Guest Party Members | Allies and Other Characters (Empire/Republic of Tal'Dorei) | Villains
Guest Party Members | Allies and Other Characters (Dwendalian Empire | Xhorhas) | Villains
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The Darrington Brigade
From left to right: Taryon Darrington, Lionel Gayheart, Hazel Copperpot, Macaroni Samsonite, Buddy, Farriwen Breeze, Damian Vadoma, The Owlbear and Doty 5.0
A non-profit adventuring group operating primarily in Wildemount. Founded by Taryon Darrington, their mission statement is to "fight for justice, win battles against evil-doers, and spread the Darrington name around the continent." Stars of "The Adventures of the Darrington Brigade" one-shot and live show in Austin, TX. Taryon Darrington (and Doty)
Taryon "Tary" Darrington
Played by: Sam Riegel
"Doty, take this down..."
- Race: HumanClass: Artificer (Alchemist/Battlesmith)note
A pompous nobleman and writer. Aspiring to become a famous adventurer, he travels the lands of Exandria alongside his personal golem and scrivener Doty with the goal of eventually publishing a grand book of his exploits. He initially meets Vox Machina in Ank'harel, where he was looking to hire an experienced group of adventurers as his (new) traveling party.
Later founds a non-profit adventuring party known as The Darrington Brigade.
- All Love Is Unrequited: His crush on Percy who was already an Official Couple with Vex by his introduction.
- Bad Boss: He makes it sound like he got a bunch of mercenaries killed protecting him in battle. Apparently, they just got annoyed with him and left.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Tary's a little odd and pretty eccentric, and his inexperience makes him stick out like a sore thumb among the veteran adventurers of Vox Machina, but he develops quickly as a fighter and has a big bag of tricks that makes him much less predictable than the others' more defined skillsets. Exemplified when during the Level 17 Battle Royale, his seemingly comparative harmlessness makes the others ignore him while he uses various hiding methods to remove himself from combat priority, until the very end when his enchanted armour allows him to finally put down Grog and win the combat.
- The Blacksmith: Crafted many of the magic items he uses himself. He also crafts items for the rest of the party, such as using some of Vorgual's hide to make cold-resistant armor for Vex.
- Bling of War: Decked head to toe in expensive, shiny, new-looking armour, complete with two very rare and powerful magical items that are also very flashy.
- Break the Haughty: He was at his most arrogant when first introduced and thought very little of Vox Machina. This, together with his own "adventures" (which sounded to basically be glamping) made the party decide to haze him with a mock battle. They were about to go to literal hell (the second layer), so they wanted to make sure he could handle himslf.
- But Now I Must Go: After eliminating his family's debt, he comes to the conclusion that it's time for him to leave Vox Machina and stay in Wildmount with his family to restore the honor of their name and work to truly become a family. He also plans to work with his mother to start an adventuring party of his own to protect Wildmount. Naturally, he has loose ends to tie up in Whitestone, so he doesn't leave Vox Machina immediately, but he says what seems to be his final goodbye to Vex before Vox Machina leaves for the Shadowfell.
- Butt-Monkey: He's really easy to make fun of.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's shown to have a surprisingly keen mind for business when he isn't distracted by trying to act rich or spending all his money on magic items that help him keep up with the rest of Vox Machina.
- Calling the Old Man Out: After taking care of the family's debts, he calls out his father for not being a good father and that while he provided for them financially that was all he provided.
- Camp Gay: A very subdued version. Tary isn't cartoonishly feminine, but his accent, his long, luxuriant blonde hair, and his prissy, dandylike persona lend themselves to the basics of the trope.
- Crimefighting with Cash: When asked about his abilities, Tary's first response is: he has a lot of money and has bought/crafted a lot of cool magical items, like his Morph Weapon. He follows up by casually accepting Vex's high-ball fee of 50,000 gold per day. This is largely a bluff, as Tary has far less money than he implies when first meeting Vox Machina. As an Artificer, Tary specialises in using disposable magic items in battle, which he has to spend money to craft and prepare.
- Daddy Issues: All of his issues stem from a bad relationship with his father, who never approved of him, his hobbies, or his relationship with his (male) teacher. This is what causes Vox Machina to accept him once he tells them.
