After dominating the tabletop precise play realm, branching out into the world of tabletop settings themselves, and now turning right into a transmedia empire with an animated journey, Critical Role is able to enter the world of unique fiction this week. A brand new Marieke Nijkamp novel is delving deep into the previous of two of Vox Machina’s largest stars—and we’ve bought a glance inside.

Nijkamp’s Kith & Kin follows Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan, the roguish sibling characters performed by Laura Bailey and Liam O’Brien within the group’s first marketing campaign collection, Vox Machina. Set properly earlier than the duo joined the hero group, Kith & Kin follows Vex and Vax’s days collectively from their childhood to the tough lives they led earlier than changing into heroes, together with their time with the villainous crime group the Clasp—testing their bonds as siblings in methods the duo have by no means confronted earlier than.

But earlier than the twins need to face that, they get to cope with one thing much more private: assembly their father, Syldor Vessar, and discovering {that a} promised excessive life for them within the mystical Elven metropolis of Syngorn isn’t all that they thought it is likely to be. Check out the excerpt under, wherein Vex and Vax meet their father within the flesh for the primary time, making its debut right here on io9!

Inside the partitions, Syngorn was as stunning as Tharyn had promised it to be. The homes and different buildings confirmed a degree of expertise that each farmer in Byroden would eye with jealousy and, maybe, a touch of sensible suspicion as properly. The grace of the buildings was that of the forest round them: ageless and unconquerable.

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But it wasn’t the buildings that took Vex’s breath away. It was the vastness of all of it. With the solar excessive overhead, the white citadel within the distance shone like a beacon and the town stretched so far as the attention might see. The daylight additionally refracted on the lake within the heart of the town, inflicting the calm waters to glitter vibrantly. The often blinding gentle didn’t cease elves from wandering alongside the lakeshore, or traversing it in small, colourful boats. A household of three—two sharply dressed, dark-skinned elves and a woman a number of years youthful than the twins—stepped right into a slender boat with violet flowers strung on the aspect, utilizing some type of magic spell to propel them onto the lake. Vex might hear their voices and laughter echo throughout the water, as if nobody right here had a care on the earth.

Syngorn was a spot of promise, and above all else that was why she and her brother had adopted their father’s directions. The promise of a greater life and a future far past what Byroden might provide them. But with each elf they handed who checked out them with sneering contempt, that promise morphed and twisted into one thing far much less palatable, and all she needed to do was run dwelling once more.

“It’ll be better once we get to our father’s home,” Vax whispered, so quietly Vex doubted anybody however she might hear.

“He’ll accept us,” she mentioned. “It’s why he invited us to come in the first place, right?”

“He said so in the letter he sent Mother. We’ll want for nothing.” Vax’s voice took on an fringe of decided desperation.

But when their touring companions guided them to the jap aspect of the town, the place the homes had been giant and imposing, meticulously crafted to reflect the proud, tall bushes, their unease grew. As with each enterprising youngster in Byroden, there have been occasions once they’d performed the flawed prank, angered the flawed individual, and had been made to really feel small. They felt smaller right here and extra weak than ever earlier than.

Especially so when Tharyn identified Syldor’s home to them: a mansion simply thrice the scale of their previous dwelling, with cracked white marble partitions and a jade-shingled roof. Ivy climbed up each wall and circled the excessive home windows, and a handful of enormous purple bushes had been positioned across the constructing like historic sentries. Small, strawberry-colored birds darted between the branches.

“This will be your new home,” Tharyn mentioned. “Your father will have been informed of your arrival.”

If that was the case, there was no signal of it. The door remained closed once they rode as much as the constructing, the place the twins dismounted and the three Verdant Guards remained within the saddle.

“We’ll leave you here,” the gray-haired lady mentioned, with no trace of kindness or consideration. “The horses are the ambassador’s. He’ll see to their—and your—care.”

“We can wait until they’re inside,” Tharyn argued, with little pressure behind their phrases.

“Our duty was to see them to the ambassador’s home safely. That ends here. We have other duties to see to, Tharyn.” The final phrases held a word of warning.

Tharyn coloured barely and straightened. They adjusted their uniform and nodded as soon as within the route of the twins. “Goodbye then. I wish you well here.”

“Thank you,” Vex whispered, her throat clenched tight. Next to her, Vax had pressed his lips collectively in a skinny line, and he turned away from the guards. She reached for him. “Let’s go.”

Vax clung to her hand. He tightened the touring cloak their mom had made for them round his shoulders and flinched on the sound of horseshoes retreating on the street. “Let’s go back.”

It was an alluring possibility, and she or he imagined it for a second—turning round and giving in to her inclination to sneak again previous the gates and discover a method dwelling by way of the forest. “We can’t. We should try to stay here, right? It’ll be good for us. It’s a chance for a better life.”

It was what Tharyn had advised them. It was what their father had written. It was what their mom had mentioned, when she’d wrapped her arms round them and whispered she needed solely the easiest for them.

