A beautiful land emerged on screen, of a kingdom, then a beautiful forest, boards flying high in the beautiful blue sky
Long ago in another realm, stood the majestic Kingdom of tal'dorei, once the battle field of gods and titans, It's lands now harbour magic, Wander and mystery, It was a time of peace,
Suddenly the scenery changed to dark and stormy, there was also a field of dead bodies
A great evil arrived, a great group of hero's, banded together, To face this evil
A group stood up top a ledge "hold fast! The beast approaches!" The elder alerted
Everyone pulled out they're weapons and magic relics, they saw a large figure in the fog
Just then The dwarf was crushed by an bolder being thrown at him "What the fuck?!" The sword man exclaimed
"You shall pay for you-" the old man was cut off, literally his head was cut to ahreada and a little fell on the gnome like it was a mask "Holy shi-" as he was in shock the archer screamed as she and the gnome was slaughtered
"Humanity will never fall to your-" the swords man was cut off by lighting striking him down, turning to ash
Well that was...something
At the castle
Someone slapped his fist against the table of the battle plan, knocking down one of the figurines" fuck!" He growled " All of our mercenaries slaughtered like lambs!" The blond man in armor said " I state my case again, Sovereign Uriel, send our army to challenge what ever this fiend is before it decimate the entire kingdom" he pleaded
" perhaps I propose we attempt to capture the beast and use it as a weapon against our enemies" the dark elf suggests smirking
"I must object sir fince" the blond woman immediately shit down "We don't even know what the creature is, Demon elemental, And how do you purpose we capture it" she added
"Lady allura is right" sovereign uriel agreed
"But sire-" fince was cut off "I will not send our remaining army beyond the city walls until we know who or what are enemy is!" He stated "We must find more mercenaries"
"And where might I ask? the torian butchers are butcher the murder hobos murdered, The death dealers are all dead" fince listed every mercenaries that they hired that never came back
"Then find someone worthy!" Uriel's voice boomed, terrifying the dark elf "Do not rest till you bring me the greatest band of mercenaries in all of tal dorei! But I will suggest one mercenary! But she will be teamed up with the worthiest mercenaries you find!" He glared all their eyes Widened
" are you suggesting...her!?" Fince exclaimed, understanding who he was talking about
" send word to Mara the wanderer" he ordered narrowing his eyes " summon her to the castle immediately!"
At the tavern
People were chanting "Chug! Chug! Chug!" There was a group at a table having a drinking game while some people cheered in the background
The big guy slammed his down after he finished first " yeah! Haha! That's right! Who's the best! Yeah!"
"Grog wins...again" the man with the white hair and glasses says then drinks his wine
"Ugh...fuck me why do we always play drinking games with a guy twice our size" the male half elf's groaned
"Because, it's the fastest way to get drunk obviously" the female half elf smirked with the same red hue as everyone else, the orangish red hair female was giggling in her drunken state "Who's drunk? Not me!~I'm great~" she smiles goofy "I think we should go to another-" she cut herself off gulping as she felt herself about to be sick " other_" before finally released the vomit
"Didn't you only have one ale" the female gnome asked while comforting her, as her friend puked again, then patting her own chest from the feeling she was getting " ugh...so drunky..."
Some tall buff orc groaned as he stood in her puke " watch it bitch!" He pushed her aside to the female gnome, pike
"Hey you watch it dick nose!" Grog stood up glaring at the orc
"Easy grog" pike says with her hand raised to ease him " we don't waste time on talking assholes remember" she says which makes him sit back down with a huff
"Oi! Tavern keep! Another round for vox machina! The greatest band of mercenaries in all the realm" the half elf woman, vex says raising her cup
The orc that passed them before laughed as he stopped himself from Drinking " the greatest! I heard you couldn't rescue a cow From a burning barn!" This made the rest of his group laugh "Vox machina, what a fucking joke"
One of the patrons
a female who wore a hood over they're head tried to ignore the orc spouting crap, but she heard her chameleon, pascal
and turned to see him equally annoyed, covering his ears and shaking his head, which she got the message that he was equally annoyed
she payed the tavern keep before saying " I think I'm done" she says
" with them, or the drink?" The tavern owner asked
" the pricks at the other table" she replied, then gave a slight tip " thanks" the woman took the money then went down stairs for more ale
Before Mara could walk away, she came face to face with the same orc she was trying to leave cause off " well well well~ what do we have here~" he smirked eyeing her top to bottom
' oh for fuck sake, avoid a fight...' she made sure her hair wasn't seen " excuse me I'm leaving" she tried to push past him
" nah, hold on a sec~" he once again stood in her way " whys a pretty thing like you leaving in such a rush, stick around babe, I'll buy you another drink~" he grabbed her by the wrist pulling her slightly to his table, the other mercenary's table noticed and frowned narrowing their eyes at him
" a kind offer, but one I must decline since I'm in a hurry" she glared
" can't be that important" he dismissed
" oh trust me it is, now let go before I have to chop your bloody fingers off!" He glared at her " listen here little missy, either sit down and have a drink with us, or things aren't going to be pretty"
Before she could say anything, or even reach for her whip, she saw her chameleon pascal on his shoulder, it wasn't until he noticed her gaze, and followed and saw the critter
Her chameleon stuck his tongue out, which went right in the creeps ear
Example
" ahh! What the bloody hell!" The orc yelled as pascal was thrown up from the mans freak out and the girl barely managed to catch him " pascal that not a great idea....!" She exclaimed as she looked nervously at the orc, who looked really mad ' oh shit....'
