The Terror of Tal'Dorei - Part 1

is the series premiere of The Legend of Vox Machina. The ragtag group of adventurers known as Vox Machina are commissioned by Sovereign Uriel to find out who (or what) is decimating villages in the outskirts of Emon.

Plot summary
The Tal'Dorei Council, including Uriel Tal'Dorei, Allura Vysoren, Kima of Vord, Gregory Fince, and General Krieg are discussing an ongoing, unknown threat in the nearby Shalesteps that threatens the crops that feed Emon. They are frustrated that all the previous mercenary groups they had hired failed and decide to expand their search for capable mercenaries.

Meanwhile, Vox Machina is at a tavern having a drinking contest. After Grog wins, another tavern patron, Agar, starts to pick a fight with Keyleth. Vox Machina warns him off, and Vax attempts diffuse the situation. He fails, and Vox Machina begins a bar fight. All join in, except for Scanlan, who is upstairs seducing the tavern keeper's daughter. The tavern keeper yells at everyone to stop and throws Vox Machina out for their brawling and failure to pay. Keyleth remarks that they've now been kicked out of every tavern in Emon, and Vex notes that they only have three silver. Keyleth wonders why they're even sticking together, given how much they've been struggling. Scanlan walks over to a jobs board to, as he puts it, "drain the basilisk" and sees the posting for mercenaries. With no other prospects, the party agrees to try the job.

The next day, the dirty and visibly hungover party is nearly turned away from the palace until they show the posting to the guards. They are brought before the council, who are highly skeptical of Vox Machina's ability. However, Scanlan sings a compelling introduction song while conjuring an illusion. General Krieg argues in favor of giving them a chance, and Sovereign Uriel in particular is impressed that they have a bear. They are given the job and the promise of payment, which is contained in a golden chest. While in front of the council, Vex gets a strange twinge in her head.

The party take a skyship to the Shalesteps with Allura, who briefly explains their mission. Vex pulls Vax aside to speak with him about her experience in the council chambers. Allura unceremoniously drops them off. In the village, Keyleth attempts to speak with local plant life for information, and the rest of the party wander around and speak to the villagers. One woman notices Pike's holy symbol and asks Pike to bless her house to protect it from the evil. Pike awkwardly does so; the woman seems slightly unconvinced but is grateful nonetheless. Her son notices Vax doing tricks with a silver piece and asks Vax if he's a wizard. Vax tells him it's simple sleight of hand and gives the child the silver piece. Meanwhile, the woman's daughter tells the party that the creature flew overhead while it attacked. With this information, Vax notices a ruined tree at a mountain peak overlooking the village.

Vex tracks the creature through the wilderness, noticing that the tracks eventually become human-like. She feels a pain in her head again and warns the party that the creature is close. However, the party merely comes upon a lamb. While they are laughing, a massive blue dragon attacks. The party attempts to fight but are barely able to damage it as it spews electricity towards them. They only survive by Keyleth using her magic to hide them until the dragon leaves.

After the fight, Pike heals Grog. Keyleth nearly breaks down with fear over the dragon, and the party contemplates abandoning the mission. Pike insists that they should attempt to help the people of the Shalesteps, but she fails to convince them. Because Vex explains that the pain in her head indicates someone on the council is working with the dragon, most of the group decides to never return to Emon for their safety. The group heads back to the village.

They discover the village destroyed, and Vax locates the family they'd spoken to earlier. All are dead, except the boy to whom he gave a silver, who is dying. Pike is too exhausted from healing Grog to save him, and he dies. Vax sadly pockets the bloodied coin. The disheartened party decide that they need to fight back on behalf of the village, even though it scares them.

Cast
End credits list main cast, then guest cast in alphabetical order.

Crew

 * Written by - Brandon Auman
 * Directed by - Young Heller
 * Producer - Tony Salama
 * Co-Producers - Jennifer Muro, Eugene Son
 * Art Director - Arthur Loftis
 * Editor - Todd Raleigh
 * Storyboard Artists - Karen Guo, Sinae Jung, Erin Won

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * General Krieg
 * Gregory Fince
 * Allura Vysoren
 * Uriel Tal'Dorei II
 * Kima of Vord
 * Duala Juun (unnamed, non-speaking appearance)
 * Assum Emring (unnamed, non-speaking appearance)
 * Agar, the orcish or half-orcish leader of the mercenary group Agar's Assassins

Mentioned

 * The Everlight
 * Delilah Briarwood
 * Sylas Briarwood

Behind the scenes
The original script ended the episode on a darker tone with a messenger from Emon arriving at Whitestones to see the Briarwoods and things "not ending well" for them.

Quotations
Vax: Perhaps, sister. But we'll die gloriously. And we'll kill a fucking dragon.
 * Scanlan: (playing his lute and singing for the tavern keeper's daughter) La, da, da. La, da, da, my lady's rose I will pluck. My love, it's time for us to fu— (Percy is thrown into the room) For goodness' sakes. Percy, the hell, man? If you want to join in, you got to ask first.
 * Scanlan: (singing to the council) Brave warriors are we and far more clever than a fox. They'll tell tale of our exploits in the Legend Of Vox Machina! Keyleth: (vomits) Scanlan: (like Elvis) Uh, thank you very much.
 * Pike: (blessing a house) May the Everlight shine upon your home. Everything will be... tip-top. Okay, I'm sure you'll survive these trying times so... good luck?
 * Vex: You all realize we're going to die truly a horrible death.

Trivia

 * Though the episode was announced to be releasing at midnight PST on January 28, 2022, it released eight hours early at midnight UTC (or GMT) instead.
 * The line "If this evil persists, the kingdom will starve to death" was said by Vax'ildan in the red band trailer but by Allura in the episode.
 * Scanlan title drops the series twice in his party introduction song, first as he's leading into the song ("Clearly you've never heard of the legend of Vox Machina.") and again as its ending line ("They'll tell tale of our exploits in the legend of Vox Machina!").
 * In this episode, Sam Riegel's son Maximus Riegel voices the boy and Liam O'Brien's daughter Zoe O'Brien voices the girl.
 * The boy asks Vax, played by Liam, if he's a wizard. Liam plays the wizard Caleb Widogast in Campaign Two.
 * The tavern keeper is a character built by the community throughout September 2019.
 * As a surprise for Matt, the design team intentionally designed a character model that looked like him to appear in each episode. The character appears posting the council's request for mercenaries, and Scanlan urinates on his leg while reading the posting.