- Foil: An obvious foil to Percy: both well-educated young noblemen with a penchant for tinkering and engineering. Where Taryon is boastful, immature, and sheltered, Percy is quiet, vastly more experienced (despite probably being younger), and wracked with trauma. Taryon also combines his engineering with magic, which Percy does not.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Taryon designed and built Doty himself, which Percy greatly admires. He and Percy also team up to produce modern public works for Whitestone.
- Gay Best Friend: After the Time Skip, he's become one to Vex. To the point she asks him to be her "man of honour" at her wedding.
- Has a Type: When telling his father what he leaned from each member of Vox Machina, he says Percy taught him the sort of person he wanted to marry. He doesn't say anything explicitly, but he seems to mean intellectual types, since his first relationship was with his own teacher.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Strangely enough, his personal golem, Doty, who is his best/only friend and scrivener.
- Hot for Teacher: Once fell for his tutor, Lawrence. Downplayed as Tary was twenty, though there was still a ten-year age gap. Tary's father was not pleased when he found out about the relationship.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: He wants to be a hero like the ones in fantasy stories. Also so he can win his father's respect and get his inheritance.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Characterised with painful accuracy by Grog as "like a llama being mauled by a pack of wolves".
- Ink-Suit Actor: His updated character portrait
◊ for the Darrington Brigade oneshot bears an uncanny resemblance to Sam Riegel. - Insists on Paying: For a while after joining Vox Machina, Tary was insistent upon paying for meals and boarding and the like in order to ingratiate himself to the group. He had varying degrees of success as far as the paying goes, but the group makes it clear that he doesn't have to throw money around to win their loyalty or friendship.
- Irony: Taryon tends to throw up when stressed out, usually to the disgust and almost always to the detriment of his teammates (he rolls a Natural 1 and spews his chunks in the water plane, for instance, and immediately attracts the attention of the kraken). When Doty ends up knocking out two guards during a shopping trip in Vasselheim, and he and Grog attempt to make it look like they had nothing to do with it, Grog intimidates him into throwing up over them both. Tary then rolls a Natural 20 on a constitution saving throw and is unable to actually do it.
- Item Crafting: This is his specialty. He made most of his magic items himself, including Doty. He also does this for the rest of the party, including crafting new armor and weapons for them.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he's pompous and thoughtlessly rude, he is at heart more ignorant than malicious and apologises (or at least, tries to) for his rudeness when Vox Machina befriends him.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Tary describes the fictional adventures and battles he and Doty act out with toy figurines, it sounds an awful lot like D&D...
- Lonely Rich Kid: He led a very sheltered life before leaving home; his only friend growing up was a robot he built himself, and the only person he ever fell in love with was sent away (and maybe killed?) when his father found out about the relationship.
- Mauve Shirt: Sam stated several times on Talks Machina that he fully expected Taryon to die after a couple of episodes. Thanks to luck and ingenuity, he managed to survive every ordeal and undergo Character Development, though still not to the extent of the rest of Vox Machina.
- Morph Weapon: He carries a Rod of Mercurial Form, which can take the shape of multiple weapons, including a Flaming Sword, a battle-axe, and a crossbow.
- The Münchausen: Constantly attempts to make himself sound like the hero of the book he's writing. When Vox Machina does something cool, he assigns himself much of the credit; whenever he does something less-than-heroic, he directs Doty to remove it and dictates something more daring.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: When the others introduce themselves with him around, it goes "We're Vox Machina, except that guy." Eventually averted, however.
- Naïve Newcomer: Compared to the rest of Vox Machina, Tary's lack of experience means that he's a little out of his league.
