From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Can you imagine if the treasure ends up being FriEnDshIp and the MeMoriEs u MadE AloNg tHe WaY? And that the glowing..whatever it is, was of immeasurable worth? Wouldn’t that be just like the fickle fates of this place?
Well, hopefully neither of you are the type to dwell on the things which could have been, because now you’ll never know. As if to solidify this notion, the glowing orb softly descends into the water. It’s light dims almost instantly, giving you no idea just how deep the water into which it has plunged is.
Well, onwards we go.
You twist and turn, following the map exactly until you judge you’ve come to it.
The x on the map.
Only…there’s no treasure chest here. No large x on the ground. No…nothing, really. Sure, the passage has opened up to the size of a small room, maybe 20x20. The walls are jagged, with one covered with some unimaginative graffiti about someone’s mother and what a good time visiting her might provide. Otherwise?
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Well, if they were wrong, she was going to feel really fucking stupid.
But not for long, because when one is dictated by poor impulse control, there are always other things on the horizon.
Which was what she expected as soon as they sauntered into the room – and finding nothing really of significance. Blinking rapidly at the notes on the wall, with maybe an inward chuckle to herself, the youth glanced around again, at the ceilings, at the floor, before uttering a snort. “Huh.” Placing her bow away in exchange for her staff, she began poking at the area all around them, wondering if there was a catch somewhere. “Wonder if someone beat us to it,” because wouldn’t that just be the luck.
On another notion, her head tilted back to Evie. “Think your earth magic might be able to unveil something?”
--
Melita pokes the area around with her staff and makes a suggestion to Evie.
normality is a paved road comfortable to walk, but where no flowers grow
Good thing Evie only eyes the orb with a wary eye, huh? She already feels a little silly anyway following a map by lamplight, though they're quite lucky to have avoided any giant beasts or other dangerous surprises. But they also don't find any good surprises - merely an empty cavern, some low-brow graffiti, a few burnt out cigarette butts. Maybe this is Torchline's version of treasure, but Halovians have a bit higher standards.
Luckily so does Melita, who goes poking around immediately. "Let me try," she mumbles, already a little distracted as she does exactly that. Utilizing her magic, she tries to sense and sound any discrepancies in the ore and minerals not just in the walls, but the earth beneath their feet as well. Even using a touch of her telekinesis in tandem for any such strange items - it would only work on artificial, man-made things after all, so hopefully the two magics would suss out any treasure.
- - -
Evie uses her earth and telekinesis in tandem to determine if there's anything artificial/manmade among the walls or beneath their feet.
As Evie reaches into the ground, sifting through it as if with a magical pan-handling kit, she indeed unearths something, though in all honestly it doesn't look like anything more than a mouse. With webbed claws and a tail that had a spade-fin shape on the end, the small rodent peers up at the two women with beady eyes.
Melita with her INT of 1 keen eyes will notice a glimmer of something valuable looking around the creature's tail. Something shiny and gold.
You've encountered a:
Msme: A small aquatic rodent-like creature. Normally they are the size of a mouse, but when attacked, they grow in size, leading them to be found most often in warzones or places of danger. For each successful attack, the creature gains 25% health and size. For each genuine miss, the creature loses 75% health.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
“Oh,” came Melita’s stupefied voice, the moment the mouse was unearthed. Was…was that what they’d come all that way for? A rodent?
Tilting her head, and trying not to grind her teeth, her eyes narrowed, pinpointing something near the tail. Gilded. Gleaming. Some elemental faction already eagerly plucking at the Honeybee’s crow brain. In a low whisper, and pointing, so either not to disturb the mouse or…cause it to react, she acknowledged what she saw to the Evergreen. “There’s something by its tail. Gold and shiny.” She glanced at the other woman, uncertain what they wanted to do. Attack the little thing? Contain it, as she’d done previously with the other animals?
normality is a paved road comfortable to walk, but where no flowers grow
Oh, EW!
Evie has to bite back on a shriek at the weird mole-like mouse that is unearthed by her search. It might be ugly as sin, but she'd been the one to disturb it, so insulting it to its face would be a little unfair. Eyeing it as she had the mongooses she debates merely ignoring it or burying it back into its hole - until Melita whispers her way.
