Scanlan: luckily you where represented by an ace attorney -Sam Riegel who voices Phoenix Wright in the newer games

"Scanlan, you look poorer some how" Percy has poor people vision.

Orion: "I realize what I"m doing and I stop." Taliesin: "That's going on your tombstone."

1:58:56 "Be gentle with that, apples don't grow on trees." The number of times utter gold flows from Taliesin and no one notices.

Fanboy: "You, the great one who streaks fire from his tube!" Percy: "I have had that taken care of..." God I love Taliesin!

Matt: “Lord and Lady Briarwood-“ Liam, Marisha and Travis: slow turn to Taliesin

Taliesin is so good at being Percy. He always looks so genuinely stressed and upset when the Briarwoods are mentioned, as if he actually _is_ Percy. It's a sight to behold.

I really appreciate that they all applaud Matt’s performance of the black powder seller guy, hysterical 😂

Conversation: 50 decibels Hair Dryer: 70 decibels Bass Drum: 90 decibels Gun shot: 130 decibels The Critical Role cast after Matt says "How do you want to do this?": 9000 decibels.

"No this is gambling, its like what we do with our lives constantly, but with gold" ~ Tiberius Stormwind

3:05:55 Seeker: "Since the Derolo family fell to disease …" Percy: *imagining 20 new ways to assassinate the Briarwoods*

*Nerdfighter* said "plastic clergy" in the chat after they re-attached Grog's upper lip. Wanted to make sure that didn't go unnoticed.

"My name, is Percival Fredrickstein Kossowlsky de Rolo III, you killed my father... prepare to die!"

They will never get that money from Kraghammer

Scanlan: "Thank Goodness you're being represented by an ace attorney." Others: "AWWWWW!" I freaking roared with laughter at that. For those needing context, Sam voices Phoenix Wright in the Ace Attorney video games.

I really love Travis in this! I mean, he is so into it and really scientific in how he approaches the fight. It's really when the "jock" comes out, as he's describing specific parts of the body that he's targeting. I know I'm 7 years late getting into this, but I am LOVING every episode!

Percy’s got some Bad News for the Briarwoods that he can’t wait to share.

Liam: "I've never SEEN... ANYTHING like that... AT ALL." The best way of saying "I have no idea what actually happened because I wasn't really there." without breaking the 4th wall.

2:35:40 "I like jumping into things. I like leap of faiths. They're exciting." - Keyleth, future goldfish

Mercer says "sigil" with such confidence that I questioned my own pronunciation of it the last 23 episodes.

"Taliesin is my mothers name, please" "Sorry - no thats not your mothers name" "Its not my mothers name" "How is your mother?" "She isn't well. Carry on." "Em ok!"

"Wait, Wait, There! There's his heart breaking!" -No Mercy Percy

Can we talk how much Travis learned from the first loss? In the last match he was just throwing punches and trying to win by brute force, but this time he was using Grog's abilities, racial traits and using his rage in the right moment. If he had won in the first time he would never learn those things and the lost was a development lesson both to Grog and Travis. I loves this so much

2:36:28 Travis respectfully interrupting his mates to get Tiberius a chance to speak is an underrated example of what a great and amiable team player he is.

Am I the only one that finds Travis absolutely adorable when he's truly tickled by something?

I'm seriously bummed out by how many Taliesin's jokes goes under the radar, this guy is so good.

I remember Travis saying in his Between The Sheets episode that he didn't care about role play when he first created Grog. Character development can happen in real life.

Slight spoiler alert: Can we take a moment to appreciate Matt's talents? In about 20 minutes, he went from a slightly insane black powder seller, to a gruff ore salesman, to an excited teenager, a disheartened teenager, to a hopeful teenager, to their female housekeeper, and didn't miss a step.

"It's the eye of the Goliath! It's the thrill of the fight! Rising up to the challenge of that ASSHOLE!" I freakin love scanlan!

