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!
Kaiden was furious. Furious. The threat had turned out to be creatures for killing. But they couldn't eat them without getting horribly sick, going crazy, or dying. It wasn't fair. Truly, it was worse than the fact that there was some infestation to begin with. Their tail thrashed angrily in the water as they swam along the coast.
They'd agreed to go with Hadama to find one of these creatures to help keep others from entering Haulani. As they swam, grumbling to themselves, a strange scent reached the mershark. Something rotten, tainted, and sickly sweet. Kaiden paused and looked over at Hadama, Is that one of them?
Hadama swam serenely beside the mershark, listening to their grumbling with grave courtesy. He did not share Kaiden's interest in eating every vaguely-food-shaped thing that crossed their path, but he had long since learned how strong his young friend's shift-instincts were. It was not an easy thing to hold back from, or so he had been told.
Kaiden's senses were keener than the mermanta's, and it took a few more moments of swimming for the scent to reach the King. He considered it for a short time before nodding and changing direction to follow the trail. Likely, he acknowledged, drawing them closer to the coast. The water was much shallower here, and swimming was more difficult. A number of trees and bushes grew right up to the tideline, however, and quickly enough a small cluster of void-infected pineapple plants were spotted near the water.
They were short, only a few feet tall, but several had a sickly fruit growing at their tops. One had already shed its young, the corrupted molten pineapple lying on the damp sand and rocking gently as the waves washed up to caress it and then slid back into the Arclight. Soon enough a wave would come along that was high enough to capture the tainted fruit and wash it out to sea, where it would be carried to another shore to spread the infection farther still...
Kaiden's nose scrunched, distaste filling them as the smell got stronger. Disgusting. A wave rose up and the fallen pineapple was lifted up like a corrupted messiah or cocktails and poor life choices. The mershark was half tempted to turn it into a pina colada grenade to throw at someone. Maybe a cranky merchant?
The wave settled and the fruit lazily circled till it came to a bobbing stop in front of the two mer. Do you have a net? Even Kaiden could tell that the duo might need to refrain from touching the raw flesh of the pineapple. A net should suffice. They could drag it to shore and toss it into a box or something.
Indeed, the mermanta rumbled in agreement at the smell. Mild compared to the voidbolossoms that infested their shores, it still whispered of a formless dread and fears better left unfaced. The Tidebreaker's stoic expression lost some of its serenity as his jaw clenched against the increasingly-familiar perfume. He considered the source as it floated in front of them, spinning slowly in an eddy that his water magic called forth to prevent the corrupted fruit from touching them.
A net did, indeed, seem to be the wisest course and Hadama sent a quiet pulse of approval through the bond. Yes. The harness that he usually wore had convenient loops for the attachment of various small tools and net bags. He detached one and measured the size of it with his eyes before nodding in satisfaction. He offered it to Kaiden, emerald eyes gleaming in spite of the aura of unnatural cold that assaulted them from the dark rind of the shadowed pineapple. It was been a long time since we have trained together. How is your aim?
bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones.
You've encountered the OG random event! This allows you to skip one levelling requirement with the character in this thread. (Unfortunately does not count for characters over level 10, how sad.)
If Kaiden preened at the praise, no one could prove it and the mershark would deny it till the end of their days. They quickly regretted it, however, when the net was handed to them. They had to touch the fruit? Yuck.
Tentatively they threw the net over the fruit before diving down to cautiously scoop a corner of it under the bobbing menace. Taking both ends, Kaiden pulled the net tight and secured the pineapple. As they worked a constant stream of Ew, ew, ew echoed in their mind and involuntarily through the bond. With two fingers Kaiden handed the disgrace to nature over to Hadama. Here.
The mention of a spar caught the shark off guard, and they tilted their ahead, I don't know...good? They'd had practice stealing lately, though that was more sleight of hand than aim.
03-07-2024, 11:27 PM (This post was last modified: 03-17-2024, 10:05 PM by Hadama.)
Hadama had meant to test his fellow Mer's aim with the cast of the net, and when Kaiden took it and captured the pineapple on their first try the answer seemed clear. The mermanta's expression didn't change as the litany of distaste filled the bond, but his emerald eyes twinkled in spite of the unpleasant task, and he took the edges of the net with a solemn nod of gratitude.