- The Nicknamer: Outright admits he doesn't normally ask for people's names and refers to the other members of Vox Machina by various nicknames. This is because he genuinely does not know most of their real names. Vex and Vax are Little Elf Girl and Little Elf Boy (later abbreviated to LEB), Keyleth is Antlers, Grog is Jumbo (which due to a Sustained Misunderstanding causes Grog to refer to him as "Tary Jumbo"), and Percy is Four-Eyes until they bond over their shared love of tinkering and Tary deigns to ask Percy's name - and gets the full version right on the first try! Pike had to instruct him to learn their names, Team Mom style.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Averted. When Taryon builds new versions of Doty, he sometimes adds new features.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: On some level, his 'bad with money' act is just that, an act. He plays up the loss of Doty as having lost his only way of keeping track of his finances so Vex doesn't hound him on paying, and easily weasels his initial offer down by a few tens of thousands of gold.
- Obliviously Evil: As nice as Tary is, it's clear that some of his father's business practices have rubbed off on him. He accepts Vex's retainer fee of 50,000 gold but later weasels it down to 10,000 without a bit of hesitation, albeit to hide the fact that he has far less money than he's letting on. At another point he casually suggests acid as a means of speeding up an interrogation.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Taryon is not acting like a wannabe great adventurer or a bumbling fool, you know he's taking things very seriously. Highlighted during his meeting with his father where he underlines his own foolishness to prove a point:Howard: You're a difficult man to find when you want to be.
Taryon: I am literally the least hard man to find. I tell everyone my name, I wear a gold helmet, and I walk around talking about myself. - Prodigal Hero: His entire arc is centered around this trope. He left his home to prove himself to his father and grew to become a better person as he learned to embrace his true self when fighting alongside Vox Machina. He returned to Deastok a better person and confronted his father for the errors of his ways.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Darrington Brigade, composed of himself, Doty, Chod, K'ryyn, and Lawrence. Though the epilogue establishes they'll eventually succeed,
Sam's post-epilogue letter reveals they'll have a rocky road getting there. - Take a Third Option: When given the choice of being married off to some rich family's daughter to clear his father's debts or refusing and his family being homeless and destitute, he took the option of negotiating with the Myriad to keep his family home and clear the debt in a way that benefits both his family and the Myriad.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: He says his sister Marian is a total jock and far more aggressive than him with his bookish ways.
- Skilled, but Naive: Vax tells Taryon that he has some incredible abilities. He just needs to gain some actual experience as an adventurer.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Tarry claims he is due to become famous once his book is finished, but acts like he's already a big deal.
- Stress Vomit: A Running Gag. Tary has a very weak stomach and throws up a lot. Ironically, he fails to do it on command when Grog needs vomit to disguise some knocked-out guards as merely drunk.
- Upper-Class Twit: He's of sheltered and privileged birth, like Percy. Unlike Percy, nothing has yet knocked him out of the mindset. Later grows out of this following the timeskip and his Character Development, when a year of being broke and relying on his new friends has lead to him becoming much wiser about his family and the rest of the world
- Walking Spoiler: Talking about him in any real detail or even mentioning who plays him requires the reveal that Scanlan left Vox Machina for a while.
- Weak, but Skilled: Tary is low-level on paper, but the items he makes and his unpredictable strategies boost his power significantly. Best exemplified in the third Battle Royale, which he won, against gunslinger Percy, powerful spellcaster Keyleth, well-equipped ranger Vex, and freaking Grog - though his level was equal to theirs for the fight.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: His primary motivation is to become a great hero so that he will earn his father's respect (and vast inheritance).
Doty
- Race: Construct
Class: Mechanical Servant/Steel Defender note
Tary's robotic companion who chronicles all of his adventures.
- The Comically Serious: As a robot he can't really emote, which can lead to some interesting interactions.
- Hidden Depths: In addition to being able to take down (and correct) Tary's story and keep track of his finances, he's also a capable artist, trained in drawing both caricature and realism at the very least.
- Killer Robot: At the wedding of Vex and Percy, Tary reveals that one iteration of Doty malfunctioned and began attacking everyone, leading to it having to be destroyed.
- Literal-Minded: He is a robot, after all. Often, having been commanded to write everything in a conversation, writes everything, to Tary's frequent dismay. Also notable is when Pike asked him to draw portraits of the party in Vesrah, leading to him breaking into their rooms at night due to her open-ended request.
