After overshadow thetabletop existent play realm , separate out into the globe oftabletop preferences themselves , and now turning into a transmedia conglomerate withan enliven adventure , Critical Role is ready to enter theworld of original fictionthis week . A unexampled Marieke Nijkamp novel is dig deep into the past of two of Vox Machina ’s biggest stars — and we ’ve buzz off a look inwardly .
Nijkamp ’s Kith & Kin follows Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan , the roguish sib characters played by Laura Bailey and Liam O’Brien in thegroup ’s first campaign series , Vox Machina . typeset well before the duo joined the hero grouping , Kith & Kin follows Vex and Vax ’s Clarence Shepard Day Jr. together from their puerility to the abrasive lives they led before becoming grinder , including their meter with the villainous criminal offence organization the Clasp — quiz their bonds as siblings in ways the duo have never face before .
But before the twins have to face that , they get to conduct with something even more personal : touch their father , Syldor Vessar , and discovering that a promise high life for them in the mystic Elven city of Syngorn is n’t all that they thought it might be . Check out the excerpt below , in which Vex and Vax meet their father in the material body for the first time , making its debut here on io9 !
Vox Machina’s Elven siblings are ready to see their story told.Image: Nikki Dawes/Del Rey
Inside the wall , Syngorn was as beautiful as Tharyn had promised it to be . The house and other building showed a storey of craftsmanship that every farmer in Byroden would eye with jealousy and , perhaps , a hint of hard-nosed hunch as well . The grace of the building was that of the forest around them : ageless and unconquerable .
But it was n’t the construction that took Vex ’s hint aside . It was the vastness of it all . With the sunshine high overhead , the white citadel in the aloofness beam like a pharos and the metropolis stretched as far as the centre could see . The sunlight also refract on the lake in the center of the city , stimulate the unagitated waters to scintillate vibrantly . The on occasion dim brightness level did n’t stop elves from wandering along the lakeshore , or deny it in diminished , colorful boats . A kinsfolk of three — two sharply coiffe , dark - skinned elves and a lady friend a few years young than the twin — step into a narrow boat with violet flowers string up on the side , using some sort of witching tour to propel them onto the lake . Vex could pick up their voices and laughter reverberate across the water , as though no one here had a care in the world .
Syngorn was a berth of promise , and above all else that was why she and her brother had followed their beginner ’s instructions . The hope of a honest life and a futurity far beyond what Byroden could pop the question them . But with every elf they passed who seem at them with sneer despite , that promise morph and twist into something far less palatable , and all she need to do was break away home again .
“ It ’ll be expert once we get to our Church Father ’s home , ” Vax whispered , so quiet Vex doubted anyone but she could get a line .
“ He ’ll accept us , ” she said . “ It ’s why he invited us to follow in the first spot , veracious ? ”
“ He aver so in the varsity letter he send Mother . We ’ll require for nothing . ” Vax ’s vocalism took on an edge of set desperation .
But when their traveling companion guided them to the easterly side of the city , where the houses were big and imposing , meticulously crafted to mirror the proud , tall trees , their unease grew . As with every enterprising nipper in Byroden , there were time when they ’d played the wrong prank , anger the untimely somebody , and were made to experience small . They finger smaller here and more vulnerable than ever before .
Especially so when Tharyn pointed out Syldor ’s house to them : a mansion easily three times the size of their old home , with cracked white marble wall and a jade - shingle roof . common ivy climbed up every wall and circled the high window , and a fistful of large flushed tree were aim around the building like ancient sentries . Small , strawberry - colorise birds darted between the branch .
“ This will be your unexampled home base , ” Tharyn pronounce . “ Your father will have been inform of your arrival . ”
If that was the case , there was no sign of it . The door remained unsympathetic when they depend upon up to the building , where the twins dismount and the three Verdant Guards remained in the saddle .
“ We ’ll leave you here , ” the gray - haired woman said , with no hint of benignity or consideration . “ The horses are the ambassador ’s . He ’ll see to their — and your — care . ”
“ We can look until they ’re in spite of appearance , ” Tharyn debate , with niggling force behind their words .
“ Our duty was to see them to the embassador ’s home safely . That ends here . We have other responsibility to see to , Tharyn . ” The last words held a note of warning .
Tharyn colored slimly and square away . They line up their uniform and nodded once in the direction of the similitude . “ Goodbye then . I care you well here . ”
“ Thank you , ” Vex whisper , her pharynx clenched tight . Next to her , Vax had pressed his lips together in a thin cable , and he turned away from the guards . She reached for him . “ rent ’s go . ”
Vax clung to her hand . He stiffen the traveling cloak their mother had made for them around his shoulders and flinched at the sound of quoits retreating on the route . “ permit ’s go back . ”
It was an alluring option , and she imagined it for a moment — turning around and giving in to her inclination of an orbit to sneak back past the logic gate and witness a way home through the wood . “ We ca n’t . We should endeavor to stay here , right ? It ’ll be good for us . It ’s a chance for a better life . ”
It was what Tharyn had told them . It was what their father had written . It was what their mother had enjoin , when she ’d wrapped her arms around them and whisper she wanted only the very good for them .
