlan and Vax’ildan have two levels of Expertise, granting them expertise on four of their proficient skills. We’ve seen Scanlan’s expert Deception (+13) in play, though it’s difficult to say where else his expertise lies.

Vax, on the other hand, we do know, thanks to Liam sharing his character sheet back when Vax was Level 11:

• Acrobatics (+13)
• Perception (+10)
• Stealth (+13)
• Use of Thieves’ Tools (+13)

Vaxleth List: In Beta

So, shipping is apparently a big deal or whatever to some of you Critters. Due to popular demand of a certain half-elf/half-elf ship, we’re going to break our normal protocol in stat-gathering to try an experiment.

Here is the shared link to our current progress on Vaxleth moments. This list is not final, and should be considered in beta. We will have a full post to the blog when we’re over 95% confident that the list is complete up to the most recent episode. (Yes, we plan to keep updating it as time goes on.)

If you would like to help with this effort, we have enabled commenting. If there are any moments that you recall that are not on the list, please provide a comment with the episode, timestamp, and a short description. We’ll add all of these moments to the list after we have confirmed them.

And to the fanfic authors out there: it’s a start.

Nat Crits of 32: Against the Tide of Bone

Critical Wins

• Percy (0:27:05) Taking a shot vs. the approaching skeletons
• Pike (0:33:07) Jumping into the skeleton horde
• Vax’ildan (2:48:50) Con save after sleeping in the tunnel
• Keyleth (3:01:57) Arcana check for magical essence of the Impassable Statue

Critical Fails

• Keyleth (0:48:48) Perception of giants in the rain
• Keyleth (1:29:08) Initiative vs. Zombie Giant 2
• Percy (1:33:48) Str save vs. thrown boulder
• Keyleth (2:48:50) Con save after sleeping in the tunnel
• Grog (3:03:29) Pushing the statue out of the doorway
• Vex’ahlia (3:05:23) Pushing the statue out of the doorway

DM Rolls

• Zombie Giant 2 (Nat1, 1:46:17) Str check to break Grasping Vine grapple (with disadvantage)
• Skeleton (Nat1, 0:28:51) Dex save vs. Fiery Sphere
• Skeleton (Nat20, 0:28:53) Dex save vs. Fiery Sphere
• Skeleton (Nat1, 0:28:54) Dex save vs. Fiery Sphere
• Zombie Giant 1 (Nat20, 1:04:18) Club attack vs. Grog
• Guard (Nat20, 1:16:04) Attack vs. Zombie Giant 1
• Guard (Nat20, 1:38:52) Attack vs Zombie Giant 2
• Guard (Nat20, 1:39:02) Attack vs Zombie Giant 2

Anonymous asks: So, in other words *Matt Mercer voice* it's just a 5 minute break lol. Thanks!

You’re welcome! (And the tables have been updated, for the rest of you.) As it stands, the shortest gap between end of the first half and the beginning of the second half is 0:10:41.

To be fair, I say the same thing at my games. If he actually SAID ten minutes, then the breaks would run a bit longer. I also appreciate the extra time to sort out my notes during the stream!

anonymous asked: This is partly a joke, but I'm kind of curious after thinking about it. Any idea what the average length of the mid-session break is?

Easily added! Average break is 0:13:01, with a sum of 7:09:41 time for all mid-breaks (through Episode 32).

Monster Analysis: Zombie Stone Giant

• First Appearance: 28 The Sun Tree
  
• Encounter Appearance: 32 Against the Tide of Bone
  
• Armor Class: 8 (standard Zombie AC)
• Speed 40 ft
• Average/Max HP: 126, 187 (Stone Giant)
  
• 300 taken by Giant 1; 44+Mace of Disruption HDYWTDT by Pike
  
• 266 taken by Giant 2; 38 by Vax (saved Con), 22 HDYWTDT by Vex
  

There are many fun things about zombies. The first is that the MM actually gives the DM advice on how to turn any monster into a zombie. Sure, we generally think of zombies as common humanoids, but here we see a great example of a standard MM entry being granted (probably unwillingly, to be fair) the abilities of a zombie. That means that the health and basic attacks of the Stone Giants remain (boulder toss, club multiattack), even if their self-preservation has left (8 AC, man).

Equally as mindless and single-purpose as the skeletons, what zombies lack in the strategy they may have had as living creatures, they make up for in necromantic constitution. As we saw for the second giant, zombies can make a Con save when their HP is brought to 0, bringing them to 1 on a success. This is bypassed entirely in the case of radiant damage (woo Pike) or a critical hit.

As we alluded earlier, it’s likely that the undead giants reported directly to Lady Briarwood as victims of her Finger of Death. These mean that they follow orders equally well as the skeletons, following the literal interpretation of their instructions. Their presence is actually a bit more formidable than that of the skeletons (as the death tally shows), and more than one of them are certainly problematic. Individually, though, versus the might of the war cleric and high-damage dealing adventurers, they are mostly another spell slot drain. Their defeat signaled another oppressive force removed from the people of Whitestone, granting a boost to morale and a city backing the heroic (and vengeful) machinations of Vox Machina.

Monster Analysis: Skeleton Army

“Up yours, Harryhausen!” -Taliesin (0:42:28)

• First Appearance: 31 Gunpowder Plot
• Encounter Appearance: 32 Against the Tide of Bone
• Challenge Rating: ¼ (individually), 3 (horde)
• Armor Class 13
• Speed 30 ft
• VULNERABLE to Bludgeoning damage
• Immune to Exhaustion
• Average/Max HP: 13/20
• Skeletons taken out by VM: 100 (totals below)

Skeletons are lawful undead, loyal to the being that raised them. This loyalty, combined with their lack of exhaustion or other needs, makes them relentless warriors ideal in a war of attrition when their numbers are great. They follow the literal commands they are granted, and have very little driving them outside of their orders. Without given instructions, skeletons will simply lash out at living beings (provided the victims are not allies of their commander).

However, they are very weak individually, and their single-mindedness can backfire just as easily. We saw this when, rather than all going around Keyleth’s wall, they continued their assault by lining up to be picked off. They still burned a couple more much-needed spell slots, but all told, the horde of bone warriors were more a show of force than an actual force with which to reckon. (For a group of seven 12-13 level adventurers, the horde is worth about 25 XP.)

It was also shown that the Briarwoods used Whitestone’s graveyard to provide their anti-rebellion force. The citizens of Whitestone were undoubtedly familiar with these, with Keeper Yennen prepared for the onslaught. It should also be noted that this was a GREAT warmup for our favorite gnomish cleric of Sarenrae.

• 20 Keyleth (Hailstorm, ep31)
• 10 Vex (Cone of Barrage)
• 50-60 reported (21:45)
• 70 or so reported (23:01)
• 2 Percy (3 gunshots)
• 7 Keyleth (Flaming Sphere)
• 13 Vex’ahlia (Lightning Arrow)
• 65 reported (30:57)
• 36 Pike (Destroy Undead)
• 20 or so reported (36:26)
• 5 Scanlan (Lightning)
• 13 reported (41:20)
• 7 reported (42:35)
• 3 Grog (Tee Time)
• 4 Keyleth (Flaming Sphere)

You’ll notice that the reported numbers don’t exactly line up with what Vox Machina cleared out. Keep in mind that more funneled their way around the wall and were taken on by Keeper Yennen and the people of Whitestone. We don’t have the exact numbers on these, but we’d like to estimate that the Briarwoods attempted to throw about 150-200 skeletons at the town, in all.