- Not Quite Saved Enough: After Utugash is killed, Tary rushes over to try and fix Doty, with Percy coming to help, only for them to realize that they don't have the tools necessary to repair him with them, and then a small army of devils arrive to arrest Vox Machina. Despite Percy's attempt to manipulate the devils into bringing Doty with them, he gets left behind, and Vox Machina isn't able to go back and retrieve him before leaving the hells.
- Only Friend: Up until meeting Vox Machina, he was Tary's only friend, Tary being as sheltered and awkward as he was.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: When Vox Machina has to make a trip to Vasselheim, it occurs to them that an arcane construct walking around might not be very welcome. Their solution? Throw a cloak over him, glue some hair to his head and face, and then put a mask on him. (Yes, they gave him facial hair and then hid it.)
- Phrase Catcher: "Doty, take this down..."
- Robot Buddy: Doty carries Tary's gear, keeps his records, and writes his book for him as he dictates it.
- Self-Destructive Charge: During the battle with Utugash in the City of Dis, Tary calls for Doty to come help him. Naturally, Doty obeys...but Tary failed to consider that Doty, already having taken some damage during the fight, would have to walk through a wall of fire to get to him. Doty hits the flames and immediately collapses, his HP down to zero.
- Suddenly Speaking: After the Time Skip, the rebuilt Doty 2.0 can say "Tary" and only Tary.
- Tagalong Chronicler: He takes down the story of Tary's adventures as dictated to him.
The Owlbear
The Owlbear
Played by: Taliesin Jaffe
"You may have heard of my exploits. They're whispered in places where evil gathers."
- Race: HumanClass: Rogue (Thief)/ Barbarian (Path of the Totem, Bear)
- Back Stab: As a Rogue, he is adept at this.The Owlbear: Danger right behind you!
- Batman Parody: He’s effectively the Exandrian equivalent to Batman.
- Blade Enthusiast: He's described as having way too many knives.
- Butt-Monkey: His first combat encounter is a Curb-Stomp Battle at his expense. Taliesin subsequently leans into this.Liam: Take that, fantasy Frank Miller.
- Combat Pragmatist: Mechanically, at least. As a Rogue, he gets Sneak Attack whenever he has advantage on an attack roll; as a Barbarian, he can use Reckless Attack to give himself advantage on an attack roll whenever he chooses - so he is, effectively, able to give himself Sneak Attack at his own volition. He can also use a combination of Rage & Uncanny Dodge to shrug off any attacks he takes.
- The Corrupter: Invoked - Owlbear realises that the impact crater used to be a duck pond, and immediately gets the idea to milk it into Lionel's Crime Alley (or Flying Graysons, given he seems to want him as a sidekick at that moment)."That thing you're feeling right now in the pit of your stomach? I need you to use it. Harness it... We're gonna find what did this... and you're gonna have your revenge."
- Famed In-Story: Played for Laughs. He is referred as "The Owlbear Man" by Ashton in Campaign 3, implying he became famous enough for folktales to have been birthed from his adventures alongside the Brigade.
- Hurricane of Puns: He has quite a collection of punny one-liners related to owls, bears and owlbears, plus a few about ducks.
- Pelts of the Barbarian: He wears an owlbear pelt as a cowl.
- Perpetual Frowner: Loyal to his parody, The Owlbear never seems to emote much beyond clench jaws and a focused gaze. His official art also portrays him as this.
- The Pigpen: By Taliesin's admission he smells "kind of bad." Supposedly, he intentionally sprays himself with real Owlbear musk.
- Spell My Name with a "The": He is only know as his Secret Identity: The Owlbear.
- Stealth Expert: As a Rogue, he's very good at making himself unseen.The Owlbear: I hide.
- Hilariously subverted during two group stealth checks, where he rolls Nat 1 both times, making him less stealthy than Hazel.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Parodied - Taliesin can be seen making unspoken stealth checks throughout the episode, for the sole purpose of invoking this trope whilst the Darrington Brigade go about their business.
- Unstoppable Rage: As a Barbarian, this is to be expected.
- Wolverine Claws: He wears a set of knuckle mounted claws.
Farriwen Breeze
Farriwen Breeze
Played by: Laura Bailey
"What if the reason I wanted the treasure was for [the] good of mankind or maybe just for the good of maybe my mankind?"
