Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins 1

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins #1 is the first issue of Vox Machina Origins Volume 1 and the first entry in the overall Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins series. It was written by Matthew Mercer and Matthew Colville and the art was done by Olivia Samson.

The plot follows twin half-elves Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia, who had been hired to investigate what they believe to be a curse that has befallen the waters of the swamp town of Stilben. Along the way, they meet the young druid Keyleth, who offers her insight on the matter, but a later ambush in an alleyway proves that more is at work than meets the eye.

Publisher's summary
''Roguish twins Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia investigate a curse afflicting the impoverished citizens of the port city of Stilben. Things are not what they seem for the adventurous siblings…between fighting shark-riding fish men and black-clad assassins, they meet an antlered half-elven druid with her own theory about the curse.''

Synopsis
A young woman, accompanied by her parents, is carrying her baby through the surrounding swamps of Stilben. She shows them that her baby is still breathing and thinks that it is a sign the baby's health will get better, but her mother disagrees, thinking the baby to be cursed. She lambasts her daughter, stating that she and her partner are getting what they deserve with "the way [they] live" and accuses the woman of being weak to "do what must be done". Her father restrains her by the arms while her mother rips the baby from her grasp and, ignoring the daughter's cries, tosses the infant into the swamp water, explaining that the "Lady of the Muck" set a curse upon them and will not lift it until she is appeased. As they leave, two grey and purple webbed hands rise out and pull the baby underwater.

Vax and Vex step out from a nearby tree. They discuss what they had just witnessed and Vax suggests they talk to the daughter, but Vex disagrees, since tracking the family across water would be difficult. They discuss what could be behind this curse they were hired to investigate; Vax suggests that they talk to locals, but Vex dismisses the idea, thinking that the "peasants" would only say something ignorant, such as demons, but Vax reminds her that they were raised by a peasant. The conversation shifts back to the curse; Vex speculates that nothing happens in Stilben without someone making a profit. She kneels down to taste the water, which turns out to be saltwater, something she finds interesting. Vex turns around to see her brother knee-deep in water, which she scolds him for.

At that moment, somethings grabs Vax and he disappears beneath the water. Vex screams his name out and fires a few arrows, prompting a shark to appear from the water, with a sahuagin riding it and Vax held in its jaws. The sahuagin tosses its spear at Vex, who dodges and shoots the shark through the eye, killing it and knocking the two men off. The sahuagin gets up and approaches Vex, pulling out a blade and speaking to her in an unknown language. Just as Vex readies her bow, Vax appears from behind and slits the sahuagin's throat.

As Vax crumples to the ground, Vex rushes over and apologizes for her ignorance while being so "keen on the chase". While Vex tries to figure out what the sahuagin (or "shark-speaker") has to do with the curse, Vax, bleeding and laying in his sister's lap, notices a squirrel waving at him. He notes that the squirrel is giving him a rather intelligent look, but Vex dismisses him, noting that he has lost a lot of blood and there are no squirrels out in Stilben. The squirrel magically transforms into Keyleth, who admits that she has yet to figure out gills. Vex nocks an arrow and aims it at the druid, demanding to know who she is.

Keyleth nervously introduces herself and gawks at the bleeding body of the sahuagin. She notes that the people of Stilben think that the shark-speakers are behind the curse and their babies are all stillborn. She also notices that Vax is bitten and, after asking an apprehensive Vax to trust her and informing him that he could get infected, she magically heals his wound. Vax stutters, and Vex clarifies that he is thanking her, and after Keyleth asks, she explains that they are twins. Keyleth awkwardly asks if they finish each others' sentences, which they answer with an unenthused no. Vex does admit, however, that she will occasionally have to finish an enemy off after they are not killed by Vax's poisons, which Vax, unaware of this, finds it sweet. At this interaction, Keyleth exclaims that they really are twins, to which Vax only stares at her. Keyleth, embarrassed, looks away and asks "What?".

Vex explains that her brother has never seen another othlir, or "ill-born" in Elven. Keyleth, shocked, mentions that her parents loved each other and asks the twins why they would be called such a slur, to which Vax and Vex give each other an unimpressed look. Keyleth excuses herself from the conversation to test a theory that a "sorcerer friend" of hers had that the people of Stilben were being poisoned. To test this, she pulls out a cup, scoops a cupful of swamp water, and drinks it to test its taste, much to the disgust of the twins. Keyleth admits that the water tastes bad, but she gathers that the original dose of the poison must have been rather potent, but the sample she tested was so diluted that it would only affect the young or the sick. Vex says that, while Keyleth seems like a useful individual to know, she and her brother have business back in town. She bids her good luck and Keyleth bids the twins goodbye. As the twins walk away, Keyleth cheerfully waves at them; Vax starts to give a wave back, but Vex slaps him upside the head.