"We didn't touch in my family" OH MY GOD I LOVE PERCY SO MUCH

Tbh I think what Vax did was both right and in-character. If that kid can be taken down in one hit there's no way he can travel with VM. Vax showing him what can happen when adventuring and then telling him to train and come back was a good lesson. Also Vax is a product of surviving with only Vex since being a teenager, as well as being part of a crime syndicate. In his mind learning the hard way is what gets results, no-one will hold your hand when you're fighting for your life.

I like the idea of Tiberius only drinking water, yet somehow getting as drunk as the rest of the party

I wasn't able to breathe when they outtalked Matt and the security guard. "The Amarenthine oub-lie=blah boo." I had to watch it 3 more times.

"I was caught up in a moment of passion I am sorry ... I would do anything for you and the 600 gold I put on your fight." is there any line more vex then this

Synopsis starts at 11:53, game begins at 13:35. Grog fights Kern, 36:17 to 1:27:50. Break from 1:45:18 to 1:59:07. Game ends at 3:08:20. [I've been doing this for every episode. If you find them useful, or think others might, please leave a comment so they stay near the top where they can be found. Thank you.]

That Vax tough love: When one luck point saved you from creating a BBEG

"Be careful with that; apples don't grow on trees" -Taliesin

"Ever seen the Incredibles?" Mercer idea face slightly shows

Percy and Keyleth, and Taliesin and Marisha's friendship is amazing. Teachin Keyleth, who is out of her tribe for the first time ever, how to bet (her bet of five gold was adorable)? the was Taliesin hides behind/clutches her shoulder out of anxiety is the kind of friendship i want this has been a Percy/Taliesin and Keyleth/Marisha friendship appreciation post

Liam went into full on Dad Mode with that kid, didn't he?

I just realized that the stance Matt does when Kern first shows off his monk abilities is the same one that Marisha uses in campaign two whenever she says "I wanna do some cool monk shit." Coincidence? I think not.

36:25 "The noon day sun is now high in the sky." Aka It's High Noon.

17:51 "...The woman I'll marry and bear children with!" *Trinket looks at Scanlan, confused*

I'm watching these for the 1st time, after seeing Vox Machina on Prime, and this was the MOST INTENSE fight. I was practically pulling my hair out when Travis started missing at the end of the fight. This was amazing.

The real tragedy of them skipping straight to the Briarwoods arc in the animated show is that we won't get to see the Grog vs. Kern fights animated. :(

2:42:40 "Percival, the great one who streaks fire from his tube!" "...I had that taken care of." Taliesin is just too good at coming up with stuff on the fly.

Mercer's sense of timing is AMAZING. Whenever the players start interacting amongst themselves he let's it go on the perfect amount of time then effortlessly pulls them back into the story. I'm in awe. Also, Victor the black powder merchant is now my favorite character.

Binging campaign 1 in 2023 and this is my favorite episode so far!

*spoiler* Anyone else noticed that Scanlan' s inspiration was the only reason grog won and yet it cost him a hundred gold pieces he had bet? Real friendship

Guard: Who are you? Vex: He’s my lawyer Scanlan: I’m Bernt Renalds Esquire. Get you a friend who backs up your bullshit as fast as Scanlan.