- Race: Air GenasiClass: Monk (Way of the Four Elements)
- Bare-Fisted Monk: She fights with her elementally-imbued fists.
- Beware the Cute Ones: She's a softspoken, gracile young women, and she single handedly swept the floor with a hulking barbarian.
- Blow You Away: Her Fist of Unbroken Air allows her to blast an opponent with compressed air.
- Double Weapon: Before departing on their expedition, she receives a Dual Glaive from Taryon's armory.
- Dramatic Wind: She has a personal breeze which keeps her hair subtly in motion at all times.
- Lightning Bruiser: Her fighting style is centered around overwhelming her opponents with a series of rapid strikes and elemental attacks rather than powerful hits.
- Not Quite Flight: Due to her Genasi heritage, she can cast the Levitate spell, allowing her to hover up to 20 feet off the ground.
- Playing with Fire: Her Fangs of the Fire Snake projects tendrils of flames to burn her opponent.
- Power Tattoos: She sports glowing markings along her arms which are connected to her elemental abilities, though she states that they're not technically tattoos, but more like engravings.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: And follows all the hallmarks of the trope - until she kicks the Owlbear's ass.
- Supernatural Martial Arts: As a Monk of the Four Elements, she's able to deal elemental damage.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: As an Air Genasi she can hold her breath indefinitely.
- Weak, but Skilled: She has the lowest strength of anyone in the group, but her considerable martial arts abilities more than make up for it: when pitted against The Owlbear, she delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle onto him.
Hazel Copperpot
Hazel Copperpot
Played by: Marisha Ray
"Working long hours in the factory, I used your exploits to escape. But as I was reading, I thought 'what if the other world could hear about these magical tales and adventures... through an audio recording?'"
- Race: DwarfClass: Bard (College of Lore)
- Brief Accent Imitation: She momentarily slips into a vaguely-Irish sounding accent akin to Farriwen's. The latter doesn't seem to recognize that she's being imitated and asks why Hazel sounds like that.
- Didn't Think This Through: She tends to misuse some of her spells such as when she casted Color Spray on Buddy thinking it was a damaging spell and not realizing an ogre fighter would have way more hit points than what she could reasonably cover with 10d10.
- Gadgeteer Genius: She invented the wax cylinder phonograph.
- Magic Music: Par for the course with a Bard.
- One-Man Band: Her musical instrument of choice.
- The Rival: She quickly becomes this to Doty, who sees her as a threat to his position as Tary's biographer.
- Support Party Member: By her own admission, she's very much kitted for support with few direct damage spells, and doesn't do well in single combat against Buddy during her initiation. She doesn't even have any sort of actual weapon equipped, relying entirely on her Magic Music.
- Thing-O-Matic: Her phonograph, the Copperpot Crank-action Audiomatic.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Although she usually speaks with a standard Mid-Atlantic accent, she also has an odd tendency to add extra vowel sounds to words.
Damian Vadoma
Damian Vadoma
Played by: Ashley Johnson
"But I just, you know, I just wanted to try something - I don't know, a little less immoral, I guess, and just see if I like it?"
- Race: Half-ElfClass: Fighter (Rune Knight)
- The Atoner: Despite her history with notorious criminals she joins the Darrington Brigade because she's looking for "more moral" jobs.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Wears a maroon three-piece suit.
- Bifauxnen: She has an androgynous appearance, according to her character art, and wears a three-piece suit. Hazel is noticeably confused about what her gender is when she first talks to her.Hazel Why thank you, thank you, young... lady?
Damian: ...sure. - Big Applesauce: Has a vaguely New York-sounding accent. One of her tattoos even says "Never Forget".
- Devious Daggers: Damien is a mob enforcer, and her primary weapons are a pair of stilettos with brass knuckles built into the guards.
- The Family for the Whole Family: She's a mob enforcer in all but name.
- Fiery Redhead: Ashley even describes it as "flaming red hair", but Damian is your typically mellow Dark Action Girl.
- Gender-Blender Name: Damian is traditionally a boy's name.
