CelebriD&D with Joe Manganiello

The thumbnail for "CelebriD&D with Joe Manganiello", featuring the cast.

**CelebriD&D with Joe Manganiello** is a special episode of *Critical Role*. It was recognized by Matthew Mercer as canon in "Vox Machina Go to Hell" (1x91) and was confirmed to be at least semi-canonical when Joe Manganiello's character, Arkhan the Cruel, reconnected with Keyleth and Percival de Rolo in "The Final Ascent" (1x113).

Arkhan and his party find themselves in an abandoned temple while looking for an ancient relic.

## **Synopsis**

Tiamat, the Betrayer God and patron of chromatic dragons, sent visions of a locked-away loop of golden thorns and gems to her follower Arkhan in his dreams. Arkhan spent months of frustrating research seeking it out until finally coming across a monk of the Cobalt Soul named Duan[*spelling?*] who had the knowledge he needed. He hired a group of mercenaries—Keyleth, Percival de Rolo, the Headmistress, and Dupont Dupont—to help him delve into the Vault of Shumas in the Aggrad Mountains of Marquet.

Some two years before Misuthar 812 PD, the party arrived at the Vault. After gaining entry, the party encountered and killed a few yuan-ti guarding the temple. Arkhan then barely took control of the ghostly undead caregiver there, and commanded her to show him to the artifact. She brought forth a manticore, who (following the caregiver's lead) willingly relinquished the loop—the Wreath of the Prism—on its neck. When Arkhan put the loop around his own neck, the thorns suddenly jutted deep into his neck and dealt him piercing damage, changed the appearance of his eyes, and changed his vision so that colors were more vibrant and he could see the heat of others' bodies. He then was able to command the manticore, on whose back the party flew from the temple, with the dominated caregiver following.

## **Featured characters**

### **Player characters**

*(all 5th-level characters)*

* Arkhan, a dragonborn oathbreaker paladin
* Dupont Dupont, a dwarven rogue
* The Headmistress, a human monk
* Keyleth, a half-elf druid and member of Vox Machina
* Percival de Rolo, a human gunslinger and member of Vox Machina

### **NPCs**

* The caregiver, an undead guardian of the Vault of Shumas

## **Trivia**

* The manticore was later named Changó (sometimes written Chango). Manganiello tweeted art of Arkhan and Changó with the hashtag #criticalrole. The artist was Max Dunbar, who later contributed to *Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep*.
* Changó was included in the official Dungeons & Dragons adventure, *"Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus"*.

## **References**

1. ↑ See "Vox Machina Go to Hell" (1x91) at 6:26.  "in a one-shot that is technically Exandria-canon."
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Arkhan recognized Percy and Keyleth, and vice versa, from an adventure some two years earlier.  See "The Final Ascent" (1x113) at 1:04:34.
3. ↑ See the announcement on Nerdist
4. ↑ See "CelebriD&D with Joe Manganiello" from the beginning to 1:58.
5. ↑ The spelling is the same when the identically named region in Marquet is mentioned later.  See "The Gates of Zadash" (2x08) at 1:10:46.
6. ↑ See "CelebriD&D with Joe Manganiello" from 49:16 to 54:00.
7. ↑  Joe Manganiello (@joemanganiello) on Twitter: "Arkhan and Changó at The Tower of Avernus by the INCREDIBLE @Max\_Dunbar #arkhan #arkhanthecruel #dungeonsanddragons #dnd #criticalrole #forcegrey #tiamat" (2018-03-29).
8. ↑ See the original work at Max Dunbar's official website.
9. ↑ See *Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus*, pp. 113 and 149.

**Art:**

1. ↑ Official art of the Wreath of the Prism, by Irina Nordsol (source). Used DM response with permission.