The search for the first Vestige of Divergence leads Vox Machina, along with some unexpected allies from the Slayers' Keep, into a temple of the Matron of Ravens in search of Her champion's mantle. In the lair dedicated to Tal'Dorei's goddess of death, one false move can prove to be our heroes' undoing...
Contains the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: A flashback to Vex's and Vax's father has him calling them "diluted" and a mistake. Vax storms out and Vex follows him.
- Downer Ending: The episode ends with Vex'ahlia getting killed by a dark magic trap, activated by Percy meddling with the corpse in the tomb's sarcophagus. Pike's attempt to revive her fails and Vax is left cradling her limp body while begging her to wake up.
- Empty Eyes: Vex's eyes lose their shine and then cloud over when she dies.
- Entitled Bastard: Zahra and Kashaw (Zahra especially) plan to steal the Vestige from Vox Machina because they think it belongs to the Slayer's Take. Even though their very own patron is the one who sent Vox Machina to get it.
- Evil Weapon: Pike begins to notice that when Grog wields the Craven Edge, he is not quite himself...
- Failed a Spot Check: Kash uses a spell to try and locate the Matron of Raven's mantle in Her Temple's antechamber, and he and Zahra enter a door that showed a particularly strong reaction, not noticing along the way a spot hidden underneath one of the merman corpses. They are not seen again for the remainder of the episode...
- Gray Rain of Depression: It's raining in the flashback when Vex finds Vax crying and he makes her promise not to leave him, which flows into the dripping in the tomb as he holds her body.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Vex'ahlia is struck and killed with a dark magic trap right in the middle of telling Percy they should wait for Vax to come back and check the sarcophagus.
- Manly Facial Hair: The belt Grog took from Gilmore's shop causes him to sprout a Beard of Barbarism nigh-instantly, much to his delight. He becomes instantly accepting of his new look, and incredibly upset when some mermen cut part of it off, even if it grows back again in seconds.
- Nobody Touches the Hair: Grog goes into a rage when a merman cuts off part of his beard.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: After they get separated as teenagers, Vax begs Vex to not go far from him again. When she dies, he's left weeping and begging her to stay.
- Reality Has No Soundtrack: Unlike most episodes, this episode has very minimal background music. This was to emphasize its use at the end when Vex was killed by the sarcophagus' trap.
- Ship Tease: Kashaw hits on Keyleth, who blushes at a few of his comments.
- Spontaneous Mustache: Equipping the belt from Gilmore's shop causes Grog to instantly sprout a full beard, leaving him beside himself with glee.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: It doesn't get more surprising than one of the main characters, whose backstory the episode was fleshing out, getting struck and Killed Mid-Sentence by a dark magic trap before anybody can react.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: No one is particularly happy about Zahra and Kashaw joining up, but at the same time they're not really in a position to refuse. Kashaw and Zahra meanwhile make no secret of their disdain for Vox Machina and even plan on snatching the Vestige out from under their noses.
- Underwater Ruins: The temple housing the Matron of Ravens' Vestige is concealed at the bottom of a frozen lake.
- Wham Episode: Vex'ahlia is killed by a dark magic trap. Of course, this being a world based on Dungeons & Dragons, her death is not necessarily permanent, but this still marks the first time that any member of Vox Machina has been killed.