" you bitch!" Before he could do anything, a knife was shoved into the table and the girl was pulled behind someone, much to her and pascal's surprise
"Let's keep things civil friend, we're not looking for trouble, leave the lovely lady alone" the man who stood between them was the half elf male, Vax
"Oh I bet you ain't" The orc grabbed him by the collar "Everyone knows your a bunch of pathetic losers who can't get a fucking job, look at your scrawny ass, Too weak to tickle your own pickle" he smirked
"Are you offering to help?~" vax grins ina flirtatious way brushing his hand up the guys arm " yeah~" the guy smirked before realising what he said, which the girl snorts while pascal smirked " well...ugh no...um...Fuck you!" He glared
"Aww, Im only asking you to give me a hand" vax smirked pulling his hand off and yanking it forward, and grog sliced off his hand, while the orc yelled out in pain falling back, The girl looked shocked, with a surprise laugh, while pascal was excited for a fight
"You know vax, I think he's willin" grog says "Ohh can I keep this?" He Asked referring to the dismembered hand
" Don't just stand there gawking lads! Kill em and bring me the girl!" The orc yelled as his group armed themselves as did the members of vox Machina
Grog flipped the table and the two groups roared as they engaged in a fight, the gnome hits someone with her shield, grog fighting with the guy who he chopped his hand off
One of the other guys tried to grab the hooded girl, but vax quickly grabbed her while rolling away from her attacker, the two ended up on the floor, noses inches away " excuse me, my lady~" He grinned while Her face was red
" just remain under here, you'll be safe " he says hiding her under the table He drank one the mugs of ale, slightly spilling a little down his neck, he burps before rejoining the fight
He dodged an incoming chair, and was back to back with his sister, who drew an arrow back
A giant cat with an eyepatch over its eyes aimed his sword at them, vex shots an arrow at him while vax threw his dagger, which teleported back to him, I think vex hit him in the lung, but he collapsed after
" I Had him!" They complained to each other before moving on
Percy continued sitting down, moving his head out of the way, then when one tried to slash, he eventually got up aiming his gun right under their chin, right as they were gonna swing he saw grog jump up behind them
"I'm coming Percy!" Grog yelled
"Oh no..." the white haired male replied wide eyed, then was brought to the floor with the person on top unconscious "Oops"
The girl from under the table heard the name and her eyes widened in surprise " wait?...what did he say?..."
Before grog could apologise, the humanoid dog slammed some wooden furniture over its head, Making him look Back and roar in his face
Vex aimed an arrow at someone as was about to release it when she tripped over someone and fell backwards, the arrow hitting the ceiling fan, and looked to see pike underneath her " pike love! Could you try and stay out of the way?!"
Who lifted her head after being landed on "Come on! You tripped over me!" The gnome complained shielding herself from an incoming object, then rolled out of the way as someone tried to strike them out with a sword
"I'll take that" vax smirked as he swiped someone's who was hiding with his buddy's bag of money, Then threw it to his sister " not bad brother" she grinned as she moved back to avoid being caught, the two who were hiding looked at vax as he turned his head away whistling, looked to make sure the girl he rescued was safe only to find the table and her gone " wait who's got the girl?!"
The girl had to move under a different table, since one of the enemy mercenaries went after her again, but the table she was hiding under was lifted and looked to see the humanoid dog, who growled as he went to grab her " oh shit!" She yelped and moved away
" I got her!" Kelyleth, who was still covering her mouth feeling sick " come on!" She pulled her as the humanoid dog chased after them, kelyleth pushed her behind as the man threw a table that stood in his away aside and roared in her face, however, she could no longer hold it on and the vomit....went into his mouth
He ended up puking as well and she summoned vines from the window and tied him up, Making him fall down
"Why does this happen every time we go out drinking?!" She complained
" look out!" The girl exclaimed while one of the enemy mercenary's tried to sneak up and swing they're blade at the half elf
So the girl in the hood quickly dig into her satchel and pulled out a bottle while the girl dodged his attacks
And as he was about to attack, the hooded girl appeared in front, and blew some purple sparkly dust into his face
He started violently coughing then face planted on the ground snoring fast asleep
"Woah...thanks, what is that stuff?" the half elf says surprised
" sleeping powder, and thank you and your friends for helping me" the hooded girl smiled which the other girl returns until she saw another assailant reach to get her "Woah watch it!" She then threw the girl away from them "Vex take over!" She yelled to the other half elf
"Don't worry! I got her!" The other half elf yelled as she pulling the girl with her, dodging every punch the guy tried to hit her with
Eventually she ended up against a wall while the girl was stood on the side trying to think of some way to help, but the half elf whistled, which confused the girl until the door burst open and a bear who had body armour rushed in roaring and getting the assailants gaze off her
"Good boy tinket!" Vex smirked then raised her finger up "Over here!" She then flipped the guy over towards the bear, who dragged him out screaming
"Wow..." the girl stared surprised
" look out lass!" Vex pushed her out of the way before someone that got hit by one of the guys bumped into her, she got caught and pushed behind someone and looked to see it was Percy
Who aimed his gun at the leader who tried to assaulted the hooded girl but grog was wrestling against him, the leader elbowing grog in her head trying to get him off, but he wouldn't not budge
"Grog step aside!" Percy yelled, he pulled the trigger when he had a clear shot, but nothing came out, instead a little smoke "Oh bollocks.." he said wide eyed
He then got pulled up by the collar by someone while the girl backed up looking for more sleep powder in her bag
"Where the hell is scanlan?!" Vax yelled holding his head in pain
Meanwhile the male gnome was in a bedroom with a woman with pink skin, both naked, but she had a sheet over herself except her chest
While he strummed his mandolin, which was covering his crotch while she was grinning "La lada la lada!~ My ladies rose I will pluck~My love it's time for us to!-" they leaned in but were cut off by Percy being thrown in the room through the door
She screamed and covered herself while he yelled " for goodness sakes! Percy the hell man! If you wanna join you've got to ask first!" The gnome complained
"Scanlan I should have known..." Percy groaned then averted his gaze covering his face slightly "Could you put on some pants and come help us?..."
As the fight continued, the group giving the girl to one another, keeping out of the enemies hands as the tavern keep came back upstairs to find the massive mess along with the fight
" you've got to be shitin me" she grow into large bull, horns popping out "STOP!!!!" She roared ending the fight, grog dropped a man in shock as she slammed her hands on the table
" first, you people drink me dry...then...you destroy my tavern!" She glared as she reverted back to normal "A-and what is that gnome doing with my daughter??!" She pointed at the hole in the door that lead to her daughters room where she and scanlan were....
