The Super Powered Fancast

One of the things I dearly love about the world Matthew Mercer and company have created with Exandria and its complicated and beautifully dense history is how that long history has allowed not only great lore for the characters to explore across three campaigns, but also how it is allowing others to explore that lore and history in new and exciting ways both in actual play session as well the new season of The Legend of Vox Machina on Prime Video.

One of those ways was bringing in Brennan Lee Mulligan (Dimension 20) to DM a game that would explore a moment in time that had only been talked about, the Calamity that saw the return of the Betrayer Gods to Exandria leading to hundreds of years of open, destructive conflict. That story, titled Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, introduced the character of Zerxus Ilerez played by Luis Carazo.

In the season 3 episode Hell to Pay, Pike, Scanlan, Vax’ildan and Grog travel to the city of Dis to retrieve one of the Vestiges of Divergence from Zerxus and he offers Pike a chance to win the powerful artifact through a game where the stakes will include not only her soul, but that of her friends. In that same episode, Zerxus reveals some of his backstory and that tragic story makes his inclusion in this episode so perfect.

Zerxus was a human Paladin and the First Knight of the city of Avalir, a flying city filled with powerful mages who defied the gods and conducted experiments to better themselves and their circumstances. While the Betrayer Gods were locked away from Exandria, Zerxus began having dreams about Asmodeus. Dreams that prompted him to empathize with the creature and that empathy, along with the actions of his closest friends known as the Ring of Brass, would not only free Asmodeus to return, but also cause them to bring down the city itself in an act to mitigate some of the impending destruction they unknowingly unleashed.

As Asmodeus made his return to Exandria, he gave the gravely injured Zerxus a choice to either accept his death or become a servant of the dark entity. Zerxus made his choice in an attempt to save his family and was transformed into a demon to serve the Lord of the Hells. The tragedy of the story and the drama made me excited when I heard the name at the end of episode 3 and I was even more excited when Zerxus finally appeared on screen voiced by Luis Carazo.

I love seeing Carazo give Zerxus the dark, commanding and quietly menacing presence the character deserves. I also really loved seeing not only the Ring of Brass mentioned in the episode, but also his battle of wills with Pike and how own truth led to their victory. Every part of the episode reminded me of why I love the world of Exandria, its characters and the amazing work of not only the Critical Role veterans who have been bringing that world to life, but also the amazing guests like Luis Carazo who they bring in to create amazing, layered and brilliantly complicated new characters that enhance that world.

I continue to not only love this new season of The Legend of Vox Machina on Prime Video, but also how brilliantly the show teases at things I want to see beyond the campaign. I would love to see the Ring of Brass explored including the Calamity itself. I would also love to see more of Zerxus Ilerez as a character because Luis Carazo’s scenes were so dynamic that they are practically begging to bring him back for more.

Episodes 1-6 of season 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina are currently available on Prime Video.