Villains Gallery: Underdark and Trial of the Take

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Villains Gallery: Underdark and Trial of the Take

Thanks to @brinmataujall for this art piece!

We had an anonymous critter request a while back for us to create a list of villains and information about their intentions and deeds. There have been a lot of big bads over the course of 99 episodes, so many that we can't do them justice in one post. We're breaking them up by story arc, starting with the Underdark and Trial of the Take villains.

Underdark

Duergar General

  • Duergar fighter
  • Led troops at the duergar warcamp
  • Wielded the Firebrand Warhammer
    • Taken after his death by Grog
  • Killed by Clarota

King Murghol

  • Duergar fighter
  • Ruler of the duergar- married to Queen Ulara
  • Served K’varn the Mad
  • Captured and tortured Kima of Vord
  • Killed by Scanlan in his own throne room

Queen Ulara

  • Duergar arcane caster
  • Ruler of the duergar- married to King Murghol
  • Served K’varn the Mad
  • Captured and tortured Kima of Vord
  • Escaped the throne room with Grog, was eventually caught by VM
  • Banished by Scanlan before returning to be interrogated, killed by K’varn the Mad in the course of this interrogation
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Monster Analysis: Duke Vedmeyer and Guards

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Monster Analysis: Duke Vedmeyer and Guards

Thanks to Tressela for this piece!

As we finish catching up on all our Monster Analyses, we noticed that we skipped Scanlan’s one-gnome-stand against Duke Vedmeyer and his guards. Since it’s one of our all-time favorite moments in the series, we couldn’t let this go uncorrected.

When we attempted to compile stats, we realized why we skipped it: there are nearly none.

Regardless, we are going to give the goliath the respect he deserves with the rest of Vox Machina’s foes, and try to examine this one-sided fight.

Duke Vedmeyer

  • First Appearance: 31 Gunpowder Plot
  • Class: Goliath Fighter?
  • Armor Class ?
  • Speed: 30 ft?
  • HP: ?
  • 34 taken by falling off the roof
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Monster Analysis: The Duergar Throne Room

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Monster Analysis: The Duergar Throne Room

Thanks to basiliskart for the art piece!

Let’s turn the clock back to Vox Machina’s second on-air big boss battle: The Duergar Throne Room. At the time of the encounter, most of the party was level 9, with only Vex confirmed at level 10. Though the battle itself took place during Episode 7, Vox Machina had no fewer than 5 scuffles and battles earlier that same day between Episodes 5 and 7. The party faced two ogres, two hook horrors, and a black pudding, then took a short rest before breaching the Emberhold. They then took out 12 duergar guards within the stronghold, withstood a poisonous trap room and an illithid ambush, and ended their encounter spree with killing six duergar outside the throne room by three spells (call lightning, watery sphere, and vicious mockery). Prior to entering the throne room, Vox Machina picked up Lady Kima of Vord, their original reason for delving into the Underdark in the first place.

King Murghol

First Appearance: 07 The Throne Room
Armor Class: ≥ 17 (16 missed, the only other announced attacks were 20+)
Speed: 30 ft
79 damage, 8 HDYWTDT by Scanlan

Queen Ulara

First Appearance: 07 The Throne Room
Armor Class: At most 18 after casting Shield (3:14:31)
Speed: 30 ft
Cast or Attempted to Cast: Blur, Chain Lightning, Shield, Dominate Person, Dimension Door, and Disintegrate
Took 132 Damage before Dimension Dooring-ing out

10 Duergar Soldiers

First Appearance: 02 Into the Greyspine Mines
Armor Class: 16
Speed: 25 ft
Average, Max HP: 26, 40
Advantage on saves against poison, spells, illusions, charmed, or paralyzed
Each took an average of 33 Damage

1 Mind Flayer

Armor Class <18
Speed: 30 ft
Average, Max HP: 71, 117
Took 97 Damage between the Great Hall scuffle and the Throne Room battle before escaping

2 Basilisks

Armor Class: 16
Speed: 20 ft
Average, Max HP: 52, 80
Basilisk 1 took 37+ damage, Unknown damage on final blow by Kima
Basilisk 2 took 50 damage, 11 damage on final blow by Vax’ildan

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Monster Analysis: Lionel "Chod" Gayheart the Bardbarian

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Monster Analysis: Lionel "Chod" Gayheart the Bardbarian

Thanks to @sketchingsprw for this art piece!

  • Half-Orc Bardbarian (Level 15: Level 10 Barbarian, Level 5 Bard)
    • Totem of the Duck, College of Valor
  • First Appearance: 99 Masquerade
  • Armor Class 18
  • Base speed 40 ft
  • 136 HP, 40 damage taken

In a bar brawl laced with more subtext than your aunt’s passive-aggressive Facebook post, Lionel the Bardbardian happily took on Grog in a Whitestone tavern while Pike, Percy, and Keyleth looked on.

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Media References and Puns of Episode 99: Masquerade

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We're not saying that Taliesin Jaffe is on some kind of a watch list, but the man knows a lot about explosives.

    Media References

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    Quick Answers 53

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    Note: There is a very oblique reference to something in Episode 99 in the last answer. We don't think it spoils much, but if you're spoiler-averse, you'll want to stop after you read the answer about Pike and Grog's parents.

    How did Vax’s 2 for stealth turn into a 37?!

    Reliable Talent allows Vax to treat any rolls lower than 10 for skills that he is proficient in as a 10 (though Matt and Liam have confirmed that they respect Nat1s as auto-fails). He also has Expertise in stealth, so his proficiency bonus is doubled, and Vex had cast Pass Without a Trace, leading to a +27 modifier to his roll of 10 (+6 proficient, +6 expert, +5 dex, +10 PWaT).

    Who has Earrings of Whisper?

    All members of Vox Machina behave like they have an earring.

    Has Matt ever stated the city colors of Emon?

    Not that we know of!

    Do we know what the magic item is that Tary gave to Vax to use against Grog in episode 95?

    We don’t, though we have some ideas. ;-)

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    Monster Analysis: Black Pudding and Hook Horrors

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    Monster Analysis: Black Pudding and Hook Horrors

    In our attempt to finally catch up on analyzing all encounters in the history of the show, today we’re going to roll back to when the party was level 9!

    Black Pudding

    • First Appearance: 05 The Trick About Falling
    • Armor Class 7
    • Speed 20 ft, climb 20 ft
    • Blindsight 60 ft, Passive 11
    • Immune to acid, cold, lightning, and slashing damage
    • Reaction: splits into two with half health if receives slashing or lightning damage
    • Immune to blind, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, fright, and prone
    • Suggested Average, Max HP: 85, 130
    • 360 damage received across all puddings

    The chatroom selected selected the ooze as one of several creatures presented by Matt to throw at the party. Black puddings are the most corrosive and dangerous of the ooze family. Like all oozes, they hunt for organic meals with regard for their appetite over their safety. The ooze in this case appears to have had some part of K'Varn's experiments. The poor ogres charged with transporting it were merely catalysts for this battle, allowing the party to "open Pandora's box."

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