Harry Potter: Vel'ilstaer: Stormraven
I own none of these characters, neither do I own Harry Potter.
'JENGA!' Was the word that was heard. Vel jerked upright from his bed, Eve with him to see two blurs fall pass the window. Clad in nothing but his birthday suit, casually broke the windows to get to the balcony with Condemnor loaded.
His elven eyes scanned the darkness and caught the unmistakable flash of a tiger-like hand, a human hand with the orange and black stripes, wielding a green dripping dagger. Vel aimed and fired three arrows.
His three shots elicited a definitive tigerish roar of pain. Vel quickly pulled on a pair of trousers before jumping over the balcony and towards the creature.
Vex and Percy who were in the room below Vel also heard the scream of 'Jenga'. By the time they'd made themselves presentable and charged onto the balcony, Vel plummeted by.
"Percival, how would you go about teaching your thick-skulled nephew not to jump off buildings?"
"Er...let them. Besides Scanlan…" Percy began as the Purple Silken Pajama-clad Scanlan rushed by, wielding a rapier and his shawm.
Percy looked down to see that Vel had landed on the cloaked figure, rolled away before dodging for cover as several stray bolts pinged near enough harmlessly off the stone balcony.
"I will however teach him the finer points of rolling away and accurate firing." With that he strode back into their room and retrieved Bad News; he cocked, aimed and fired.
Jumping from the balcony wasn't his smartest idea; landing on his target and his father less so. However he'd managed to roll away, firing madly and missing with some of them. By now he was able to get a look at his foe "Are you a Weretiger? I mean I know Werewolves?"
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say "A WERETIGER! YOU IGNORANT FILTH OF A HALF-BREED BASTARD! I AM A RAKSHASA!" The Rakshasa snarled, sounding more and more tigerish.
"Good thing I've got it focused on me." Vel thought before suddenly seeing the newly named Rakshasa blur and was suddenly flying towards him; claws out and dagger gleaming.
Vel narrowly missed the dagger but winced as the claws raked across him "Boy, have you ever danced with the Rakshasa in the Full Moonlight?" Vel looked up, coincidentally there was a full moon. His world went white as the claws sank into his stomach.
There was a sickening 'shtick' sound as the claws retracted, grating slightly on his ribs.
Vax managed to sit up to see his son, clutching his chest in an effort to stem the blood, and collapse to one knee. "It hurts doesn't it boy! A poison from the Nine Hells." Cackled the Rakshasa.
Fishing a dagger from his brace of daggers, this was a Flametongue and Life-Stealing, holding them by the blade he let them fly. One went wide but the other nailed Hotis in the shoulder. He spun wildly only to see a girl, barely dressed holding a definite draconic arm, her chest expanded as she let out a cone of lightning slamming into the Rakshasa.
"You've not met a woman like me before." Eve mocked as she followed up with a series of bolts of fire which quickly turned into bolts of acid.
Scanlan joined them and with deft work with his sword, the Rakshasa was dismissed. By now the rest of Whitestone was awake, Percival and Vex charging over to them with Grog, Pike and Keyleth running full speed towards them. Neville, however, was walking sedately over to the group as he arrived he found Vax was getting ample healing.
"Vel needs your…" Pike began to say, only for a wheezing grunt from Vel interrupted her.
"I'm good…poison on the dagger; damn it stings but it's nothing really." Vel grunted as he did his best not to get his bloodied hands on Eve. He was leaning on the dragon-heritaged sorceress with an arm over her shoulder with his other hand holding where the blades and claws had been. Neville looked and with a casual eye noticed that the wound had healed, otherwise Vel would have had blood flowing freely underneath his hand.
"You've just healed, Vel, what attacked you?"
"Something attacked my father, I attacked it…and I…" Vel began to see Vex eyeing him with a raised eyebrow.
"'And I what…?' Darling?"
Vel turned a nice shade of red "I…slipped. Over the edge of the balcony."
Keyleth was not amused "Slipped you say…Or are you saying you slipped as a means to avoid admitting that you actually jumped off the balcony."
Vel stiffened "Fine…I jumped off the balcony after I took potshots at some tiger things; besides it had nearly killed dad! I jumped off, used it as a crash mat…I'm alive, dad's alive, it's now dead, can we please go back to bed."