It was as he was attaching a kelp-fiber rope to the net bag so that he could tow the unpleasant fruit behind them at a distance that Kaiden spoke again, and for once Hadama's silence wasn't just to gather his thoughts. It was in genuine confusion that he replayed the last minutes of their conversation to find what the shark was replying to. Then he blinked and puffed out a stream of bubbles from his nose, the corners of his eyes crinkling at his companion. Indeed. Well cast with the net, he praised them, for it had been. As he began to swim, leading the way back to the air-filled underwater cavern where many of the gathered flora and fauna were being stored, he spoke again. If you want to practice more, I would be honored to spar with you again.
Kaiden's chest puffed up with pride, Yes. For the compliment and also the admittance of what was blatantly true. Their time was a god's given honor. At least the King was aware. That alone earned him the privilege to spar with the shark again.
The mershark eyed the pineapple before glancing up at the ones above them. Should we destroy those before leaving? They didn't have magic like the Tidebreaker but Kaiden was sure that they could find a solid rock or two. They had a knife on them but they didn't want to lose it to mere pineapples. That'd be embarrassing.
Kaiden was a proud young mer, and their confidence was certainly... well. A defining trait. Hadama was not sure he would recognize his young friend without it.
And as their king, it was also his duty to make sure they survived in spite of that confidence.
Two days from now. If you are free, he suggested. In the Oerwoud. I have heard the Peepholes are currently flooded. They will make a good practice ground. The tidal waves of starfall had caused much destruction, but they had also opened more of Caido to the Mer, for better or worse. It was time to start taking advantage of that, and to see how those wild regions fared.
He did not like to think of some new threat arising unseen in the forgotten corners of the world.
So lost was he in his own thoughts that he had forgotten about the other void-touched pineapples until Kaiden brought his attention back to them. Good idea he agreed, his quiet approval a subtle warmth in the bond. How do you suggest we do so? His usual preference - ice - seemed like it would be ineffective against this particular fruits. But as they spoke dark clouds began to gather overhead and the wind picked up around them as a localized storm began to brew.
Kaiden bobbed in the waves as they considered Hadama's words, Ok. Entering a new area sounded like an opportunity to find new food to eat, and that was good enough for them. A little spar wouldn't be too bad either. The mershark had spent more time hunting and stealing lately than training. Unlike the last war, Kaiden had a feeling that they might not be able to outswim the looming threat. Not if it was raining down from the sky.
The current threat, void food poisoning needed to be dealt with first. Kaiden eyed the pineapples above them before diving down to grab a sharp rock. Rolling their shoulders back, they threw it at one of the fruits. Much to their annoyance it did hit the pineapple and sink in, but only on the very edge and it certainly didn't knock the fruit down. I don't know. Their tail thrashed sharply, and they let out a 'tsk'.
Hadama nodded in satisfaction as Kaiden agreed to meet with him and then he turned his attention to the batch of frozen pineapples that carried the taint of the Void. Far too many things did, these days, but if he and the mershark could prevent this one small grove from spreading then it was a job well worth doing.
Kaiden's blunt force approach was watched with thoughtful interest. It had its charms, but swiftness was not one of them, unfortunately. Hmm. Perhaps lightning will work on these... variants. Hardly a threat to normal molten pineapples, but these grew cold, not hot. The mermanta's eyes burned sapphire as the winds whipped around them, gathering a localized cluster of clouds above the tainted grove. The storm coalesced swiftly and in a few minutes lightning flashed ominously within the small tempest before striking down repeatedly into the Void Pineapple cluster. Not every bolt hit a pineapple, but with enough of them hitting the sand over and over the evil grove was soon reduced to cinders and slagged black glass.
Hadama released his magic, eyes returning to emerald as the storm quieted and began to dissipate as swiftly as it had spun up. He reached for the tow rope on the lone survivor of the carnage and nodded regally to Kaiden. I will see you in the Oerwoud, he rumbled.
And if there was a hint of pride in the job they'd just done, well. Perhaps it was justified today.