0:11:51 - Game starts, part 1 begins 0:12:06 - Laura's reaction to Matt mentioning the Sphinx 0:12:36 - Grog's great garlic cloud 0:14:48 - Grog rolls a beard check and recalls from last episode that 0 means 10. 0:15:46 - Scanlan finds out he missed Pike last episode 0:16:45 - Scanlan recounts how he walked towards a brothel but then bumped into the Warlock Zara 0:17:12 - Grog is enthralled by Scanlan's story after doing an insight check to see if Scanlan is lieing 0:17:46 - Scanlan would drop everything to see the woman he loves (Pike) 0:18:58 - Scanlan finds out about the flying carpet not being so flyable anymore 0:23:52 - Tiberious does a throwback to his encouraging violance line (which is my personal favourite line of his) 0:23:55 - Tiberiuos NPC's Percy by calling him Taliesin (as that the correct way of describing it?). Tiberius saves the day by saying he was talking in his native tongue. 0:24:48 - Grog upon realising he is being encouraged towards violence gets super excited 0:25:27 - Keyleth: "Follow the trail of distressed people" 0:26:57 - Laura is the anti-Wheaton in terms of her die roll 0:28:19 - Kern is not at the Cruicable and hence Grog can't have a rematch. Star Trek reference follows. 0:29:05 - "Phillip" is recognised 0:29:27 - Keyleth making a Bridget Jones fight scene reference? 0:31:49 - Keyleth is overly excited about the forthcoming fight. Percy doesn't know why she's saying the obvious to him. 0:33:01 - Matrix analogy about the fight 0:34:00 - Scanlan bets against Grog 0:35:57 - Keyleth places her first ever bet of five gold (but no party) on Philip. (I'm personally going to bet 500 gold on Phillip!) 0:38:15 - Grog is smart. He got Kern to toss him some wine, says it isn't worthy to be drunk, and than takes out his own wineskin which is filled with a strength potion! His cunning is further illustrated at 39:00 0:40:06 - Philip is dead. Long live Grog! 0:44:43 - Kern has has improved his technique since the last time he fought Grog 0:45:23 - Matt reminds the video viewers that the game mechanics are geared towards fun and simplicity 0:54:10 - Grog, Grog, Grog...! 0:54:20 - Scanlan sings Eye of the Tiger which gives Grog inspiration! This is really cool because Scanlan bet against Grog to win. 1:02:21 - Grog wants to do a move akin to Bane breaking Batman's back 1:07:11 - Kern bites off Grog's upper lip in revenge for that last time the two fought 1:10:26 - Travis throws away his die 1:13:50 - Scanlan uses his cutting words against Kern, the guy he bet upon to win because Grog is his bro first and foremost! 1:15:23 - Keyleth attempts to stealthily heal Grog after start a Grog chant through the crowd 1:20:10 - Grogs health is a -13 but he uses his relentless rage to help himself out. 1:20:36 - Just as it looks as if Grog is about to lose, Scanlan looks at the bright side 1:22:09 - In their first battle, Kern gave respect to Grog. In this rematch, Grog gives respect to Kern. 1:22:25 - Vex flashes Grog and prounces her love for him! Vax tries to get his sister to clam down at 1:22:59 1:23:56 - Scanlan sings a song to inspire Grog (what song is this based on?) 1:25:46 - Matt to Grog: "How do you want to do this?". 1:33:08 - Closure for both Grog and Kern with a beast master handshake of mutual respect 1:36:02 - Scanlan tried to convince the bookie that he bet on Grog to win. This is really funny the way he does it! 1:39:42- Burt "Scanlan" Reynolds: "attorney at large" 1:41:01 - Even Matt's made-up words can get the better of him sometimes 1:43:40 - Grog returns the second place medal to Kern (which Grog initially received from Kern at the very end of the last video, after the game had ended, but which Matt said is cononical) 1:45:18 - End of part 1 ends, break begins 1:58:18 - Break ends, Part 2 begins 2:00:38 - Vax wants a way to get certain images out of his mind. Tiberius asks Scanlan to describe them to him when they are next alone. 2:01:05 - Vex would do anything for Grog and the 600 gold she bet on the fight 2:04:37 - Vex asks what it meant when the bearded guy nodded to Grog after Grog beat Kern 2:05:27 - Scanlan is always satisfied 2:06:33 - Scanlan does a call-back to when Grog was looking for young boys earlier in the episode 2:08:29 - "Yes" said the mad scientist. (I love this character, so much fun!). Matt gets a round of well deserved applause at 2:13:25 for this character. 2:17:15 - Sampson to Percy: "Flattery's not required" 2:24:45 - Scalan is very respectful of the vow of silence 2:32:21 - Matt has corrected his pronunciation of the word 'sigil' based on feedback; he goes back to his old ways at 2:34:27 accidentally, and 2:35:08, but he does correct himself. 2:36:47 - Scanlan cares about Trinket (seems to be one of the on-jokes) 2:39:06 - Thank you ever so much...no, no, thank you, etc. lol 2:39:30 - Scanlan shat in the hallway 2:42:39 - The group meets a fanboy 2:45:14 - Vax knocks out the fanboy; Matt describe this at 2:46:40; 2:47:20 - Fanboy comes to 2:48:31 - Matt makes me feel sorry for the fanboy :'( 2:49:18 - Vax makes the fanboy an offer of future mentorship 2:51:30 - Vex winks at the fanboy whilst Vax tries to make him feel better; 2:51:31 - Vax "No matter what Mercer throws at me" 2:53:56 - Grog sees a potential similarity to a plot point from The Incredibles 3:02:04 - to Pike! 3:05:05 - Percy's expression at the mention of the Briarwoods 3:08:20 - End of part 2, game ends. 3:15:50 - Fan sends in a shirt for Vex as if it were from Gilmore 3:45:28 - Matt getting trolled by a fan in a perfect way 3:51:11 - Sam notices the picture of Burt Reynolds

