I mentioned last post that I have a story in the forthcoming Critical Role anthology, VOX MACHINA: STORIES UNTOLD, which celebrates a decade of Critical Role with ten brand-new stories featuring some of Vox Machina’s dearest friends, worst enemies, and dudes they hung out with like once. I’m excited to get to share a quote from my story, “Take This Down: Being an Accurate Accounting of Doty and Taryon Darrington in the Basilisk’s Den”, which is Doty’s tale of his adventures with Tary prior to joining up with Vox Machina. Writing Doty was an absolute blast; I hope the following leaves you as psyched to read the rest of the story as I was to write it!

A blue and gold quote card from Critical Role’s Vox Machina: Stories Untold Anthology. The card title says “Take This Down as told by Jess Barber". It reads: ‘“Doty, take this down. Clarke”—a slightly awkward pause as he visibly tried to recall the remaining names, then moved on—“Feathers, Big and Tall.” He focused his gaze on each of them in turn, striking a bit of a pose. Expression: Noble, Determined. “As the leader of your party, I give you my solemn vow: We will emerge victorious in our quest. No matter how dangerous the road ahead, we won’t abandon our duty, nor shall we back down in the face of near-certain death. The Taryon Darrington Adventuring Party is going to slay this basilisk,” said Tary, clapping one gauntleted hand over his heart. “And save the people of Lichenvel—together.”’

VOX MACHINA: STORIES UNTOLD hits shelves March 4th from Del Ray Books and Critical Role. It features a foreword by Liam O'Brien and stories by Martin Cahill, Becca Coffindaffer, Aabria Iyengar, Sam Maggs, Sarah Glenn Marsh, Rory Power, Nibedita Sen, Izzy Wasserstein, Kendra Wells, and yours truly. You can pre-order it now at criticalrolebooks.com. Get there!