One thing you have to remember is that guns aren’t a thing in this world. Percy’s pepper box is literally the first of its kind. Hence the party’s apprehension about its creation coming in a dream...

"Why didn't Percy shoot him?" If I had to make a guess... it wasn't his turn?

The pepperbox was a gun from the 1800’s that had close to no accuracy beyond point blank range. It was a close up last resort weapon, and even factoring the world they’re in, it’s safe to assume that because it is a ball ammo smooth bore barreled gun that it’s accuracy was never going to be good to shoot the dude at zero risk to Cassandra.

I think Percy's shock is reasonable. he just burst into the room to see his sister, who he thought was dead until less than 24 hours ago, get killed again

Scanlan was made by picking the "worst class and race" and using a dnd name generator. Yet he ended up being the best one

Scanlan would often cast the lightning spell from his crotch, aka "cock lightning" it's even in the live action intro from the dnd stream's first campaign (that one was fun, they all dressed up as their characters). The main reason Percy didn't take the shot at Anders holding Cassandra was that his guns are the first of their kind and nowhere near as accurate as any modern firearm, there was a good chance if he took the shot that he'd hit Cass (You will see this demonstrated in a later episode when he uses "bad news" his rifle). The only reason he is 100% accurate in "no mercy Percy" mode will be explained later on in the series... but while he isn't in that mode he needs to be careful.

The "Bruh fuck you" from Roshi at the end was the most genuine thing i've ever heard him say

Normally I hate "Shock Factor" in a lot of shows, but this moment I can believe. Heavily scarred, believing all your family is dead, recently learned your sister might be alive, this is the first time you've seen her since 5 years ago when you thought she was killed. You now have a second chance to save her and you don't want to fuck it up.

11:55 He's frozen with shock. If I saw my baby sister get her throat slit, with her laying on the floor, choking on her own blood as she tried to reach for me, I'd be as stuck in place as Percy.

Percy hasn't really made any great shows of accuracy, and I think that's intentional. They're actually quite realistic with their firearms, and that includes the fact that the Pepperbox is a smooth-bore, ball-shot black powder weapon. We've even seen it misfire a couple of times. He stands as much chance of hitting Cassandra as he does Anders - maybe more, since she's in front of him. As for not immediately shooting Anders after Cassandra falls, we've only really seen a second or two after it happens. Time dilation for narrative tension is a real thing, so he's not standing there for as long as it seems. A falling body hits the floor pretty fast, after all. He also has to take a moment to process what just happened. He wasn't expecting a sudden opening, so he won't have been ready to exploit it the moment it came up. Same logic for why he wasn't blasting as soon as the door opened - he had to take a moment to process, see where everybody was. By the time he drew a bead on Anders, he had grabbed Cassandra. As a first responder, I can tell you now, you don't get to react immediately. There is no "I immediately have taken in and processed all the information". I can practically guarantee nobody who isn't a veteran hostage rescue specialist would react any faster than Percy did here. Then, of course there's the moment of "oh crap, that's my sister I haven't seen for 5 years who I thought was dead until yesterday, suddenly right in front me when I wasn't thinking about what memories/emotions that might trigger. And now she might actually be dead"

His gun is incredibly unstable and has a chance of misfiring, that is literally the first EVER gun to exist, currently in his hand. Experimental/unstable tech that would more than likely kill his sister if he were to miss even once, yeah, I'd say he made the right choice. A knife to the throat is probably a lot easier to heal than a bullet wound to the dome.

The pepperbox is a one of a kind invention. Guns aren’t a thing in this world. Shooting someone that has a knife to someone’s throat is a TERRIBLE idea. You know how hard people jerk around to getting shot? You want someone with a knife to your throat jumping around cause they got blicked? Contrary to popular belief, watching a loved one get their throat slit is actually a very shocking experience, so yeah he didn’t shoot. Everyone wants to say their “shock” would be to shoot until they’re in the shit and can’t do anything

Don't worry. The payoff is worth granting Percy a moment of shock. This is building to an epic moment.

Since Percy's gun is a unique first of its kind, it sometimes misfires or even jams. If he had taken that shot while Cassandra was still next to Anders, there's a chance *remember it's based off DnD and dice rolls* that the gun could have misfired and hit Cassandra.