...yeah I think you already know
He popped his head up from under the covers " it's best you don't know" he says, as she pulled him back down
"Who's paying for all this?!" She questioned
"Goodness such a mess, Absolutely dreadful" vex says walking to her " But I can assure you darling, Vox machina will find those responsible-" the tavern keeper cut her off
"Don't even try it, Money now" she ordered "Well you see-" the hooded girl noticed vex hand her bother a little money bag, they looked like it barley had much in there
She was also cut off by the ceiling fan falling and crashing onto a table, the woman started growing again "We didn't exactly have any money on us per say but if you give me five-"
The group were all thrown out yelling
" hey hey wait!" The girl protested
"Uh hello yes, scuse me!" Scanlan says since he was still Naked but his clothes were thrown out over him "Ah aha thank you much appreciate!"
"Alright wait!" The hooded girl exclaimed gaining the tavern keens attention "Ugh....
I'll pay for it" she groaned
"Wait? Really?" The tavern keep says wide eyed "why?..."
"Technically they saved me from the guys who were the real Ones responsible for the damages, and I know a repair spell" the girl shrugged
"A mage Huh?" She sighs "Fine....you got lucky this time, but cause trouble here again, you won't be so lucky " the woman glared at the mercenary's then slammed the door shut
" uhh...did we get banned?" Kelyleth asked confused to what just happened " I...don't think so..." pike says
" Did we save her or did she save us?" Vax wondered, then sighed "either way... we've got no money, no place to live And fuck all for prospect" he leaned his head against his fist
"Well if someone didn't accidentally decapitate the last fellow who hired us" Percy says eyeing grog who was messing around with the hand he had cut of the guy and bent the fingers down except for the middle one " I apologised didn't I?" He said holding up the hand
" ugh, we have a mountain of debts, minus the one here" vex says petting trinket, then looked at her money bag "and oh good, Three silver to our name, We need a job...Anything at this point..."
"I mean...protecting carts from swindlers
And killing goblins for gold isn't getting us anywhere" pike stands up "I don't know maybe...Maybe we could try doing some good this time?" She suggested
The group was silent until they responded
"Nah"
"Boring..." grog groaned
"Pike ethics are a luxury we currently can't afford" Percy stated while she looked dejected, the silence was then ended by kelyleth speaking "Have you guys ever thought....Maybe we not really meant to do this?" She wondered "I mean vex and vax only care about Themselves...." she says gesturing to the elf siblings "Well fuck you" they glared "Grog just wants to murder everyone" said giant man just shrugged "Eh pretty much" he agreed with her
"Percy barley wants to be seen with us in public" the male didn't even bother to say a word "And Scanlan wants" the gnome beats her too it "To bed everyone in the realm yes you can say it kelyleth I'm not ashamed" he smirked
She sighed "Honestly...Why are we even Together?" She wondered
......
"Welp...While your all moping around I have to drain the preverbal basilisk" Scanlan walked away
Someone near by while he as....emptying the tank, was putting up a poster of which had caught his eye, he didn't realise he was still urinating and got it on the mans legs
" ah!"
Scanlan finally realised "Oh apologies..." he smiled sheepishly "Has a mind of its own..."
"What's the matter with you!" The man exclaimed walking away "Come on" he groaned
Scan lan looked at the what was put up, before ripping it off and running back to the group "This!" He held in up for them to see "This is our purpose, Fighting for justice! For glory! Protections the kingdom and stuff!" The group smiled
"But most importantly..." he threw the poster spinning before posing "Losts of
Money!" He sang
And then his pants dropped
Next day
The group were in they're way to the castle, passing through the market place, everyone was still tired especially since they slept outside
While walking towards the castle Percy stopped when he noticed a certain someone out of everyone else, the same familiar girl he and the group met at the tavern
Even with the hood still over her face, it was more light out, and he could see her face very clearly, he could still see the emerald green eye from the side of her face, light cream skin
He saw her attention go towards the little chameleon on her shoulder, who was messing around on her shoulder, which made her snicker
His eyes widened at the familiarity of her face " it couldn't be...Mara?..."
" couldn't be what?" He flinched when he heard a female voice, vex had noticed his disappearance and came looking for him, When she found him, she saw what he was looking at or rather who " oh?~ got your eyes on someone?~" she teased, he turned his head away, hiding his face "...no..."
Mara was about to leave when someone suddenly grabbed her hood, the small around her neck coming loose Her ponytailed hair flying out into the open then falling against her back
" hey!-" before she finished, the colour drained from her cheeks at what she saw, there was a tall bloke who wore a red clap with a symbol on his back " hello Mara~" she was about to make a run for it, however before she could run off, he grabbed her by the arm " let go of me!" The girl struggled to get out of his grip
Percy growled and was about to March forward reaching for his puffer box, but vex stopped him "Percy wait!" She exclaimed
" he's going to hurt her!" He exclaimed
" and she's get caught up in it if your not carefu!-" she cut herself off gasping at what she saw next
" now I've got you pesky girl!" He smirked " now we'll that Ive got you it's time to go, but just to make sure let's see that-" he reached for her necklace but the girl was quick, she leaned back, causing him to Yelp but then slammed her heel into his face
He groaned clenching his face while she took this time to reach into her pocket and pulling out the same purple dust, then blowing it into the guys face once he removed his head, the coughed " you! Little-" the guy continued coughing till he fell to the floor asleep snoring, loads of people laughed while the girl just smirked, while pascal was covering his mouth laughing
She struct her way towards him and took back her hood, tying it back on but before she lifted it back up then heard
" hey!" She looked behind and saw more Who had the same red clocks as the guy that grabbed her did, she backed up until she had climbed back onto the empty table near her " seriously? Can't you guys take a hint?" She glared
" enough out of you brat! You're coming with us! Along with your annoying frog!" One pointed his sword at her then at pascal, the girl just scoffed, before smirking and turning to Pascal
" wow! How rude! He's a chameleon you idiotic, arrogant, uneducated, two faced, creepy bastards" She scoffed while the pascal shock his head in a disappointed, mockingly way
" enough out of you! It's over! There's no where you two to go!" One says as the rest of them pulled out they're weapons
" I'm not going anywhere with any of your cult lookin asses! So piss off!" She yelled
Meanwhile, vex snorted covering her mouth at the girls chose of word "Wow what a mouth!"
