Critical Role campaign one spanned several years of gameplay, launching as an at-home game run by Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer before Geek & Sundry picked it up for live, weekly broadcast on its channel. Over the course of the campaign, which ran for approximately three in-game years, Tal'dorei's legendary heroes, Vox Machina, came face to face with a number of remarkable and terrifying foes.

Vox Machina saved the world from multiple unimaginable threats, earning the kind of renown that Bards like Scanlan Shorthalt will be singing of for years to come. Some of the most outstanding enemies they faced were the result of their backstories coming full circle, while others posed threats to all of civilization that the party simply couldn't allow.

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Hotis

During the "Trial of the Take", Vox Machina split into two groups, each allied with members of the Slayer's Take. Keyleth, Vax'ildan and Tiberius worked with Kashaw and Thorbir on a mission to take out a Rakshasa named Hotis that had been preying on on the wealthy. As they tracked the Rakshasha to its lair, a long battle ensued, but the heroes fought on until Vax'ildan finally finished Hotis off with a well-aimed dagger.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the last time they saw Hotis, who returned to the Nine Hells and regenerated. He later took on the guise of Vax's former romantic interest, the Wizard Shaun Gilmore, in Whitestone, and lured the Rogue into putting on a Cursed Robe of Flaying before leading him out onto the balcony to talk. There, Hotis stabbed Vax, and as the other members of Vox Machina scrambled awake to rush to Vax's aid, he fell unconscious.

Pike managed to land a killing blow, once more sending Hotis back to the Nine Hells, but the party knew that unless they killed him during his regeneration, he would come for them again. Vox Machina eventually traveled to the Nine Hells, entering the City of Dis, where Keyleth scryed on Hotis and determined his location so they could infiltrate and kill him once and for all. The havoc Hotis managed to wreak definitely makes him one of the campaign's most memorable -- and dangerous -- villains.

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Kevdak and the Herd of Storms

Over the course of the campaign, Barbarian Grog Strongjaw's history was often a point of focus. As a Goliath, Grog came from a brutal herd that beat and left him for dead when he refused to kill an innocent halfling. Banished from the herd, Grog found a new family with the Trickfoots, particularly Pike, who healed his wounds. However, Grog always knew he would come face to face with his uncle, Kevdak, and the Herd of Storms again one day.

When Vox Machina began searching for the Vestiges of Divergence to aid them in their fight against the Chroma Conclave, Grog remembered the Titanstone Knuckles Kevdak wore. With tensions rising during the Conclave's quest for domination, Kevdak took advantage of the situation and allied the herd with the ancient black dragon Umbrasyl lording over Westruun. Devising a plan to isolate a significant portion of the herd from Kevdak, Vox Machina infiltrated the city, and Grog challenged his uncle for the glory of the herd.

Grog was overwhelmed by Kevdak's strength and power and nearly didn't make it out alive. But when things looked dire, he called upon Vox Machina, and the party took out Kevdak, securing the Titanstone Knuckles and saving Westruun so they could focus on getting rid of Umbrasyl. The fight against Kevdak was brutal, but it finally gave Grog closure from his past.

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Sylas and Delilah Briarwood

The Briarwoods played a key role in the destruction of the de Rolo family in Whitestone, pushing player character Percival to flee and enter into a vengeance pact with a shadow demon named Orthax. For several years after wiping out the de Rolo's, Sylas and Delilah Briarwood ruled over Whitestone, holding Percy's sister Cassandra hostage.

The party first encountered the Briarwoods at a feast in Emon, which led to a fight that forced Sylas and Delilah to rush back to Whitestone. Vox Machina followed and began taking out Briarwood allies, allowing Percy to cross names off his vengeance list. When they finally encountered Sylas and Delilah in Whitestone Castle, the fight led them underground, where they discovered a strange ziggurat. During the battle, the party killed Sylas and captured Delilah, who was later executed by Cassandra de Rolo, ending their reign of terror in Whitestone.

Unfortunately, that was not the last Vox Machina saw of the Briarwoods. Resurrected by Vecna, Delilah played a significant role in his ascension, and the party came head to head with her and Sylas repeatedly until finally taking Delilah out. Sylas later came to take his revenge at Vex'ahlia and Percy's wedding, almost killing them both. The fact that the Briarwoods were nearly impossible to kill earns them a spot on the list.

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The Chroma Conclave

five chromatic dragons together in D&D

When Vox Machina defeated the ancient blue dragon Brymscythe, they had no idea that he was part of a greater faction of dragons bent on world domination. Dragons rarely work together, their nature preventing them from such alliances, but when the ancient red dragon Thordak, escaped from the fire plane with the help of a diseased green dragon named Raishan, his madness prompted him to propose they band together and dominate Tal'dorei.

The Chroma Conclave arc launched when the four remaining dragons descended upon the city of Emon. The dragons wrought destruction so severe that the city had to be abandoned. For a time, even Vox Machina struggled to believe they could actually defeat the dragons. They found themselves pursuing legendary artifacts, the Vestiges of Divergence, which they believed would grant them the power they needed to take down the dragons.

The party also forged a temporary alliance with Raishan, who wanted to take out Thordak as much as they did. With so much at stake, Vox Machina's long, arduous battle against the Chroma Conclave strengthened the party in ways they never imagined, preparing them for an even greater fight waiting just around the corner.

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Vecna

The lich Vecna from Dungeons and Dragons

Mortal-born archlich, Vecna, was the most powerful enemy Vox Machina ever faced. When the party discovered the ziggurat under Whitestone Castle, they believed that killing Delilah Briarwood would stop the ritual she was performing to restore the Lord of the Rotted Tower to power. Unfortunately, there was more happening beneath the surface than Vox Machina could have imagined.

When Scanlan and Lionel Gayheart discovered a second ziggurat, Vox Machina infiltrated only to discover that, despite having watched her die at Cassandra de Rolo's hands, Delilah wasn't actually dead. Along with the Remnant cultists, she was in the midst of performing a second ritual that would aid in Vecna's ascension to godhood. Vecna's plans were far greater than Vox Machina could have dreamed. As they sought the knowledge and resources needed to take him out, the party met obstacles and resistance at every turn.

Vox Machina's task felt impossible at times, but they persisted. Crafting a set of Trammels to drive into his body when they finally met with him face to face, at times it looked as though the heroes wouldn't succeed -- and when one of the Trammels broke, they feared the worst. Fortunately, Grog was able to fuse two trammels together and drive it into Vecna's body so Keyleth could read from the Tome of Isolation and banish him from the Prime Material Plane forever.

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