The Scanlan infiltration mission actually went even better in the stream than it did here. Sure it started out dicey and a real "Should probably run" moment but he turned it around so fast it became a "Im gonna kill everyone in this motherfuckin house" in like 3 or 4 rounds. Also Note: In D&D, anything combat related always comes down to the Initiative Rolls, and while there is no "official" ruling in 5e for Surprise Rounds, most DMs including Matt integrate them into their campaigns. Percy left combat to pursue Anders, and when entering the room a Surprise Round was triggered allowing Anders to act before Percy can react. There are quite a few times where a Surprise Round of combat has almost completely screwed over the Critical Role crew. Sometimes the surprise even comes when the player is sleeping and almost had said player's character perma-murdered and body stolen just for pissing off a big snake.

So in this episode we essentially saw a faust deal, shit level puns, heartburn being used as a weapon, a dinosaur, shocking dick energy and ofc more brutal deaths for the NPCs. I'm starting to realise why so many folks enjoy this show (myself included).

The pepperbox is a smoothbore pistol, and prone to malfunction from time to time (like we see in the first episode where he tries to fire and it fails). Percy's a damn good shot, but he wasn't willing to take the risk with his sister being held at knifepoint - even if he didn't hit her, missing or misfiring could be fatal for her, because Anders would see that Percy wasn't willing to negotiate. Of course, Percy's logic wasn't accounting for the fact that *Anders* wasn't willing to negotiate.

Concerning the "why doesn't Percy just shoot him in the face?!" You have to remember that the show is based on the DnD campaign, so one shot kills aren't really a thing, especially for a boss fight.

welcome to one of Scanlan's signature spells....... Crotch Lightning

Percy was absolutely obsessed with vengeance over the death of his sister for *years*. He replayed it over and over in his mind every day and every night. Constant rage and guit. And suddenly, she's in front of him again. Alive and well. And then her throat is slit, and he has to watch her die *again*. If you think you can just shrug that off and act decisively and rationally in the span of seconds, I don't think you are accurately assessing yourself.

The title is a play on Rambo. Scanlan was the one man army like his "horrible" plan from the episode before, what a Legend... of vox machina

A cool detail is, when Scanlan says there are only 5 names on the gun, and who is the last missing spot, you can see Percy's shadow pointing at his head.

guys... scanlan was making a diversion... he is at a different house.

for reference, lol this ep was crazy af to watch live during the campaign. Sam (scanlan) literally had no idea what he was doing and the crazy shit that happened in the mansion was a fucking show. sam almost died countless times and was rolling all the ass pulls

5:59 aint no way i cant remember if thats the actual song he played on it 😭😭

5:58 Nearly had me thinking this tune was in the show 🤣

Well to be fair Percy was taken back and in shock. Also, likely wouldn't want to risk hitting his sister with her being so close.

Hey guys loved the reaction! Don’t know if you saw it but when scanlan asked who the sixth barrel was for in the background you can see Percy’s shadow holding the gun to his head,it’s a super dope piece of image based story telling.I can’t wait for the next reaction!😎

The sixth barrel on the pepperbox is always blank. According to the character's creator, once you complete all 5 names new ones will appear, possibly for revenge or other means. The list is never ending.

So if you didn't notice it, if you rewatch the scene where Percy is talking about the pepper box, after Scanlan asks who the fifth barrel is for, very quickly as the camera shifts, you can see Percy's shadow on the wall behind him cast by the fire in a way that makes it look like he is holding the barrel of the gun to his head. The little details are impressive.

While he was holding Cassandra he didn't want to either hit her or risk him living just long enough to slit her throat. After that was just shock though yeah (though you have to keep in mind we literally only get to see the second after her throat is slit, not what Percy does like 3 seconds later)

Can’t be only one singing mask off when scanlan went off on the flute

Was refreshing the channel page for this for so long!

A “fun” little detail in this episode is when the party asks who the sixth barrel is for, Percy’s shadow has it pointed at his own head.

When dealing with “boss“ battles your enemies are pretty high in hit points so one shot from Percy‘s gun would not have killed the guy and he would have slit her throat even if he shot him. In the stream it was actually Vax who came upon them and he did get some daggers off With the same result.

I love Percy's character. He has evil in his heart, and he points it only at those who wronged him. But the line he draws between friend and foe starts to fade as he gets closer to his goal. The dynamics of his kind and orderly self, and the raw cruelty and chaos of him under the mask is amazing.

Everything Scalan did was super impressive given that Bards are not a combat heavy class, they are amazing support and spellcasters so Scalan pulling it off by himself was the ultimate goat moment

Liking y’all’s reaction. I wish y’all more success than you are already having throughout the rest of this year! Stay blessed.

Percy out here trying to become Elden Lord.

You guys have great chemistry. Great reaction.

Alright y'all I get what your saying, but remember this was based off a game, and in the game you have to roll against your enemy for (first) reaction. And if the enemy rolls higher then they get to act... and that was was slitting her throat. BUT... in a show I guess they display that event as "Shock".

Ok real quick on the shock thing there are tons of moments people freeze in way less serious moments you see gamers do it in streams when something happens suddenly and reactors have done it when crazy stuff happens in shows. Time moves different in shows so the audience catches everything that interaction was prob like 15 seconds between bursting in yelling let her go and the teacher saying his bit and slicing. But the audience gets all the angles and faces for dramatic effect

One thing about shock, it's easy to say what you would do when you're not in that situation. Most people lock up for a few seconds when an intense moment happens. It takes longer for the brain to kick in and go back to "normal."

The gnome had me laughing with his speech about "size".

Scanbo and Pokeball Grog are my favorite moments in Campaign 1. Literally just.. amazing

Remember the scroll transforms him into different things. He just didn't have control over what until now.

Roshi: shoot him Me: it’s not Percy’s turn

it's ironic that you mention how the last spot on Percy's barrel is for him when you did. Because in the scene when Keyleth catches the Sun Tree on fire, you can see Percy's shadow holding the gun to his head.

I mean, the guy has trauma of seeing his family die in front of him and just saw his sister for the first time in half a decade. I think it's completely reasonable that he froze.

the fckin flute killed me HAHAHAHAHA!!

Y’all are gonna really enjoy the next episode

I love yall content inspiring to start my own.

Yeeeeeaaaah.... what is that noise yall keep making 🤣

In Scanlan's whole fight that big guy was on his green health bar the whole time

This show's so great. You guys are doing great reactions, too.

12:12 I certain he was in a state of shock than to quickdraw his ass! I mean the first time he saw his sisters in YEARS is him sliting her throat! If that's not another truma for Percy than I dunno what is!

BTW, Percy's last barrel was never meant for him. It was meant for a new list of victims.

Anders one of the villains to just straight up kill someone instead of the full monologue, gahlee

When Percy came in the room....POW POW POW

LOL I think you got it with "Percy just wants to be dramatic" as the reason for why he didn't shoot right away. Obviously there's legitimate reasons why he might hesitate but I think at the end of the day he just needs to come up with a good one-liner first xD

If you look at Percy’s shadow during the scene where they ask who the sixth barbell is for the fire comes up and shows hi shadow during that scene the gun is pointed at his head in the shadow.

even if percy had his guns up the whole time, dude could've cut her throat as a reaction. usually you don't start off by attacking the person holding someone hostage lol, especially when they see you pointing your gun at them. otherwise you're assuming you know more than what's provided. just start playing DnD yourself and you'll understand lol, it's easier than what you've been assuming. edit: you're also asking for a guy - whose emotional trauma defined him to his present - to immediately get over the shock of suddenly finding his sister, who he thought dead until very recently, to be alive and in front of him. like "bro, all that emotional baggage that you'll need this entire season to process, get over it right this second!"

Fun Facts: In this episode in the campaign, Scanlan taking down Vedmire's mansion was far cooler, and had way more action, as was improved all on the spot by his player. It was the first moment that he really became epic with his player and the way he thinks. Scanlan, in campaign, really casts lightning bolt in the same way. It's even in their original intro video of him doing it and trying to impress Pike. And Scanlan was created a joke character. To be the "smallest race" and to be the "weakest class", but he's really the most versatile and clutch in campaign one Percy has the only handgun in the world. Cannons exist, but nobody has ever created a handgun. It's a sign of his genius that he was even able to create it at all.

"the creation of the pepperbox begins five years ago, in a far away land called Tex ass, i met a man called samuel colt..." lmao, i did this joke in real time wehn me and my friends first watched this, it got laughs, hopefully someone else gets a chuckle

in one of the interviews, the GM said he intended for the 6th barrel to be an implication of what inventing something like gunpowder weapons would do to the world. a kind of indication that the world was about to descend into a darker time because guns had arrived.