" who's that?" Scanlan appearing along with the rest, pointing at The girl insulting the guys in red cloaks
" she's....the girl we were protecting at the tavern while you were bedding the tavern keeps daughter" Percy stated with his arms crossed
"Well why didn't you guys say anything! She's gorgeous!" He exclaims
They all deadpanned at the male gnome
" of course" pike muttered
" not surprised..." Percy shook his head
" really?..." kelyleth gave a look of disapproval
" the pervert of the group..." the elf siblings
Said, While grog said nothing
" what?!" The gnome exclaimed
"Uh should we help?" Pike asked, gaining the group's attention "they're moving in on her" she pointed out
Mara counted the amount of members crowding around her and pascal " four, five, six! So there's six of you and one of me"she points out "whats a poor girl to do Huh?" she said, pulling a handkerchief from her collar, and started whimpering into it, while pascal patted her cheek
then blew her nose into the hankerchief and a cloud of purple smoke erupted into the air, surprising everyone and even causing some people to yelp
" where'd she go?!" One of them exclaimed
" yooohooo! Over here dumbasses!" Loads of people turned and laughed when they saw her hiding among the armour next to the blacksmith's stall waving
" pascal? Where'd you go?" She looked around when the helmet suddenly popped open to Find pascal waved his hand from inside of a helmet which made her and a lot of people laugh
" get back here!" Mara gasped as she saw two of the cult members, pascal squeaked and launched unto mara's shoulder and they immediately ran for it
" come ere you little shit!" As she jumped into a crate then jumped from it, right into the crowd, both Mara and pascal waved as they were being carried away, the two attempt the same thing, but fell face first when the crowd moved to the side,
meanwhile the group were laughing the heads of " Man this girls a riot!" Vax held onto vex as he was dying from laughter, like the rest, grog not saying anything yet his loud laughter booming
" I really like to know who she is so I can thank her for this! She's making these guys look like total idiots!" Scanlan said, holding his stomach
Kelyleth was still feeling sick and the laughter really wasn't helping " I want to laugh more! But my stomach! I can't!-" she laughed but threw up again while pike was doing what she could to help, even suppressing her own laughs
Percy without anyone knowing chuckled, remembering how mischievous she was
Mara clapped her hands and was about to walk away when she saw three other of the red clocks running towards she, her eyes caught a silver like plate on a table on sale, she quickly bought it, Then flung it in their direction, on hand on her hip, it worked just like a boomerang and hitting all three
Vax had to duck his head, when the tray flew in his direction, sticking into on one of the stall beams of a building, he looked up with a smirk on his face " my kind of woman~" he says
in the end Mara stared down, nodding at her good work, high giving pascal's tiny hand " that takes care of them, onwards to the castle" she then proceeded to run away, down the street
" oh man! That was entertaining!" Scanlan clapped
" hope to see that again!" Pike finally calmed down " that fight was hilarious" the group started walking to they're destination, leaving Percy and vex
He was still staring at the path Pyra had hurried down "Percy?...did you...know that girl?..." vex asked hesitantly
" it doesn't matter...it couldn'tve been her...right now we must proceed to the castle" he muttered
"Hey lighten up, maybe you'll see her again" she says
Time skip
"Ugh we're really going to see the sovereign like this?" Kelyleth asks gesturing to they're state
Vex ignored and walked up to the doors which had two guards outside, who crossed they're spears in front of the door "Halt"
Vex dug into her pocket, pulling out the crumpled paper before opening it, revealing the wanted mercenaries poster, the guards moved they're weapons back up "Okay we'll take you in, but the bear stays outside"
The group look at trinket, who lowers his head disappointed and sad
The group walked in while vex comforted the animal "It's okay buddy, We'll be back soon" she walks to catch up with the rest
Trinket sat down awaiting they're return
They entered the main hall and approach the council who we're currently having a meeting by the throne "Lady kima, It's imperative lord and lady briarwood join us" sovereign Uriel says
"Sire, White stone hasn't been heard from in months" she stated with seriousness in her voice
"Excuse me?" Kelyleth tried to get they're attention but they didn't hear her
"Our last messenger never returned." Lady kima added
"Excuse me?" Kelyleth continued but wasn't heard
"They must be warned of these attacks. Send another guardsman straight away."he ordered, just then grop let out a loud burp, which echoed throughout the entire hall, finally gaining the council And sovereign uriel's attention "I'm sorry, who the hell are you?" Lady kima questioned with narrowed eyes
"Vox Machina." Percy indroduces smiling while fixing his glasses "You see, it's actually a somewhat clever play on words..."
"Honestly, we don't care." Fince Interrupted, rudely "Sire, I warned you the notices would attract the scum of Emon." He says as the council moved out to the sovereigns way
"Excuse you?" Vex glared alongside her brother
"I think Sir Fince means a foe this deadly requires more seasoned..." Krieg says
"Krieg, don't bother with these drunken buffoons." Fince glared then called out "Guards?"
