The Feast of Realms

is the third episode of the first season of The Legend of Vox Machina. Vox Machina is invited to the palace for a formal dinner, where Percy encounters murderous figures from his past: the mysterious Lord Sylas and Lady Delilah Briarwood. While gathering more information about the Briarwoods, a battle ensues. In the aftermath, the team discovers Percy’s tortured past has left something dark brewing inside of him.

Plot summary
A large, happy family talks and laughs together, and someone calls out "Percy" to the young boy with glasses. The scene is then interrupted by Percy and one of his sisters running away in the night, bleeding, and chased by dogs. It cuts again to the family being slaughtered by assassins, and again, to the sister being shot by multiple arrows and following. The now-adult Percy suddenly shoots awake in bed from his nightmare, and, after a moment, leaves his room. He runs into Vex'ahlia, who asks him if he had a bad dream, and he responds "Is there any other kind?"

The next morning at breakfast in the keep, Keyleth brightly greets her grumpier Vox Machina companions. Percy is still on edge, and Vex tells him to loosen up. The party's breakfast is interrupted by Allura Vysoren's arrival. She reminds the party of Sovereign Uriel's feast that night, and expresses some concern about the party's manners, but Percy assures her that he will brief them all on proper behavior.

That night, Vox Machina arrives to the banquet in their finery, and reluctantly surrender their weapons. They are presented to the attending dignitaries, though Scanlan provides some additional commentary, to Allura and Kima's chagrin. They then proceed to mingle and drink, until Percy hears the announcement that the Briarwoods have arrived and begins to panic. Vex notices and asks him what's wrong, and he tells her that they took everything from him. Vox Machina briefly huddles and notices the Briarwoods appear to be staying in the castle, at which point Vax volunteers to slip away and look around their room. The party chooses the safe word "chenga" at Grog's behest. He does so, and the rest of the party goes to dinner, where they are seated opposite the Briarwoods, who are next to Uriel and Salda Tal'Dorei.

Percy glares at the Briarwoods throughout the start of the dinner as the party offers somewhat confused suggestions or encouragement. Uriel initially appears somewhat suspicious of the Briarwoods, noting that the messengers he had sent to Whitestone hadn't ever returned, and that he may need to send troops to investigate, but Sylas Briarwood charms him. Keyleth seems to notice this and becomes suspicious, and Delilah Briarwood begins to ask questions of the rest of Vox Machina, which Vex and Scanlan attempt to deflect. Delilah then tells the story of how she and her husband became the stewards of Whitestone: while the cover story is that the de Rolos died of a rare illness, the truth, she says, is that they abdicated after their children had wasted their wealth. At this, Percy loses his temper and accuses her of lying, and Vox Machina quickly leave. Percy provides the party with a brief explanation: that actually, the Briarwoods had slaughtered his family.

Meanwhile, Vax uses his serpent belt to distract several guards and slips into the room, where he opens the chest the Briarwoods had brought with them. He finds some animal skulls and other seemingly necromantic implements, as well as a book that makes mention of The Whispered One, and hides the book in his coat. He then hears someone approach, and a draft suddenly blows through the room, nearly extinguishing the fire. Vax then turns around to see the Briarwoods, who have silently entered. He attempts to pass himself off as a servant, and comments on the couple's attractiveness, but Sylas enthralls him and bites his neck. Vax barely pulls away, and jumps out the window into a pool of water. The Briarwoods follow him down magically. Vax weakly calls out, "Chenga."

Back in the palace, Vex realizes something must be wrong and the party rushes out to grab their weapons. Scanlan meanwhile distracts the partygoers with a funk song about his "beads of love". The rest of the party attacks Sylas and Delilah; Sylas's sword and Delilah's magic are extremely powerful and are able to deflect most attacks. Percy is able to shoot Sylas, but Sylas heals almost immediately and disarms him. Grog and Pike are able to hold the couple off for some time, and Pike heals Vax, but they too are eventually overpowered, and the party is only saved by Keyleth throwing up a wall of large plants to divide themselves off.

The noise from the fight attracts the attention of the palace guards, and the Briarwoods flee once Desmond arrives with their luggage. Sylas kicks Desmond off and drives the carriage away himself. Percy shoots after the carriage, shouting to the Briarwoods, "Your life is forfeit!" However, Delilah merely invites him to visit. Percy angrily yells at Vox Machina for letting the Briarwoods go, but then turns on Desmond. Percy puts on a mask reminiscient of a plague doctor's mask and threatens Desmond with the gun. As he does this, a strange, hissing smoke seems to surround Percy. He shoots off Desmond's hand, despite Desmond's protests that he knows nothing.

The guards then arrive, as well as Uriel and Scanlan, and Uriel calls for Vox Machina's arrest.

Cast

 * Laura Bailey as Vex'ahlia
 * Taliesin Jaffe as Percy
 * Ashley Johnson as Pike
 * Liam O'Brien as Vax'ildan
 * Marisha Ray as Keyleth
 * Sam Riegel as Scanlan
 * Travis Willingham as Grog
 * Matthew Mercer as Sylas Briarwood and various
 * Indira Varma as Allura Vysoren
 * Khary Payton as Uriel Tal'Dorei
 * Stephanie Beatriz as Kima of Vord
 * Grey Griffin as Delilah Briarwood
 * Max Mittelman as Desmond Otham
 * Esmé Creed-Miles as Cassandra de Rolo

Crew

 * Directed by - Stanley Von MedVey
 * Written by - Eugene Son

Vox Machina

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

New

 * Cassandra de Rolo
 * Salda Tal'Dorei
 * Craven Edge
 * Orthax

Returning

 * Allura Vysoren
 * Uriel Tal'Dorei
 * Kima of Vord
 * Delilah Briarwood
 * Sylas Briarwood
 * Desmond Otham

Mentioned

 * Gradim Greyspine
 * The Whispered One

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.