"Good, I don't want to touch it," she mutters, and tries to use her telekinesis on the shiny object, hoping her magic will be able to tell the difference as it normally does to latch onto the inorganic piece and tug it free.
Chittering noisily as the cluster of gold is tugged at, Evie will find that it's so matted into the creature's fur that the msme is tugged toward her with each and every pull of her magic.
Of course, affecting the creature with her abilities serves to unlock the rodent's strange passive magic, causing it to grow in size. Now it's the size of two fists pressed together.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Melita blinked. “Uh,” was all she could utter as the rodent suddenly grew in size. “Did you make it to do that?” Uncertain of all of Evie’s incantation prowess or potential, she could only stare, rather stupidly, at the way this was going.
Another thought came to mind though, and because the Honeybee was not a pacifist by any sense of the word, she crouched, retrieving one of her daggers from beneath the hem of her dress. “Hear me out,” she whispered, as if the thing might be offended by her sudden plan, or was far more intelligent than what they were giving it credit for. “What if we just cut its tail off?” The mouse would still live, probably, and then they could run, head for the hills/tunnels, and no one would be worse for the wear. Well, except the rodent.
normality is a paved road comfortable to walk, but where no flowers grow
Now it's even bigger, and Evie cuts her magic off immediately, feeling queasy. "Nope, definitely not me," she whispers back, a little strained. Whatever is making it grow, she'd like to stop doing it right now, thank you sir.
Though she is a little surprised by Melita's suggestion, Evie is not exactly the type to not kill little beasts and bothers when they truly need to be. She could always heal it...
"Sure, worth a try. I'll try to keep it still." It had bobbed along with her telekinesis before, so she exerts it once more, grateful to stay far away from the creepy little thing as she attempts to keep it pinned for Melita to sever its tail.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
It grew again, and Melita had to wonder just what they were doing here – if all the penchant for treasure and hunting had really led to these moments…
But, well, it tracked.
So while Evie seemed to pin it down, kinda sorta, the Honeybee retrieved her dagger. “Sorry little dude,” she whispered, grimacing slightly, because the creature hadn’t really done anything wrong except get gold matted in its tail. Or whatever it was. She really couldn’t tell anymore.
The Honeybee took careful aim, and intended to notch the serrated blade downward, and separate the cluster from the mouse – then they could all win. Maybe.
normality is a paved road comfortable to walk, but where no flowers grow
It grows even larger, which is disconcerting to say the least. Her magic struggles to keep it still, so she attempts to call the earth beneath its (paws? Hands? Eugh) up to lock around its ankles to assist with keeping it chained in place. “I can heal the stump if you can cut it cleanly,” she attempts to comfort Melita upon hearing her muttered apology. Not something she’d normally offer given both of their natures as hunters - though Evie’s has always been unintentional - but she feels for the rodent too. It happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Maybe if it keeps growing, whatever is on its tail will cut it off for us anyway.” Unless the thing was stubbornly magical or otherwise fond of the rodent, which Evie wouldn’t put past Caido’s mischievous forces of nature. Either way, hopefully Melita’s aim would be true.
Indeed Melita's aim was true, if only because she was a level 9 accomplished warrior at this point, and this was just a knee-high rodent. Still, the conjunction of Evie's magic with Melita's dagger has the creature exploding in size, but not before Melita is able to sever its tail.
With a screech that now echoes from the walls of the tunnels, the rodent turns toward Melita, now nearly as tall as the Honeybee herself. Its teeth are the size of her palm, and now that it's large enough to make out, its paws are flipper-like and quite clearly aquatic.
Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
Snagging at its tail, moderately triumphant in her notions, she then glanced back at the rodent – getting larger every time they managed to do something. “Huh,” she muttered again, ensuring the artifact was in her grasp. She could probably keep trying to take the damned thing out, but that didn’t seem to be well…working.
“What do you say we just…leave?” The youth offered back to Evie, showing her the rat’s tail and the trace of gold within. Any more issues with the nasty little bugger might result in further issues, and she was to the point where they’d been down here for ages, with nothing to show for it but a big ass …water rat and the trace of elements along her palm.