Two guards tried to take them back outside, but vex pushed the one near her away, holding her brother back from attacking while Kelyleth hid behind him
Scanlan had his fists raised
Percy moved away from the one near him, pike also moving, grop growled at the guard, making him back off
"Buffoons?" Scanlan says insulted "Clearly you've never heard of the Legend of Vox Machina." He says as he pulled out his instrument "Allow me to give you a proper introduction." Then strums his
"Oh, gods, here we go..." vax groaned
As Scanlan continued playing "♪ Your Excellence tried the best fighters ♪ ♪ Who've adventured far and wide ♪" he sang as sovereign uriel and Lady Allura look at each other raising an eyebrow
"♪ But I promise ♪ ♪ That you've never met a troop so qualified ♪ ♪ There's Grog our mighty giant ♪ ♪ He's a simpleminded hulk ♪
♪ And Percy's pepperbox can blow apart ♪ ♪ Your fսck¡ng skull ♪
♪ Nature hath no fury ♪ ♪ Quite like Keyleth the Ashari ♪ ♪ Controlling plants and animals ♪ ♪ She's a magical safari ♪
♪ The twins Vex and Vax ♪
"♪ She shoots, he hides in the pitch ♪ ♪ They're stealthy and quite deadly ♪ ♪ But I forget which one is which ♪"
"He's Vax." She rolled her eyes
"She's Vex. ♪" he says ignoring scanlan
Pike's divinity is pure ♪ ♪ Her hands can always heal ♪
♪ Oh, and did I mention we have a bear? ♪ ♪ Trinket, no big deal ♪
♪ And as for myself? My name is Scanlan ♪
♪ The man with the phat purple hand ♪ ♪ My music's the jam, going ham, you can't stand it ♪ ♪ Get some water, hide your daughters ♪
Sovereign uriel Clears his throat, meaning he wanted the introduction to end "Oh. Uh, sorry." Scanlan continued to the Finale
♪ Brave warriors are we and far more clever than a fox ♪ ♪ They'll tell tale of our exploits ♪ ♪ In the Legend ♪ ♪ Of Vox!!!!♪ ♪ ....Machina ♪♪" Scanlan finished his song introduction with jazz hands and the group returned to normal
Everyone was standing, looking either tired, which was a lot of them, Percy looking away from the group and Kelyleth puking again "Uh, thank you very much."
"Oh...."
"Mm, okay.
"Uh..."
"Give the council a moment to discuss your curious group." Sovereign Uriel says as the council turn away from them
"You can't be seriously considering them for such a crucial task." Fince said in disbelief
"Sovereign, their reputation is less than stellar..." Lady Allura adds
"Well, they do have a bear. It looked quite ferocious. And the song was entertaining." Uriel admits
"Why not give them a chance? Perhaps there is more than meets the eye with these warriors." Krieg suggest
Pike was Leaning against grog, snoring in her asleep, Vax, vex and Kelyleth looked tired and one of them sickly, grop too looked also tired Percy faced the other way, And Scanlan just waved at them "Eh?"
"Yeah, doubt it." Lady kima disagreed "Let's just call in Agar's Assassins again."
"Uh.." a guard cuts in "Agar apparently had his hand chopped off in a barroom brawl..." he informed
"Oh, sh¡t..." Scanlan turned his head away whispering
Vex grunts when she started to hear High-pitched ringing, looking up to see one of the council, Fince looking at them with his eyes narrowed as the council talked with one another, they finally turned back to the group below
"Very well. You're hired, Vox Machina. Mainly because I like the bear." He says "Lady Allura will accompany you to the Shale Steps, the village closest to the last attack" Both twins cross they're arms "So, what exactly are we killing, and how much are we making?" Vax asked curiously
"We don't know what you're killing, but once you kill it, all this is yours" Krieg gestures to the large chest, which the group stare in awe and excitement
"Uh, one more question." Scanlan raised his hand "Yeah, how are we supposed to get there?" He asked
"The same way you will with the mercenary you'll be teaming up with" lady Allura comments
" excuse me what?" Vex raised an eyebrow
"You clearly didn't read the entire wanted poster" Lady kima rolled her eyes, vex pulled out the poster to look at it "your to work with the lone mercenary that works for the sovereign"
" really Scanlan!" She groaned after seeing the fine print
"What?!" He snatched it and took a look until he found it "Okay who the heck is ' the wanderer'?" He asked
"The person you'll be working along side, you'll meet her on the sky ship" lady Allura states as she approaches them
Time skip
They were lead towards the ship, and they saw someone going through they're things, who was wearing a hood over her head " is that them?" Kelyleth announced to the others, pointing the person out, she then narrowed her eyes, which then widened in realisation" hold on a second, thats the girl from the tavern and the street fight!"
"Well, who's going to talk with her?" Scanlan asked " considering they said it was a female, I will take the burden since I have a way with ladies, and go and speak with our lovely temporary comrade" he says slightly a bit dramatic, the others groaned and immediately shut him down
" nope, not gonna happen" pike denied
" hell no" vax says arms crossed
" don't even" Kelyleth warned
" ugh, the last thing we need is you flirting with her" vex glared
" what?!" He exclaimed
" forget it, I'll do it" Percy groaned, and starts approaching the female while Scanlan Was complaining
He stopped once he was five feet away, then cleared his throat " excuse me miss?" He says gaining her attention, she turned her head
" oh sorry, one second let me just put everything back" she says quickly putting everything away in her bag
" oh course, take your time, I'm just here on behalf of vox machina to greet you proper-" he cut himself off as his eyes Widened, when she stood up, removing her hood and saw her face close up
"Mara?..." She looked at him rather surprised that he knew her name, and became cautious " wait...how did you know my.." she said until she got a better look at him "What a second...I recognise those glasses and white hair...Percy?!"
The others over heard the two, and looked rather shocked " wait.... they know each other?" Vax asked
" oh no, they just happened to guess each others names" Vex replied sarcastically
" man it's good to see you!" Mara smiled
" uh..y-yes...it is..." he stuttered "when did you become a mercenary? I thought your passion was archeology" he stated from memory
" It still is, things...at the tavern haven't been going well, not a lot of customers, and you and I know about my dads accident, so...I started doing mercenary work, but enough about me, how have you been?"
"G-good, actually" he says smiling slightly rubbing the back of his neck
"Man, I've never seen Percy like this" pike comments
" is he...smiling?" Grog asked tilting his head confused
" oh I'm going to enjoy teasing him about this" vax smirked mischievously
" why don't we give them a few seconds to talk and catch up" Kelyleth suggests " then introduce ourselves"
" wha?! But!-" Scanlan was cut off
"Now Scanlan!" Vex pushed the gnome before he could finish, she started pushing to follow the group " oh come on!"
