NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Explore the past of Critical Role ’s daring half-elf twins, Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan, in this original prequel novel to their adventures with Vox Machina. Vex and Vax have always been outsiders. A harsh childhood in the elite elven city of Syngorn quickly taught them not to rely on others. Now, freed from the expectations of their exacting father and the scornful eyes of Syngorn’s elves, the cunning hunter and the conning thief have made their own way in the world of Exandria. The twins have traveled far and experienced great hardship. But with the help of Vex’s quick wit and Vax’s quicker dagger, they’ve always kept ahead of trouble. Now, unknown perils await them in the bustling city of Westruun, where the twins become entangled in a web spun by the thieves’ guild known to many as the Clasp. Trapped by a hasty deal, Vex and Vax (along with Vex’s faithful bear companion, Trinket) set out into the wilds to fulfill their debt to the infamous crime syndicate. As the situation grows more complicated than they ever could have imagined, for the first time Vex and Vax find themselves on opposite sides of a conflict that threatens the home they have carried with each other for years. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp , Critical Role: Vox Machina—Kith & Kin follows a brand-new adventure that delves into the twins’ unexplored history, and returns to some of the iconic moments that forged Vox Machina’s most unbreakable bond. Marieke Nijkamp is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of YA novels, graphic novels, and comics, including This Is Where It Ends, Before I Let Go, Even If We Break, and The Oracle Code. Her short stories can be found in several anthologies. She also edited the anthology Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens . Nijkamp is a storyteller, dreamer, globe-trotter, and geek. Before pursuing her lifelong passion for writing, she majored in philosophy and medieval history. She loves to go on adventures, roll dice, and daydream. She lives and writes in Small Town, the Netherlands. She is the founder of DiversifYA and was a founding senior VP of We Need Diverse Books. Founded by veteran voice actors Matthew Mercer, Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Travis Willingham, Sam Riegel, Laura Bailey, and Liam O’Brien, Critical Role has grown from a weekly improv storytelling campaign set in an ever-evolving world to a media company centered on connecting with communities in new and meaningful ways, including fiction ( Critical Role: Vox Machina—Kith & Kin ) and nonfiction ( The World of Critical Role ) books on the New York Times bestseller list, comic books ( Vox Machina Origins, Tales of Exandria ), graphic novels (The Mighty Nein Origins series), collectibles, tabletop and role playing games, podcasts, live events, and a critically acclaimed animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina . Chapter 1 The spider crashed into the undergrowth with a dagger buried into one of its eyes, its claws still twitching and its jaw clicking. A large brown bear immediately leaped on top of it, his paws crushing the spider’s legs, like branches that snapped underneath his weight. Vex’ahlia Vessar shuddered at the crunching sound. “Ugh, gross. How about a cleaner kill next time, brother?” “At least I brought one of them down,” her brother Vax’ildan shot back, his eyes on the two other spiders that were still circling them. “Besides, who led us straight into their nest in the first place?” “Trinket brought one of them down.” Her bow fully drawn, Vex tracked one of the spiders with her arrow. Half-elf twins, they’d stumbled upon a nest, hidden away in the thicket, as they’d crossed into Bramblewood Forest on their way to Westruun. The trail they’d followed from the river to the city got swallowed up by the trees. Three spiders, concealed by the greens and browns around them, had scurried out of their burrow—and attacked before they’d been able to back away and change course. “And you wanted to take a shortcut.” “I’m f***ing tired of trees,” Vax said, like that was a better reason to walk into a spider’s nest. He took a new dagger from his belt. “And Trinket only helped.” “That spider was still moving.” “Twitching. It would have died eventually.” “Because Trinket killed it.” Still on top of the spider, Trinket growled and looked around the narrow clearing in the woods for the other arachnids, ready to jump on another one if the need arose. Vex breathed out and focused on her target. One of the spiders scuttled up a large tree—dashing around the thorns that covered the bark, lending the forest its name—and circled the trunk. Like the first, it was the size of a large dog or a wolf, its hairy legs at sharp angles and its eyes focused on the twins. The four smallest eyes tracked their every movement, while the larger eyes on top reflected the speckled sunlight, giving them an eerie glow. It rounded the tree and when it reapp