- Knuckle Tattoos: They Read "Vita" and "Mors"note Ashley: She's got tattoos everywhere that you can see. Latin: vita, mors, life, death, on her hands; depending on the day, whatever she wants to give.
- Runic Magic: As Rune Knight, she can imbue her equipment with the Jotun runes Haug and Skye.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Especially when compared to the rest of the Darrington Brigade. Lampshaded by Ashley herself when she has to apologize in front of Taryon's parents for swearing too much.
- Sizeshifter: Her Giant Might allows her to double in size during combat.
- Stylish Protection Gear: Her suit is actually functional armor.
- Tattooed Crook: She's from an underworld crime family, and is covered in tattoos.
Buddy
Buddy
Played by: Liam O'Brien
"You're pretty."
- Race: OgreClass: Fighter (Champion)
- Apologetic Attacker: He's rather nonplussed about having to fight Hazel during their initiation.
- Badass Adorable: He's a juggernaut with the personality of a teddy bear.
- Blind Without 'Em: Downplayed. He has severe vision problems, only fixed by the goggles Taryon gives him. He never loses them, as they are strapped to his head.
- Brains and Brawn: The Brawn to Mac's Brains.
- Carry a Big Stick: His primary weapon is an enormous club.
- The Big Guy: At 9 feet tall, he's easily the largest of the group, and with 20 in strength, he's also the strongest.
- Dumb Muscle: He's immensely strong and about as dumb as a brick.
- Friend to All Living Things: According to Narrative Telephone, a bunch of ducks followed him home from a duck pond, and he couldn't make himself chase them away.
- Gentle Giant: He towers over everyone else in the group, but is good natured and friendly.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: He has an Intelligence of 11 and a Wisdom of 12, which should make him a bit sharper than the average person. That's not how Liam plays him.note
- How Much More Can He Take?: During the battle with Quackthulhu, he endures a brutal assault from both the monster's Combat Tentacles and his Brainwashed and Crazy ally Lionel, but never goes down.
- Lightning Gun: the modified chariot he wears on his shoulders for Macaroni to ride in has a Tesla coil installed on it.
- Made of Iron: Shrugs off even to most grievous of injuries with naught but a sullen "okay."
- Mighty Glacier: He's immensely strong and tough as nails, but not the quickest on his feet.
- My Skull Runneth Over: Taryon enchants his headpiece with Telepathy - which leads to poor Buddy screaming as his brain is suddenly filled with way more thoughts than it can handle.
- Nice Guy: He's a very nice, sweet guy who charms his fellow adventurers and the viewers alike.
- Nightmare Fetishist: He finds everything around him to be "pretty," including corrupted direwolves and a gigantic, tentacled duck. A large part of this is because he's dumb as rocks, and another large part is that, until he is given goggles by Taryon, he has terrible vision problems.
- Why Won't You Die?: Matt eventually brings up the ridiculous things he survives.Matt: How many hit points do you have?!
Macaroni Samsonite
Macaroni "Mac" Samsonite
Played by: Travis Willingham
"Light 'em up baby! Whoo!"
- Race: HalflingClass: Cleric (War Domain)
- Bad with the Bone: His Spiritual Weapon is a spinal column.
- Brains and Brawn: He's the Brains to Buddy's Brawn.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: He speaks in a very Stitch-like voice.
- Depraved Dwarf: Depraved Halfling, anyway. He's the smallest of the group, and easily the meanest.
- I Shall Taunt You: He can't resist taunting Damian after she misses her first attack against him during their initiation duel.
- Playing with Fire: He knows Flame Strike, which he uses with much enthusiasm against Damian, as seen in his quote
- Shoulder Teammate: Spends most of his time riding on Buddy's shoulders.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Wears a skull as a hat and his armor is a makeshift mixture of fur and bone.
- Take Over the World: If Narrative Telephone is to be believed (which, granted, runs on Rule of Funny more often than not), his ultimate goal is to use the Darrington Brigade as a guise for his plans to take over Tal'dorei.
- Token Evil Teammate: While not overtly malicious, the fact that his Spirit Guardians deal Necrotic damage would indicate that he's of an evil alignment.
- The Unpronounceable: Even he has trouble pronouncing the name of his Yklwa.note