And the two were left alone to catch up, sitting on the crates " wow...I...still can't believe your here" Percy says rather surprised
" I didn't think I'd be either, lots of tough mercenary jobs, still made some money, but...not enough to find a place of my own..." she sighed
" so you finally moved out from there, I remember, when we were young you kept crying while saying you'd never leave home, even when you'd grow up" he stated with a sly smirk
" ack! Hey!-of all things that's what you'd remember?!" She complained playfully as he chuckled
She then remembers something and gave a sly smirk of her own " besides, I remember when we were young that one time on the docks near the tavern~" his eyes Widened and turned red in embarrassment and began protesting " no. No. Don't you dare-" " and when the fishing line started tugging you got pulled in and I had to come help you!" She snickered
" damn it....." He groaned with a hand over his face while she started laughing but he then joined in on the laughter " I've really missed you" he smiled
" well if you'd visit you wouldn't miss me so much" she says playfully elbowing him
" yeah, so are you two done?" A voice suddenly speaks up
" ahh!" The two jump back to see the male gnome " Scanlan!" Percy exclaimed pretty peeved off " seriously?!"
" what? I got curious" he shrugged not really getting the hint he interrupted " and the ships gonna leave soon, so introduce us to your supposed " girlfriend" he quoted
" w-what?" Percy laughed nervously, while Mara turned away smiled awkwardly with a red face " we're just friends" he stated
" y-yeah...c-child hood friends" she added in
" exactly" he agreed while the gnome looked at them back and forth suspiciously
" so does that means....your single?" Scanlan asked her immediately with hope in his eyes, which really peeved Percy off
" I..uh..." she didn't know how to respond
" what did we say scanlan?" He flinched and turned to see vex really mad, along with the others
" well? Uh..." he stammered
She shook her head sighing and walked up to the girl " I'm sorry about him, I'm vex" she says putting her hand out for Mara to shake " it's fine, the names Mara" she smiled
" her brother, vax" he introduced himself "so you were the girl at the tavern"he comments
"Yeah...sorry you had to get involved in that mess, I usually like to avoid fights" she says cringing since she felt it was her fault
" nah don't worry about it" pike said " we would have gotten into a fight one way or another" she shrugged " I'm pike" she smiled "That's Kelyleth" she says, gesturing to the giant, and the other elf " hi" she waved shyly
"And I'm assuming this is grog?" Mara asked gesturing to the giant which made the group surprised
"Can you read minds?" Grog asked curiously
"No, I heard Percy yell it out at the tavern last night" Mara stated raising an eye brow at said person, who turned away smiling sheepishly
"And this is my little buddy and companion, pascal" she says pulling out the little lizard
" aww! He's adorable!!!" Kelyleth was the first to hold the little guy, who was acting so adorable to get attention
"Ho! It's a Frog!" The goliath squealed, and reached for the reptile, who jumped into his giant hand snuggled it into his face after crawling up "Can we keep him?"
Mara just shook her head playfully smiling, looked like her little friend made a new one
" sorry grog but he's mara's" pike stated
" it's fine, seems pascal can stick with him for a while" Mara assured
" is that the same little chameleon you saved when we were kids?" Percy asked
" yep, the very same one!" Mara smiled
Time skip
Grog, Kelyleth laughed as they ran up the deck to enjoy the view, up to the front where Percy was talking with Mara, who was also enjoying the view
Meanwhile vex was talking with her brother about what happened in the throne room" Brother, I am telling you I felt it, right there in the throne room. I haven't felt that since..." she trailed off but was interrupted by Scanlan appearing "Isn't this ship amazing? There's two bathrooms downstairs. Hey, by the way, why are you both whispering like we can't hear you?" He asks
"Can you mind your business for once, gnome?" She glared while he turned away, muttering in a mockery about what she just said
Lady allura walked up, eyeing the burns and damage of what seemed to be a destroyed village "As you can see, the creature has already razed three villages and miles of farmland. If this evil persists, the kingdom will starve to death." She explained
"This mission sounds kind of deadly.." Kelyleth chuckled nervously "Do we really want to do this?" She asked everyone else
"Yes, this task is dangerous, which is why only the most noble, heroic and true..." lady allura is interrupted by vax "Yeah, yeah, nobility and heroism is fine and all, but we're in this for the money.." he states
"I see. So it's coin over character. Not surprising." She says nonchalantly
The air ship lands and everyone by lady allura gets off "The Shale Steps are beyond that hill. Good luck." Before she leaves she says "Please don't, oh, fսck this up, as they say." She phrased, then walks back up the stairs into the airship
"Thanks for the sweet ride. You'll be back to pick us up later, right?" Instead Birds cawed as the air ship takes off and the group start walking towards the village that was still active "Yeah, she'll be back." Scanlan turned and ran to catch up with the others
"What we doing here again?" Grog asked
"The last attack was just south of here. We're gonna ask around, see if anyone knows anything." Pike says
"Ask around." Grog says to himself with his thumb and index finger cupping his chin, he and pike then turned at the sound of Kelyleth's voice to see her talking to a tree...
"Excuse me, green friends. Have you seen any evil wizards or giant monsters passing through here?" She asked in a slight chipper tone, both look at her confused
"Uh...
"That's kind of weird.."
Scanlan, vex, Mara and Percy listened as the fisherman spoke about the storm, also asking if the villagers saw any evil creature
"Nah, it was too foggy. All we saw was dark clouds, lightning. We thought it was a storm." He says as Scanlan paced back and forth listening to every word the man said "Oh, you didn't see anything, huh?" Scanlan says suspiciously "How convenient, Mr. Fisherman, if that is your real name!"