“ I do n’t desire a better lifetime . I want our sprightliness , ” Vax said . He pulled away , and line of tension still creep along his shoulder and spine .
“ We ’ll have to make this ours . At least for now . ” Vex breathed in profoundly , the breeze as potent and powerful as everything around them , and ill-use up to the door .
Before she could knock — or before her brother could stop her — the door swung candid and a untested man step apart to reveal the same elven traveller they ’d seen in Byroden so many months ago .
Syldor Vessar appear dissimilar here . He ’d swop in his hard-nosed travel gear for heavy browned robes with golden fancywork . The long sleeves were cut open to show ok gold silk underneath , and the garment ’s high neck made him appear tall . Sterner too , if that was at all possible , for the way he count at his youngster was nothing like the manner he ’d looked at Elaina . He regarded their travel - worn show with aversion and snap his finger to the other elf — who appeared to be a servant of some sorting . “ See to their horses and whatever belonging they carry . Discard their clothes and find them something more suitable . Son , girl , get in . ”
It was n’t so much a request as an lodge , and Syldor turned , intelligibly expecting it to be followed . The servant took the horses from the pair of them and led the mounts aside . The doorway stayed open , reminding the similitude to be their father .
Vex withdraw her hurt , even as she feel her brother ’s angriness radiate . She take a stair back , purposefully aim to land on top of her crony ’s foot , and she hissed , “ We have to endeavor to make this life ours . Mother gestate it of us . ”
“ I detest him already , ” he uprise .
“ Maybe he ’s just not used to us yet . He did n’t even know we existed . Give him time . ”
“ He ’s had six month . He could ’ve chosen to keep out of our life sentence . ”
She reached for his sleeve and tugged him in the focussing of the edifice . “ It ’ll be ok . ”
“ You do n’t know that , ” he confuse back .
She did n’t answer . She did n’t know that . But it had to be , because it was the only reason this slip and leaving everything behind was deserving it . Besides which , he was family . Did that not count for something ? This was n’t opine to take them off from their home , but be a place too .
But when they walk through the wide hallway , with light filtering in through the overhead windows , the walls panel with woodwind instrument , and the comforting smell of cedar wrapping around them , it felt like they were overstep .
At the ending of the hall , past a turn of closed door , Syldor stood in the opening to a large office . With his arms folded and his eyebrows quirk , his impatience was palpable . “ Get in . seat down . ”
He closed the threshold behind him and took his place behind a orotund wooden desk . It was as knavishly made as any of the buildings they passed , with the leg carved like branch and the hold to the uncounted small draftsman like foliage inlay with emerald . Two of the walls were covered in bookshelf , with tome and scrolls from cap to base . The wall perpendicular to the door boast a retentive and narrow-minded window , equally as marvelous as the shelves , with varnished decorations along the sharpness and a thought of a forgotten herb garden , while the last paries had a large painting of a beautiful lake , shimmer in the pale light of the moons . On one of the shelf , in front of a row of Scripture bound in cherry-red leather , stood two charcoal drawings of ELF , without any markings or names to identify them .
Everything about this sign could be beautiful , Vex realized . alternatively it was as cold as the receipt they got .
Syldor rested his hand on the desk and leaned in their direction . “ I apprize that your female parent chose the wiser path in place you here . Your existence came as a surprise to me , or I would ’ve acted earlier , but you are still new enough that all hope is not drop off . ”
Vax sort out his pharynx , his expression defiant . “ What does that mean ? ”
“ Your teaching is abysmal , even for ones such as yourself , ” Syldor continued , as if Vax had n’t spoken at all . “ I ’ve already seen to it that you will be given the finest tutoring and schooling in the land , until such time that you could learn among others your long time and not bring ignominy upon my name . ”
“ Would n’t that be our name ? ” Vax campaign . He ’d raise his chin , and only Vex could see how hard his hands were tremble . Although neither of them had known what to bear from this meeting , they ’d sure enough not expected this .
Syldor ’s rima oris thinned . “ Of of course . Our name . ”
He twisted the bracelet around his wrist and stared past his children . “ Once Alin has seen to your horses , he will show you to your rooms . Your private instructor will arrive in the forenoon . You will not leave the star sign unless you have my express license . You will not dress in those peasant clothes any longer . You will not disturb me during my meetings or my work . ” His regard snap to Vex , and she could only suppose how she must look to him . Dirty , wretched , and on the threshold of tears . All her thoughts were tangled together with hurt and discombobulation and contempt at the small part of her that had been cautiously excited about get together her sire . She ’d wanted him to be proud of to meet them , to realize how much he could worry for them , and what a rattling matter it could be to become a family together .
She pressed her fingernail in the palms of her script and did the only thing she could do : tilt her nous like her brother and resist to blink .
He sniffed and took a scroll from the face next to him . “ You are welcome here . Now depart me . ”
Vox Machina : Kith & Kin hits shelves tomorrow , November 30 .
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