Exandria continues to expand as Critical Role grows. “Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold” opened the door to exploring more stories focused on NPCs. Many of these characters that Matt Mercer crafts have rich and enticing backstories. However, by design, only a small portion of their story is told. This often leaves many questions unanswered.

Critical Role has been digging into these NPCs more through their publishing branch. “Stories Untold” is the most recent example, with ten short stories about allies and enemies of Vox Machina. However, the “Tales of Exandria” comics have explored NPCs connected to the Mighty Nein, with Artagan and the Bright Queen taking center stage. The novel, “Critical Role: The Mighty Nein – The Nine Eyes of Lucien,” was a deep dive into the origin of one of their most feared antagonists.

With Campaign Three, Critical Role released a novel, “Critical Role: Bells Hells – What Doesn’t Break.” This book is a deep dive into Laudna’s tragic and haunted past before she and Imogen joined the ragtag heroes that become Bells Hells. However, Campaign Three is ripe for more stories. This could mean stories tied directly to Bells Hells themselves or shifting focus to the NPCs surrounding them. Nibedita Sen shared her desire to further explore Nana Morri, Fearne’s adopted grandmother, in an interview with Temple of Geek.

“I love the fey, and I love the duality of the creepiness of the fey, where it’s like life and death. Oh, Morrigan, I would love to see Morrigan, Nana Morri. She’s terrifying, but also amazing. And that’s what I love about just the idea of faerie with capital F-A-E-R-I-E is its life, its abundance. It’s also depth and horror and beautiful horror and beauty in equal measure.”

Many Mysteries Surrounding The Calloways Remain Unsolved

In an exclusive interview with Temple of Geek, Lore Keeper Dani Carr revealed that she too is interested in NPCs tied to Fearne Calloway. Carr shared her desire to see the Calloways story continued. This was fueled not only by the characters themselves but also by something Mercer teased in the Campaign Three Wrap Up. Mercer told Critters that the Calloways attempted to escape the clutches of Ira many times. However, the powerful Fae would erase those memories and replace them, essentially “Swiss cheese-ing” their minds.

Dani Carr:

“I really love the Calloways. I’ve always really loved the Fey Realm in general. I love fey creatures. I love magic. I especially love whimsical magic. As a kid, I was obsessed with “Alice in Wonderland,” and I really love the story of the Calloways in C3. Matt dropped a bunch of hints about Fearne’s background and things like that [during the Wrap Up] and how there’s still a lot of stuff to explore there that we’re hoping to do in the future.

I just really love getting to explore fey creatures and how they interact with Exandria. This world of mortals and this world of consequences and realizing that, oh, I can’t always just be mischievous and nothing happens. I like that dichotomy of creatures that go through their lives being spriteful and playful and puckish and then suddenly get hit with a brick wall and are like, A consequence? What do you mean?

Not to say that there aren’t consequences in the Fey Realm, but they’re dealt with in very different ways than how they’re dealt with in Exandria. I definitely am really hopeful to get to explore more of them in the future because they’re definitely my current favorite little guys right now.”

Mercer didn’t only reveal that Fearne’s parents did try to escape; he also shared a critical detail about Fearne herself. Fearne was notorious for making deals and pacts during Campaign Three, often dismissing the potential consequences. However, during the Campaign Three Wrap Up, Mercer teased that a pact was made in Fearne’s name upon her birth. This means that from the start, Fearne has been promised to…something.

The Fey Realm is primed for more stories. It has been somewhat explored in the Artagan comics, but with Fearne and her family, there are even more possibilities. Whether it be a mini campaign, one-shot, comics, or a novel, there is a lot more to learn about the Calloways. However, the Fey Realm isn’t the only mysterious location in Exandria Carr hopes to see more of.

Dani Carr Wants To Explore Exandria’s Cyrengreen Forest

Exandria is vast, and the stories of Critical Role, both on screen and on the page, have only touched on a handful of places. Even Marquet, which was heavily featured in Campaign Three, remains largely a mystery. One part of Exandria that Carr hopes to see as a setting for a story is the Cyrengreen Forest.

Dani Carr:

“In terms of locations, I’ve always been really intrigued by the Cyrengreen Forest. It is a forest in Wildemount that is spooky. It’s just the spooky, spooky forest, and we don’t really get into it in any of the campaigns really. It’s mentioned in C3 as weird things happening. I think a sinkhole opened up or something; I don’t remember. It was in a bunch of weird things that happened after the Apogee Solstice rundown.

As a little preview for “Tusk Love,” there’s going to be a little bit of information where the Cyrengreen Forest will play a tiny role in “Tusk Love.” That’s all I’ll say for now. That’s one of my favorite locations, and I would love to run a little mini-series or write something that took place in Cyrengreen Forest or had something to do with it because I just love a spooky forest.

I love a forest that everyone is like, No, no, we don’t go there. I grew up on fairytales, especially German fairytales, so I’m a big fan of No, no, don’t go in the woods. And then the characters who are like, No, I’m going to go in the woods. Nothing bad’s going to happen to me. And everyone else being like, none of us stuttered. We said, Don’t go in the woods. I just love a scary forest.

You think about the people who are like, No, I know that it’s a spooky forest, but I need to go in there because it’s where lumber is or it’s where I can get these specific berries that I need to make this paste that is part of a healing salve or is going to feed my family. I like ordinary people having to deal with extraordinary things because they must survive. It is that courage of heart and soul that allows them to face these fears that would maybe stifle even the bravest adventurers. Because they had a choice, but these people don’t, and they have to summon their bravery in order to keep going, and that can happen at any age.”

Carr brought the stories of the Mighty Nein to life in “Chronicles of Exandria Mighty Nein Part Two.” Her passion for the Cyrengreen Forest could be the perfect way to continue this. Carr clearly has ideas about stories that could center around the woods and the types of people that could venture into them. This could be the perfect setup to a more mature horror-based story in Exandria.

The Calloways and the Cyrengreen Forest are two pieces of the Exandria puzzle with a lot more story to tell. The fact that the Cyrengreen Forest is featured in “Tusk Love” is fun, but hopefully just the start. Mercer and Carr are clearly interested in continuing the story of the Calloways in some capacity, so hopefully that will come to fruition as well.

Exandria is one of the most exciting original worlds that has been crafted in the last decade. Over the course of hundreds of hours of story through the actual play, comics, novels, and the animated series, only a fraction of this world has been explored. Carr is one of the voices that is a key part of telling this story not only as the Lore Keeper but as a writer and perhaps even a performer as well.