I legitimately cried when Vax made that kid sad. It was actually heartbreaking. "I thought you were heroes."

Taliesin is the exact guy that Will Wheaton was talking about, I swear, he never rolls under 17.

I lost it at the "Burt Reynolds Esquire, Attorney at Small" part.

Keyleth: *helps Lockheed* Beau: *would probably feed him pocket bacon* The duality of characters is fantastic

I love that some of them are acting a bit drunk, Liam on the other hand actually is a bit sauced. That glass of 'Irish apple juice' went down very quickly!

I would've died if Mercer let Vax add up the damage against the boy and was like "how do you wanna do this" hahaha

little things like keyleth not knowing how betting works and tiberius forgetting about not doing magic make this so much more enjoyable and really help flesh out everyone's characters :)

Percy is SO GOOD. "Careful with that, apples don't grow on trees." and "What does he bake?" made me giggle. How is no one else in the room noticing these gems?

That was a roller coaster! Grog! Grog! Grog! I've never been so invested in a verbal representation of a dice determined imaginary fight.

I actually started crying from laughter when Scanlon introduced himself as Burt Reynolds, Esquire and put the finger over his lip. As much as I love the whole group, everything is 10 times funnier when Sam is there!

25:55 Percy to Tiberius: "That's going on your tombstone - 'I realize what I'm doing and I stop.'"

"You rush into things and sometimes you just need to... chill out?" Says Tiberius, Dragon Lord of Zero Chill and 6 Wisdom 🤣

2:42:55 "And, and you! Tiberius of the Stormwind family!" *Faintly in the background* "I'm Tiberius Stormwind!"

Keyleth before jumping into the tp circle: "I like jumping into things. I like leap of faiths." Me rewatching this: This foreshadows a lot of things

Tell me how matt managed to make himself look physically younger when voicing Kynan

Taliesin knows a hogshead is a measurement of volume equalling about two barrels. Matt Mercer and everyone else clearly did not.

I am in fucking love with Matt Mercer. That god damn black powder dealer is the most beautiful voice I've EVER heard

"I SLAP HIM BEFORE HE DOES THE HANDS!" - I love Percy.

I seriously appreciate how in character Taliesin is. You can see the change in body language when the Briarwoods are mentioned, where he just grits his teeth and dead stares at Matt.

The introduction of Victor. The myth. The legend. The beloved.

Black powder guy, best NPC ever

Grog: "Are there any small lads about who want to see me?" Laura's faces as that continues is priceless.

The tension in Grog's fight, man... and the excitement... and the way matt is super good at describing... jesus

That scene with Vax and Kynan was so beautiful. What a letter from the future to young Vax - it felt like Vax was pouring out his own journey towards self-understanding to that kid.