The twins return to the home of the townsman who hired them. Vex asks who told him it was a curse, and the man names a "Zeth". Vex reveals that they believe that someone is poisoning the city and blaming the "fish-men". With this, the man starts to lament about his dead twins and wife; his two baby twins had died, and his wife died shortly after, so he had to drag her body out to the swamp and bury her. Figuring that getting to the bottom of this mystery is the only thing keeping him in Stilben, he offers to scrounge up some more coin, but Vax declines, promising that they are making progress.

The twins step outside, where Vex asks how much they are being paid, having changed her mind after initially not wanting to be told. Vax reveals that they are only being paid thirteen gold, which frustrates his sister, who labels the payment as nothing in comparison to her allowance at their school in Syngorn. Vax reminds her that they came from a privileged life under their father and that, to the folks of Stilben, thirteen gold was "everything". Vex relents and they go to find this alchemist named "Zeth". Vex steps inside his shop to see Zeth, a mustached man dressed in purple, gold-trimmed suit. Zeth welcomes her to his shop and offers to dye her suit, which Vex mentions she finds generous, to which Zeth replies that he is a generous man when he is in the mood. Vex mentions that she is looking for something caustic. Zeth suggests lye, which Vex declines, needing something more potent. Zeth suggests aqua regia, but admits that there is none of such a substance out in Stilben due to the lack of demand. However, Zeth suggests that she ask around in taverns in the city. As Vex leaves, Zeth offers to brighten up her cloak to something fashionable, to which Vex simply responds that whatever she is wearing is fashionable.

As Vex steps back outside to meet with her brother, she expresses frustration at the fact that her charm did not work. Vax asks if she had made it obvious that she was digging, and Vex supposes that she could have been subtler. Vax grabs his sister by the arm, and the two go to wait in a nearby alley to see what Zeth does. Indeed, Zeth steps out, and the twins follow him to the house of his supplier. In his contact's house, Zeth is spooked by the sudden arrival of Spireling Harrock and Iselda. Haddock notes to Zeth that he was followed, which Iselda takes as a sign that Zeth's plan is working. Zeth agrees, promising that, as the populace of Stilben is leaving, the town will be clear in a week. Zeth asks about the ones following him, but Iselda assures him that she will take care of everything and orders him to return to his business.

In a nearby alley, Vax and Vex observe Zeth leaving the house of his contact. Vex suggests that they leave, now that they have the house of Zeth's contact and "who knows what else". They pull their hoods up and proceed to calmly walk down the alley, as two assassins in red cloaks follow them from behind, and two aim bows at them from an adjacent rooftop. A knife is thrown at Vax's back and Vex is shot in the shoulder with an arrow, and the twins find themselves in a fight for their lives as two more rogues appear from the other side of the alley. Vax quickly throws a dagger in the face of the assassin that stabbed him. He dodges a swing by the second assassin, making the assassin lose his balance, allowing Vax to stab two daggers in his back. Meanwhile, Vex nocks an arrow and fires it upward, and fires another at the two assassins running toward them on the other side of the alley.

Vax rushes over to the remaining rogues on the ground, while Vex nocks and shoots an arrow at one of the rooftop assassins, hitting him through the eye and scaring the other assassin, wide-eyed, into fleeing as he watches his compatriot's body fall off the roof. Down on the ground, Vax slits the throat of the last assassin as Vex watches the body of the first rooftop assassin fall. Vex comments that she has suddenly found herself much less bored of this job, and Vax deduces that this attempt was a hit, instead of a warning. As Vex pulls the arrow out of her shoulder and wonders what they would have been warned off of, Vax states that they need to find out who the alchemist is working for. Vex asks if they should return to his shop, but Vax says no, since the shop will either be empty or full of assassins, with Zeth himself safe elsewhere until it was certain that the twins were taken care of. Other than that, they are unsure of where to go, and after a few seconds of silence, Vax asks Vex what the name of the druid they met earlier was.

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

Other characters

 * Unnamed human mother
 * Unnamed human infant
 * Unnamed human woman's mother
 * Unnamed human woman's father
 * Unnamed sahuagin shark-speaker
 * Lustran Zeththat
 * Haddock
 * Iselda
 * Unidentified Myriad assassins