Dear Staff and Cast Of Critical Role

To Critical Role - Staff and Cast

I wanted to handwrite this letter so it was more personal, but frankly, my handwriting is… terrible. It’s atrocious. Really. And what I have to say means a lot to me, so I really want you to be able to read it. So first and foremost, thank you for taking the time to read this stupid typed letter.

I’ve sent you a box of books. I wrote this particular book that I sent you - and honestly, it’s nothing special. Well, not to anyone else, but it is to me. Unspoken and untyped within the words on the pages of this book is a lot of life that happened to me. It took me a long time to get this book finished. I won’t bore you with the details, but the concept was this: Terrible things happened to me, by terrible humans. And I gave up. But you guys made me finish it.

I spent a lot of time in the darkness. And I lost everything about myself that I actually liked. I lost my inner music. I lost my art. I lost the words that I used to weave into stories effortlessly. I lived for a long time in silence - focused on my reality and not daring to dream anymore.

The awesome thing about life is that it is everchanging and shifting. At the end of the road, a human has two choices: They can either stay where they are, stagnant, broken, blaming and suffering. OR… They can get up and carry on, and find the right path to be on. No matter how hard it is, that is the only way a human begins to thrive. The harder path is usually the right one, and I knew that from the beginning.

For a while, I chose the first path. I was too scared and damaged to really try to make a change. I didn’t believe in myself, and I didn’t view myself as worth the effort. But then good people, my family and friends surrounded me with love and forgiveness I didn’t know I deserved. A good man I had known already for almost two decades became my lifemate and introduced me slowly to this group called Critical Role.

It started as him just telling me little things about you guys. I’d always been interested in playing D&D, but I knew nothing about it and I had never gotten the chance to play.

I began watching, listening, and falling in love with the life that you guys would bring to the story. Matthew enchanted me with how he brings, nightmares, fear, and then peace to life, and how every single one of you could wrap us in, and either leave us laughing hysterically or holding in gut-wrenching sobs. You aren’t a group one simply listens to, or watches. One cannot help but feel your stories in our souls. All of you made me want to tell stories again.

Then Chris began to run a game of D&D for the family. And for the first time in years, I actively allowed my imagination to rear its crazy unicorn head and have its way with me. And then... CANDELA!

I was terrified. But after the first circle was formed at home. And soon I was creating worlds, and weaving tapestries into characters that my family had created shells of. As I told their stories (because they gave me complete leeway) it turned into something amazing.

Chris also bought me Stray Gods on the Switch. And that’s when my music came back. The minute Ashley and Laura’s voices stopped after hearing “Like a Boat” for the first time... My heart was filled with music again. It had been 5 years since I had listened to anything but Cocomelon and Disney Jr. songs with anything but discomfort.

I found my voice and I sing again. When my mother heard me sing for the first time in years, her eyes filled with tears. Mom isn’t lucid a lot, but she became lucid at that moment. And I’ll never forget how she hugged me and cried saying: “I’ve missed your voice. I didn’t think I’d ever get to hear it again.”

During all of this time, I’ve also learned of your origin story. How Critical Role started as a homebrew game between people who were just… strangers and friends. And it grew, and grew, and grew - and so did your bonds of friendship.

I am a big fan, but I only want you to have my books because I feel like I owe every one of you a personal thank you.

To be honest, I don’t think this book would be available for people today if it weren’t for Critical Role, and the impact that every one of you has on me. After my first publishing attempt where I fell for some sketchy things, I honestly didn’t care anymore. And I don’t care if it ever becomes a best seller or if I even sell any copies now that I have fixed it.

And if you just put this book on a shelf and never open it, that’s okay too. As long as each time one of you catches a glimpse of the title Memoirs Of The In-Between - you know that book was written by someone that you guys saved.

Thank you for being inspiring. I never thought I would get my stories back. And I didn’t realize how miserable I was without them. I wasn’t living… I was just existing. And that’s not acceptable when we only have one life to live.

I wanted to give each of you a piece of the soul that all of you saved. I’d be willing to bet I’m not the only one out there either.

Sincerely,

Kasey Martin (aka: Willowmeana)