Vex pushed him aside "Whoa... Okay, maybe let me handle the questioning. Scanlan" she pushed him away as pike and grog approached
"I'm sorry about him." She says while he crosses his arms
"You're a priest of sorts, aren't you?" The wife of the fishermen asked pike "Could you bless our house? Protect it from this evil?" She asked
"Uh... A-A blessing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Uh, no problem." She steps forward
"Okay, here goes." She holds her necklace, which had the symbol of Sarenrae on it
She then gestures to the house as she speaks "May the...Everlight shine upon your home..Everything will be...tip-top." She says with a nervous smile, then finishes "Okay. I'm sure you'll survive these trying times, so, good luck?"
The others place the family just look at her
"Are you sure you're a holy person?" The fisherman asked
"Yeah, I'm-I'm just, uh, out of practice. I don't really bless a lot of houses these days." She said fiddling with her necklace
"Thank you, dear." The Fisherman's wife smiled "I'm sure it'll be enough to keep our family safe." She says rubbing her sons head
Who then noticed vax flipping The coin in between his fingers "Wow." He looked towards the young boy and smiled at his curiosity "Are you a wizard?" The boy asked
Vax chuckled keeling down to his level
"Nah. The magic's all in the fingers, kid." He says making the coin vanish, which he gasped, then looked surprised when he pulled it from his ear "Wow." He says in awe
"And now it's in yours." Vax placed the coin into the little boys hands "Whoa."
"That's real silver. Keep it safe." He says placing a hand on his shoulder, then retracting it "There's a monster roaming about." He states
"You mean flying." The boys sister says joining the conversation
"What's that?" Vax asked confused
"Something flew right over us." The girl stated "It knocked down the big tree on the hill." She pointed in the direction of the tree"We heard wings beating but we couldn't see it in the storm."
"But it was big. Really big." The boy stated
"Yeah." She mumbled
Vax looked in the direction of the big hill, knowing him and the group were going next
Time skip
It was getting dark and the ground started looking around the area "Get over here!" Vex called out to the group, while following the beer who sniffed out a trail "Trinket found something" Which looked like a foot pint, but not recognisable
" The tracks are too muddy to discern. But it looks like it took to the air and flew along the coast." She says pointing in the direction of a path along the cliff
Everyone carefully climbed down the steep hill, unfortunately, Kelyleth slipper and dropped her staff, luckily pyra's quick reflex cut in and caught it " I think you'll be needing this" she says
Kelyleth chucked awkwardly " thanks..." and takes it back and the two continue with the group
They then made it to an open area: vex and the group stopped when they saw the new footprints
"Ah. Now they look... human?" She mutters, she then Grunts as the ringing like from before when they were in the hall
"It's close." She announced "Everyone, get ready."
She looked forward towards the bushes, which began rustling, indicating something was there, everyone armed themselves
But stopped when a lamb hops out, grog starts laughing as it hopped away "Get the fսck out. What, a little lamb was behind all the mayhem?" He coed "Oh, don't let that thing bite you, Vex."
She then grunts as the pain grew worst and more intense, she looked towards where the lamb trotted
In the mist a giant creature loomed over it before crushing it with its foot, the others watch in shock as a giant blue dragon emerged snarling "Oh, fսck, oh, fսck, oh, fսck." Scanlan began to panic "fսck!"
It shoots out blue lightning, and everyone began running, grog being quick and grabbing pike, but his back crashes against a tree
Kelyleth, vex and trinket ran, then jumped out of the way to avoid being hit by the lighting, hid behind a tree
Both Scanlan and Mara were still running as the dragon took notice, he moved fast and tried to bite them, but missed and bit some of the trees
Scanlan and Vax hid behind one of them while Percy and Mara hid being another
It then fired more lighting at the forest in hopes to get the group, Kelyleth in shock at the damage it was causing
"I suggest we run. Right now!" Percy yelled to the group
"fսck that. We fight!" Grog growled the roared as he went charging in, axe in hand
"Grog, you dumb, brave asshole!" Vax yelled as the others run to join him
Grog was about to swing when the dragon kicked him away, making him crash into a wall where Kelyleth and trinket were, she gasped in shock
"Grog's down already? Come on!" Scanlan exclaimed, Vex let loose some arrows as Scanlan played his Instrument, Both the giant purple hand and arrows hit the creature, but it was unfazed, then shot lighting out which they dodged
The others looked at each other before nodding, pike summoned her shield as Vax ran towards it, daggers in hand, Percy starts shooting at it as Mara drew a magic circle mid air which glew a purple light
" abomination! Rise and seize!" A monster golem to fight against the dragon, but was getting comepletly wrecked
"Keyleth! A little magic might help" Vex called out, She however was trapped in fear, watching everyone else trying to fight this creature
"We're in serious trouble here!" Percy yelled, mara's abomination got irradiated by the lightning " damn it!"
Vex went back to trying to snap Kelyleth out of her trance "Kelyleth, snap out of it. Keyleth! Keyleth!" She yelled in her face, finally gaining her attention "Sorry. Um... Okay. Okay!" She got her staff and closed her eyes, which then started glowing green
In the sky, the clouds began to spin around right above the dragon, who noticed
The group ran to kelyleth as the thunder roared in the sky, she grunts as she pulled her hand back, which caused lightning to struck down upon the dragon
However when the dust cleared, and when I mean cleared, the dragon literally roared and the dust cleared as if it was never there "Did I just make it worse?!" She exclaimed
As the dragon aimed at them, Pike ran in front of the them, activating her shield, and enlarging it
One of its eyes barrier before rolling towards the mountain and shot lighting towards to, causing the top to split and debris to fall towards them "Look out!" Vex yelled As the group shielded themselves as the rocks had fallen
The dragon looked amongst the rubble to see a hand sticking out that looked like grogs, before taking off into the night, the last thing heard was a roar
But when it left, a familiar male gnome could be heard "Uh, get me out. Get-get me out! I'm trapped under Grog's ass!" He Strained
Said giant lifted the rock blocking him from getting out as trinket pushed one out of the way and climbed out
The rest were piled on each other with Percy under everyone "So... this is what rock bottom feels like." He groaned everyone began to get off and climb out
"At least we're still alive, thank the Everlight." Pike brushed off the mess
"And thanks to Keyleth for the giant shrub. But did you have to make it so thorny?" Vax groaned, picking a thorn out
"That dragon. We almost... died" kelyleth pants in shock
"It's okay, we didn't die. Because of you, Keyleth. You hear? We're alive because of you" Mara states, helping her out, she noticed grogs hand covering a wound on his side "Grog. You're hurt."