Spoiler! Vax says he wants the VM tattoo in game and Sam immediately jumps to them all getting this tattoo in real life.... And then they all did.

Those 2 NPCs Matt played while Percy was shopping were in-cre-di-ble... Both made me laugh so much and with just a few sentences from Matt, he made both their personalities very clear. Well played Matt, well played.

6 years later, rewatching this... it still pains me how Travis went to the trouble of getting the Stone Giant Strength potion... only to keep forgetting to use the adjusted modifier for several of the hits involved (he kept low-balling himself on some of the blows, adding his STR:19 bonus instead of STR:23... lol...

Watching this far in the future on that crit-role binge, and I gotta say the, "I just wanted to be a hero" hurt so badly to hear.

It feels so weird to say this after Grog's insane rematch, but I think Percy is my favorite character. He's more subtle and restrained than the rest of Vox Machina, but his backstory and intentions are much darker than the rest of the group. Many of the others have some important tragedy in their past, but their goals with Vox Machina are mostly noble. Percy, on the other hand, has a very specific end goal of straight up murder, and he is the only one in the group that you could argue is not a hero at all, which makes his story so much more fascinating to me.

Wow, I forgot that Matt's DM screen was a gift from a fan. And he's using it still all these years later. Now that's some wonderful gift!

Grog vs Kern fights are so hype, both of them 🤜🤛🏻

Tiberius, earlier in the episode: i encourage violence Vax: teaches kid a lesson by simply knocking him out, pouring healing potion in his mouth and promises him to be his mentor if he returns Tiberius: how DARE you

Talisan is the most amazing actor, everytime the brairwoods are mentioned he consistently twitches his eye

The whole scene involving Percy and the Gunpowder and ore merchants was like an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

3:04:24 Keyleth: Ohhh, is it bad news? We're not in the _mood_ for bad news! Seeker: Well, no… Percy: …but actually, YES.

The bit after the fight with the "mental patients" and lawyer scanlan had me cry laughing. Sam is a real riot, he's so charming and expressive its really admirable

Matt playing that 'fanboy' was full of feels. I actually had tears, not gonna lie.

me: oh man i really gotta sleep also me: omg grog's gonna have his rematch let's grab some cocoa and cookies

Also I respect Mercer so much for that engaging description of Scanlan’s magic poo vision

I have never even considered playing DnD in my life. I only started to think about playing it with my wife (as we are both big fantasy readers) as an idea for a date night. So, I started searching on KZfaq for tutorials on how to play and stumbled upon this channel. This has been so enjoyable that I have been listening to the campaigns while I work. So fun! GROG!!!

"No matter what Mercer throws at me" is probably the most amazing line ever. Surprisingly heart wrenching.

3:07:02 Percy: "Excuse me, I have a bit of work to do downstairs." Me: OOOOOOOOOOH! *starts jumping around excitedly*

2:35:45 lmaooo Keyleth saying she "likes jumping into things" and "likes leaps of faith" is SO much better with the context of "it's fine, we're gods"

I *DIED* when Vex flashed Grog for inspiration, Grog didn't notice, but the opposite side of the Crucible went nuts; meanwhile, Vax is just like "Oh gods, why is THIS what I shared a womb with." (1:22:23)

I think its hilarious that Sam actually voices Phoenix Wright

"Be gentle with that, apples don't grow on trees" add that to the list of wonderful remarks by Tallison (1:58:56)

I have never loved a nat 20 more than the one that Vax rolled right at the end. My heart was breaking for that fictional NPC.

Percy staying in character even after the game was over is hilarious. Felt really bad for the fan boy. That hurt. Finished this episode on March 1st, 2021.

Sam is so delightfully salty in this episode. His excited "Oh, shit, did we leave Trinket behind?", followed by an absolute look of disdain at being told Trinket is with them and an affected "...Okay, good. I'm very concerned" at 2:36:47 - also when Orion is being a little ornery he just goes "Or you could just go back to being arrested". I love it.