“I don’t want a better life. I want our life,” Vax mentioned. He pulled away, and contours of pressure nonetheless crawled alongside his shoulders and backbone.

“We’ll have to make this ours. At least for now.” Vex breathed in deeply, the air as potent and highly effective as every thing round them, and stepped as much as the door.

Before she might knock—or earlier than her brother might cease her—the door swung open and a younger man stepped apart to disclose the identical elven traveler they’d seen in Byroden so many months in the past.

Syldor Vessar regarded totally different right here. He’d traded in his sensible touring gear for heavy brown robes with golden embroidery. The lengthy sleeves had been minimize open to point out wonderful gold silk beneath, and the garment’s excessive neck made him seem taller. Sterner too, if that was in any respect potential, for the best way he checked out his kids was nothing like the best way he’d checked out Elaina. He regarded their travel-worn look with distaste and snapped his fingers to the opposite elf—who seemed to be a servant of some type. “See to their horses and whatever belongings they carry. Discard their clothes and find them something more suitable. Son, daughter, come in.”

It wasn’t a lot a request as an order, and Syldor turned, clearly anticipating it to be adopted. The servant took the horses from the pair of them and led the mounts away. The door stayed open, reminding the twins to observe their father.

Vex swallowed her damage, whilst she felt her brother’s anger radiate. She took a step again, purposefully aiming to land on prime of her brother’s foot, and she or he hissed, “We have to try to make this life ours. Mother expects it of us.”

“I hate him already,” he bristled.

“Maybe he’s just not used to us yet. He didn’t even know we existed. Give him time.”

“He’s had six months. He could’ve chosen to keep out of our lives.”

She reached for his sleeve and tugged him within the route of the constructing. “It’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” he threw again.

She didn’t reply. She didn’t know that. But it needed to be, as a result of it was the one cause this journey and leaving every thing behind was value it. Besides which, he was household. Did that not depend for one thing? This wasn’t presupposed to take them away from their dwelling, however be a house too.

But once they walked by way of the vast hallway, with gentle filtering in by way of the overhead home windows, the partitions paneled with wooden, and the comforting odor of cedar wrapping round them, it felt like they had been trespassing.

At the tip of the hallway, previous quite a lot of closed doorways, Syldor stood within the opening to a big workplace. With his arms folded and his eyebrows quirked, his impatience was palpable. “Get in. Sit down.”

He closed the door behind him and took his place behind a big picket desk. It was as artfully made as any of the buildings they handed, with the legs carved like branches and the handles to the numerous small drawers like leaves inlaid with emeralds. Two of the partitions had been coated in bookshelves, with tomes and scrolls from ceiling to flooring. The wall perpendicular to the door boasted an extended and slender window, equally as tall because the cabinets, with stained decorations alongside the perimeters and a view of a forgotten herb backyard, whereas the final wall had a big portray of a good looking lake, shimmering within the pale gentle of the moons. On one of many cabinets, in entrance of a row of books sure in purple leather-based, stood two charcoal drawings of elves, with none markings or names to establish them.

Everything about this home might be stunning, Vex realized. Instead it was as chilly because the reception they bought.

Syldor rested his arms on the desk and leaned of their route. “I appreciate that your mother chose the wiser path in sending you here. Your existence came as a surprise to me, or I would’ve acted sooner, but you are still young enough that all hope is not lost.”

Vax cleared his throat, his expression defiant. “What does that mean?”

“Your education is abysmal, even for ones such as yourself,” Syldor continued, as if Vax hadn’t spoken in any respect. “I’ve already seen to it that you will be given the finest tutoring and schooling in the land, until such time that you can learn among others your age and not bring shame upon my name.”

“Wouldn’t that be our name?” Vax pressed. He’d raised his chin, and solely Vex might see how arduous his arms had been trembling. Although neither of them had identified what to anticipate from this assembly, they’d absolutely not anticipated this.

Syldor’s mouth thinned. “Of course. Our name.”

He twisted the bracelet round his wrist and stared previous his kids. “Once Alin has seen to your horses, he will show you to your rooms. Your tutor will arrive in the morning. You will not leave the house unless you have my express permission. You will not dress in those peasant clothes anymore. You will not disturb me during my meetings or my work.” His gaze snapped to Vex, and she or he might solely think about how she should look to him. Dirty, unworthy, and on the verge of tears. All her ideas had been tangled along with damage and confusion and contempt on the small a part of her that had been cautiously enthusiastic about assembly her father. She’d needed him to be happy to fulfill them, to appreciate how a lot he might take care of them, and what a wondrous factor it might be to develop into a household collectively.

She pressed her fingernails within the palms of her arms and did the one factor she might do: tilt her head like her brother and refuse to blink.

He sniffed and took a scroll from the case subsequent to him. “You are welcome here. Now leave me.”

Vox Machina: Kith & Kin hits cabinets tomorrow, November 30.

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