5:58 not the mask off edit! I'm dead 😂😂😂😂

"You leave, when Burt Reynolds _says_ you leave"

Gun has reasonably high chance of not only missing but misfiring/locking up. The shock of a loved family member you thought was already dead being mercilessly and pointlessly executed in front of you is enough of a reason for him to hesitate for a few seconds afterward.

The sixth barrel wasn't for himself. He knew that bargaining with a dark force was bound to make him do things he wouldn't like. And he didn't care. He knew he was trading his morals for revenge. Trading himself to the demon so he would do its will after they were done with his. That sixth barrel was meant for a new list.

Please make an incoming text notification sound that’s Lupa’s trademark “Yeeeeeeeah???!” every time one comes in. $0.99, you’d make a killing. I need it 😂

Yo! When little buddy play the flute tell me that was edited that way! Because if it was it then this show is doing way too much😂😂😂

6:29 stealth decrease

The moment they ask for the sixth bullet, in Percy shadow you can see the answer.

When they asked who the six bullet for look at Percy's shadow.

Lmao Lupa says he would be pushing people out of the way in a zombie apocalypse yet he is curled up in a ball when he watches All of us are dead 😂i love these guys

The thing with the sixth barrel was symbolic. Percy knew the killing wouldn’t end and that more names would be added to the list eventually (he didn’t know then that the names would disappear when killed) and that in reality it would never end. There’s clips up of both Talisen and Matt talking about it, at first Talisen was thinking that Orthax was a symptom of D.I.D or just a general madness from the trauma, it was Matt who created the Orthax sub plot.

I'm a year late, but did anybody notice he played "Mask Off" by Future on the flute?

bruh percy rolled low on initiative. lmfao

AYO who ever decided to mask off deserves a fancy dinner

Scanlan hit that Night-Crawler ability

Scanlan did his thing in this episode ngl

So no one heard the future - mask off flute melody when scanlan played it to distract the guard 👀

Scanbo means Scanlan + Rambo btw, the entire twitch chat (or youtube i dont remember) was spamming Scanbo, thus the episode name.

I’ve seen a lot of people ask why Percy doesn’t just shoot Anders when he gets there, as if Anders was just casually holding Cassandra and didn’t have a knife at her throat. If Percy shot him (and didn’t miss or have his gun jam) Anders wouldn’t just set the knife down and then fall. The knife was at her throat, if he fell or even twitched hard the knife would still slice though Cassandra, and Percy wanted to avoid that.

Do keep in mind that this is based on a DND campaign, so Percy didn’t shoot cause it wasn’t his turn yet.

In that moment where Scanlan asked who the sixth barrel is for, if you look at his shadow, his shadow is holding the gun to his head. That's actually something that differs from the campaign, but I think it fits so well for the show.

4:07 Percy's shadow says it all

Was it just me that heard the "mask off" Instruments 🤣

The professor is built like a One Piece character

Percy keeps freezing up cuz he's reliving a shitload of trauma.

dont know if an earlier comment stated this already: Percy/Taliesin (VA) didnt KNOW how the dream for the pepperbox came about. He just thinks it 'could be' a weird dream that inspired him to make it. He doesnt see the smoke/rationalizes it as gunpowder if he does. The reliable narrator explanation will come later in the season, and not from Percy's POV as he isnt one for that particular story.

One of the reasons why characters seem to take too much time to do something (like shooting Anders) is because D&D is a turn-based game, and the show reflects that sometimes.

I think everyone’s reaction to a hostage situation is always “shoot first cuz it’s obvious that shit isn’t gonna go your way”, but you never really know. This is all based off a D&D campaign so it’s easy to assume that you have to roll high for if you land that shot. Also from a real world perspective, it’s not a matter of shooting. If you are trained, the question is if the bullet can reach faster than the blade. If not or the gun isn’t the most accurate then you are dealing with a “am I going to hit someone I love and care about”. I used to think similarly, but there never is a guarantee you’ll be willing to take the shot unless it’s impossible to save someone.

I loved how the critical role team transposed how this occurred in the game (which was even more badass honestly) to still be fairly badass in the show,

percy you aint ready to do nothing. stay home lmao

✍️Don’t ✍️shoot✍️Grog✍️it✍️just✍️makes✍️him✍️angry

Chad Thundercock got animated... What is life

10:46 THUNDERBIRD!

This show is just 💪💪💪💪💪👊👊👊🔥🔥🔥🔥

That part in 5:58 always geta me laugh lmao mask off flute version