"That's actually a good idea, Vel. The best idea you've had all evening; we're heading to the Fey Wild tomorrow." Keyleth stated, fixing Vel'ilstaer with a look.
Eve smiled before gently dragging Vel over to the abandoned broomstick, which he summoned to his hand, the pair took off with Vel demonstrating his skills with a broomstick. The Half-Elves watched intently as Vel and Eve made it back to their room and vanished.
"Why didn't you heal him?" Vex asked Neville waspishly.
"Vel's got Phoenix Tears and Basilisk Venom in his blood. The older the creature the more potent it is; so a millennia old Basilisk and Phoenix is going to provide a major resistance to any poison entering his body. He was already standing when everyone got here, Vel'ilstaer gets taken to the ground quite a bit but keeping him on the ground is another thing entirely."
"Still not very nice though is it? What if Vel wasn't as durable?" Grog retorted, coming from the heavy hitter not known for his intellectual prowess; the innocent questions hit like a sledgehammer.
Neville let out harsh sigh "I've never considered it like that before. I'll apologise in the morning." With that Neville turned on his heel and began to trudge back up to the Castle.
"Big man, your tact needs to be worked on." Vax stated ending any further conversation, taking Keyleth by the hand and the duo and the rest of Vox Machina headed back to their rooms.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully, as the morning dawned, birds were chirping and Vox Machina began to mobilise.
(Throne Room, Xhorhas)
"Rise, Master Thomas…" Am ethereal yet powerful spoke; the room was quiet save for the breathing of those in attendance.
"Your task Master Thomas, I wish for you to take your prized pupil and deliver her to the one you say 'is far better than I'. I would like you to recover and record as much information on your friend's teachings and his methods." Leylas Kryn instructed.
Dean fought to keep the grin on his face "Your Highness…"
"You have questions that suggest a lack of clarity of your orders?" It was phrased as question when it went unspoken that it was an order.
"No, My Queen, not a lack of clarity but rather my remit and limitations when it comes to diplomacy and the representation of The Dynasties interests. The One I speak of, is without doubt intending to investigate and fight this supposed Continent Wide Coup d'etat caused by Chromatic Dragons."
Leylas Kryn paused "You believe your friend and teacher will be engaging this supposed threat?"
"I do...this is not superstition, this is fact. I know that Vel'ilstaer Vassar WILL be engaging in this draconic threat."
The Empress paused for what seemed to be an eternity but she was scanning her extremely long life's worth of memories. "Master Thomas, as per your words detailed to my Shadow Hand, I trust your judgement. Keep her safe."
"Yes, Your Majesty, honoured to serve."
"You may prepare. Essek!"
Essek flowed into view before smoothly kneeling "Your will?"
"I shall be dictating a letter of marque, affixed with my personal seal. It shall provide the appropriate documents and papers for Master Thomas and his Apprentice as Diplomats and representation of the Dynasties Interests. Everything spoken in diplomacy shall be agreed but ratified at a later date by more seasoned eyes."
Essek gulped and momentarily paled "Yes, Your Majesty. Dean, with me."
Dean followed the Shadow Hand out of the Throne Room and through series of winding and shifting corridors "Time and Space are my specialties Master Thomas…"
Dean nodded "I can't believe Her Highness is going to let me do this."
"Her Majesty is one of keeping friends close and enemies even closer; she believes in cultivating her people through her latest acquisitions; she is close to twelve centuries old if records are to be believed."
Dean gulped, age for spellcasters meant older the more powerful. Leylas Kryn was evidently more powerful than most. Essek handed Dean a neat bundle of documents "Off you go, get ready, grab your apprentice…the rest of this is up to you."
(Vox Machina)
Keyleth set out an elaborate ritual circle under the early morning rays of the sun, at the same time Pike was doing the exact same thing. The limitation of bringing Vel and his colleagues along meant that Vox Machina had to use double the amount of Planeshifts; which meant no guarantees that they'd arrive in the Feywild together.
"Everyone grab hands!" Keyleth instructed before grabbing Vel'ilstaer's left hand as Eve had his right.
Vax looked across the circle from his position of being next to Neville and Vex. He winked as a forest green and a sunlit orange pulse of energy rippled from Pike and Keyleth everyone's collective vision dissolved and to the outside viewer, the only evidence of Vox Machina was the scorched ground where they had once stood.