"Nah. Just a flesh wound. No big." He said before groaning from the pain he was feeling "Question: Is this normal?" He asked removing his hand and blood spewing out from the
"Oh, no." Percy
"Holy sh¡t." Vax
"I'm gonna throw up."Scanlan
Pike went up to him "Hold still, old friend. I got you" her necklace starts glowing gold like the wound, he growled as it fully healed "Oh, I feel better already. Thanks, Pike. You're the best." He smiled at her
She sighs "That... took a lot out of me." She then fell back, but scanlan caught her "I got you." He assured
"Oh. Uh, thanks." She thanked "Oh, uh, you can put me down now." She says awkwardly
"Oh. Yeah. Uh... yeah." He turned away as she stood tall, he turned bashful
"All right, fսck Uriel and all of this, we're done here." Vax announced "We didn't sign up for certain death."
"Must I remind you we gave our word to the council?" Percy reminded "That should probably mean something."
"Oh, who gives a soggy anus about the council?" Scanlan complained "The only word I care about is "Scanlan Shorthalt. "And yes, I know that's two words, but you know what I'm saying."
"Yeah. What have those fuckity-fucks ever done for us?" Grog seemed to be in the same page "Except give us a job and a bunch of gold and treasure and stuff?.." he listed
"We've fought a lot of things... but a dragon? An actual dragon?" Kelyleth asked wide eyed
"It's not about the council, or the contract..." pike interrupts "it's about these people. They need us. We can't just run away."
"This is why I hate traveling with holy people. They're too goddamned good." Percy groaned, before grunting when Mara elbowed him " so you hate travelling with me?" She glared
" what?...no I..." he said wide eyed
"Pike... this creature is beyond us" vex stated "When Vex and I were young, one of those monsters killed our mother. I've studied dragons my entire life, hoping to find the one that did it. I can... feel when they're close. A horrid pain in my head." She explained
"Then it's settled. We'll go back to the palace and get out of the contract." Percy said "You don't understand, Percy." She interrupts "I felt it there, too, at the palace" she stated
Mara's eyes widened
"Y-You're just telling us this now?" Scanlan exclaimed
"I'm sorry. I..." she crossed her arms "I wasn't certain until the dragon..." she trailed off tears slowly forming "It's been years since Mother..."
Vax placed a hand over her shoulder "Are you sure, Vex'ahlia?" He asked
"I know what I felt." She replied "Someone on the council must have been in contact with the dragon, or... I don't know, but I-I'm sure it was real."
"Then we walk away from all of this." Vax turned to the others "It's not worth it. You heard her. One of them might be working with that monster. Let's just get the hell out of here and never set foot in Emon again. Can we all agree on that?" He then walks away with his sister
Percy walks after them, followed by Scanlan, and Kelyleth, who pike tried to stop but gave in
She then looked and noticed Mara hadn't left yet " so what about you? Mara?" She asked
"I...I can't...I...I hate failing and....I need to complete this...I can't..." Mara murmured, gripping her fist in anger at the thought in her head, before looking up with rage " I'm heading back to the castle, but I'm not backing out ..." she then walked to catch up with the others, leaving a surprised pike
Grog then picked her up and followed after the group, heading back to the village, it began to rain,m
But when they got they're, they're eyes widened, it was destroyed, the rain damping the flames out
"Oh, no...." vex gasped
"They wiped them out, all of them...." pike breathed
Vax had already run toward the house that belonged to the fisher man and his family
He got there and it was in the same condition as the rest, with a stifled sob he pleaded it not to be true, but he went in and as soon as he saw what he did, he had to sit down
The group walked in to see what he did, the fisherman was dead, so was his wife, clenching they're dead daughter
Pike jumping down from grogs back, everyone looked sad, Suddenly Vax heard a weak familiar Weak groan and quickly rushed towards the debris that was over a person
With the help of grog they managed to move the broken debris and pull out the person who turned out to be the little boy he gave the coin to, he was practically at the edge of his life
"Pike! Get over here!" Vax yelled the kid Groaning weakly
Pike tried to heal him while Vax held his hand "Please, Everlight, let your power reach him." She pleaded but it wasn't working, it kept blinking g in and off
"Pike. Please." Vax begged
"sh¡t!" She cursed "No. I can't do it. I'm still too weak from before!" The child continues to his weakly grunts until he let out his final breath
Thunder rumbling in the background made the scene more sad, Vax clenched his blood stained hand "We could have stopped this...Should have..."
They then stopped had looked back at Scanlan in the doorway plucking and tuning the strings of his instrument "What the hell are you doing, Scanlan?" Vax questioned while looking at him with an expression of disbelief
"Thinking of a rhyme for "dead dragon." He Sighs "Cause I... I guess we're killing one"
"I'm in." Kelyleth said "Uh, I mean I'm not gonna lie, I'm terrified out of my mind. But I'm in."
"I don't like losin'..." grog frowned "... but now I'm feelin' things, on the inside...They don't feel right" he then lifts his head determined "So yeah, I'm with ya."
"That was... actually well stated, Grog." Percy states rather surprised
"What was?" The giant looked at him confused, Percy sighs shaking his head "Uh, never mind. Count me in as well."
" i too hate losing, I'm obviously in, I mean I still would have if you guys didn't" Mara admit
" you are crazy" Scanlan states " and I'm proud of it" said girl crossed her arms " I just want the scaly turd dead"
"You guys...we're doing this."
Pike said
"You all realize we're going to die a truly horrible death." Vex reminded walking to her brothers aide
"Perhaps, sister." He looked at the blood stained coin he'd given to the kid, then clenched it in his hand and looked up with a face of determination
"But we'll die gloriously, and we'll kill a fսck¡ng dragon....."