The Legend of Vox Machina Recreates Scanlan’s Big Moment

The Legend of Vox Machina’s latest set of episodes featured one of the best moments from Critical Role’s first campaign. The seventh episode, appropriately titled “Scanboo” featured Vox Machina bard Scanlan Shorthalt create an epic distraction to give his friends an opening to rescue Percy’s sister Cassandra. The entire seventh episode is a retelling of a similar scene (seen in Critical Role Episode 31) that featured Scanlan fend off Duke Vedmire and a number of guards using every trick in his proverbial sack. While there are a few notable differences between the two moments, the episode is a fantastic adaptation of Scanlan’s “Scanbo” moment that proved to be one of the most memorable moments from the Vox Machina campaign.

In the original Critical Role episode, Scanlan served as a distraction to allow the rest of Vox Machina to attack Count Tylieri, one of the Briarwood’s underlings. His plan was to stampede through Vedmire’s house as triceratops (using a polymorph spell) but was quickly confronted by Vedmire and eight guards. Scanlan used a combination of Stinking Cloud and Dimension Door to escape the ambush and then set Vedmire’s house on fire using a Potion of Fire Breathing. Scanlan than used his Bigby’s Hand spell to escape the burning building (but not before shoving Vedmire off the rooftop). While Scanlan only served as a distraction, the thrilling combat rounds not only showed the versatility of the bard (and Sam Riegel, who plays Scanlan), it also proved that he was just as deadly as the other members of Vox Machina. 

Interestingly, The Legend of Vox Machina deviates from Scanbo’s big moment in a few different ways. In the TV show, Vedmire survives Scanlan’s attack but is eventually killed by the people of Whitestone. In the original Critical Role campaign, Vedmire survives Vox Machina’s assault on the city and agrees to assist in the rebuilding of the town, accepting an offer of clemency from his one-time foe Scanlan. Obviously, the animated version of Vedmire is much more brutal than the version seen in Critical Role, and as such meets a much more fitting and brutal end.

The Legend of Vox Machina is available now on Prime Video. The final three episodes of the first season will be added to the streaming service next week.