"D&Diesel" (Sx03) is the third special episode of Critical Role. It was created as a marketing promotion for Vin Diesel's upcoming movie, The Last Witch Hunter. It was recognized by Matthew Mercer as canon, happening during Vox Machina's six-month hiatus, between their home game and Campaign One.[1]
Synopsis[]
A party of adventurers, led by Kaulder the Witch Hunter and including Vox Machina's own Grog and Vex'ahlia, agree to help a small village called Bronbog rid themselves of a terrible curse. They find a young woman living between the town and the nearby swamp, who agrees to bring them to where she believes the curse originates.
As the group travels into the swamp, night falls and the party is surrounded by mist and attacked by wraith-like creatures. Vex is surprised but Kaulder kills the wraith that would have attacked her. A second goes for Kaulder but is killed by the Headmistress and Grog working together. Vex and Dupont dispatch a third wraith before it can attack its target, Grog. After that, Kaulder wipes out the rest of the wraiths with a mystic blast.
The mist clears and the party finds a ruin. In the center of the ruin stands a stone platform with a table on it --- seemingly a sacrificial altar of some kind. The darkness is oppressive, even after Dupont lights a torch, and the young woman who led them to the ruin has vanished.
The party then hears her offering them to a cackling old woman, who calls the young woman her sister. In their threats, they reveal themselves both to be witches and to recognize Kaulder as a Witch Hunter. He immediately rages forward, killing the older witch with a blow through the heart. As the younger witch disappears into the darkness, the curse is lifted and moonlight returns to the ruin.
Featured characters[]
Vox Machina
Keyleth(absent)Percival de Rolo(absent)Scanlan Shorthalt(absent)Tiberius Stormwind(absent)- Grog Strongjaw
Pike Trickfoot(absent)Trinket(absent)Vax'ildan(absent; mentioned only)- Vex'ahlia
New
- Two unnamed swamp hags
- Dupont Dupont
- The Headmistress
- Kaulder
Inventory[]
Quotations[]
Trivia[]
- Matthew Mercer posted his DM notes for this episode on Reddit.
- It was for this specific one-shot that Matthew Mercer built the Blood hunter class, which he later rebuilt and improved.[2]
References[]
- ↑ See Matt Mercer & Marisha Ray's first Periscope at 48:57 through 49:52 (2015-11-04)
- ↑
Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) on Twitter: "The original Blood Hunter was my first homebrew class, largely built around a demand for the D&Diesel custom elements I made for the one-shot. The design was initially messy & reactionary, & as I learned more and more over time, I found it necessary to rebuild from the ground up." (2020-01-27).
Art: