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Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
Hastily flipping through a mental catalogue of people she knew that would be willing to help and strong enough to keep themselves alive, she wiggled a hand hesitantly. "I could ask Kiada... maybe Thalassa too. Maybe some others from the Grounds." Hadama came to mind as well, though she quickly pushed him aside; the King definitely fell under the category of 'too busy'. And perhaps she was a bit relieved about that.
"What about that guy you worked with during the experiment? Sah?" Her expression turned mischievous, remembering the blockering they had been engaged in, even while working well together. "You seemed close, and he should be strong enough. More than me, actually."
"Oh, uh. I dunno if Kiada likes me very much," Tal mumbled, thinking back to when he'd asked the pair about a potential Old Gods shrine. Kiada's discomfort with the idea might have been entirely justified, but it made the courier feel bad and incredibly awkward thinking about it. "Thal, though... yeah, she'd be good," he agreed, nodding slowly. Despite being lost in thought his eyes continued to scan the horizon for anything that might try to come flying up out of the Greatwood at them.
Though if they could improve matters, well, all to the better!
But then Maea mentioned Sah and Tal started coughing on a laugh. "Sah? I mean, he's not the worst," he admitted, snickering to himself. "I can ask 'im, I guess, if y'insist." Go on, Maea, twist his arm! "Guess we've gotten close-ish over th'years. But he's pretty focused on Halo." There was a shrug that held a ghost of wistfulness in it, but Tal shook it off with a wry look over to his friend and the dragon in her lap. "So I wouldn't hold my breath. Don't sell yourself short, though. Between your fire an' that blood-healin' thing you've got, I trust you t'have my back."
"You started off on the wrong foot. That doesn't mean you can't get along if you give it a chance," she replied mildly, remembering the debate that had ensued after Tal's question. "I like her, she's usually fairly uncomplicated. But if you prefer not to, I won't force you."
His reaction to Sah's name was about what she had expected. The sharp-toothed grin she flashed him implied she was perfectly willing - though perhaps less capable - of twisting said arm if they ran out of options. Alas, the mention of the mage's preference for Halo took the fun out of it, and she sighed as reality made an ugly return.
"I don't think I am, really... Training aside, I lack actual fighting experience. Not to mention working together with others. That's not something you learn overnight." Tracing the pattern of Boreal's scales with burn-marked fingertips, her mind wandered to the clashes and scrapes she'd become entangled with over the years. Few had led to serious injuries, and the rest had seen her flailing helplessly on the sidelines... and then of course there was that fatal one where she'd made every mistake in the book. "It might be a good idea to do a practice run, before actually heading into the Greatwood," she concluded dryly.
"Well... maybe I could try talkin' t'her again," he dragged out reluctantly in regards to Kiada. "But... I dunno. Not just yet?" The sting of having Astaroth and Danta shoot him down was still fresh enough that he didn't want to open up the scab Kiada had left on his ego anytime soon.
Mention of Sah perked him up at least, though he pretended to scowl about it and he definitely made a show of not seeing Maea's grin. He was far too busy watching it for trouble in the skies around them. Yup. But the levity didn't last nearly long enough as she deflated a moment later and Boreal crooned reassuringly from her lap.
"I mean, you've been workin' with others just fine since I've known you." The courier glanced over, snorting at the sight of his dragon cuddled so happily around the petite Ancient. "Y'ran that Void-experiment an' kept us all workin' together like a pro. An' you an' me an' Ru did a good job o' clearin' void shit outta the Grounds that day. Wasn't perfect, but no real fight is," he said with a shrug. "An if we're settin' trainin' aside, th'only way t'get experience is to experience it, yeah?" But her suggestion wasn't necessarily a bad one and Tal tilted his head to the side much like Boreal did when she didn't understand what someone had said to her. "What're y'thinkin' about for a practice run?"
Rubbing an ear that had started to go numb from the cold wind that ruffled her hair, a thoughtful expression settled over her as Tal lined up his own list of not-so-botched adventures. Ruefully she shook her head, more in self-admonishment over her negative outlook than to deny his point.
"Mmmh, well... maybe do an expedition into a region that hasn't been overrun, first? Hak Etme, maybe - in Flowerbirth it shouldn't be too hot. It would help set up a routine - hauling equipment, setting up camps, who does what if someone gets hurt... What do you think?" A week in the desert should help work out kinks in relations too, where the climate took its own toll on visitors. It felt like a good substitute for relentless pursuit of monsters.
Not bothering to hide his relief, Tal nodded and then let the subject of who drop to focus on how and where.
He checked the sky and then glanced down at his compass - the one that pointed towards the Hollowed Grounds - and adjusted his course a few degrees. Lashing the tiller in place, he hopped the half-wall of the cabin down to the main deck to adjust the sails for their new heading.
"That's... a good idea," he agreed slowly, thinking through her suggestion as he made the rigging fast to a cleat and studied how the wind filled the sail before nodding to himself and heading back up to the wheel. Freeing it from its lash, he took over steering again as they spoke. "But instead o' Hak Etme, how about King's End? It's pretty uncivilized still," he admitted with a grimace for how little progress his new home had made in joining the other settled regions. "So we'll still be workin' in wilderness. But there's more folks there than th'desert. So we can do more t'help people out that way while we're workin' out th'kinks."
Thinking quietly, Maea felt a certain resistance against the idea of going to King's End. The reason was unclear, though part of it might be due to the risk of running into Sunjata. They hadn't spoken in a long time and certainly not since that awful meeting... and gods knew she didn't know what to do if they were to meet now. On the other hand... there was no real reason to deny the request. Even if her silence might suggest a quest for one.
"I... yeah, sure. Why not. I'll admit I looked forward to a chance to get warm... but I suppose it won't be a challenge for me if it's easy." Full lips tugged into a hasty smile, reassuring her friend that she wasn't so reluctant that it was a deal breaker. "When are you thinking...?" There were pro's snd con's to every season; mud and slush might be the biggest obstacle in Flowerbirth.
Tal hadn't even considered the Ancient weakness against cold, and he blinked and then bit off a quiet fuck, half under his breath. "Ah... yeah, wasn't thinkin' about that," he admitted sheepishly. "Sorry, Maea. An' if we're asking other Ancients t'help... yeah, okay. I can see what y'mean." He chewed his lip in fierce thought for a moment and then gave a slow nod.
"Okay, Hak Etme can work," he decided slowly. "We'll do it in th'Suvahasi region. That'll be th'most like th'Greatwood an' t'other infected places anyways. Lots o' dangerous plants that want t'kill us while we're workin', even the non-Voidy ones."
As for 'when,' he glanced over at her wryly. "Soon as possible, I'm figurin'. I mean, y'see how fucked th'Greatwood is already. Longer we wait, th'more the infection gets entrenched. So, early in Flowerbirth as we can get everyone t'gether. What d'you think?"
It was her expression that softened this time around. There was really no need for Talyson to take her limitations into account when planning for his project like this, and yet he was willing to accommodate not only her, but others as well. It was a nice feeling, and for once she didn't insist on being spared any special treatment. It was, in fact, quite necessary - or he'd be left standing with at least one useless statue at some inopportune moment.
"Thank you, Tal," she replied with a warm smile. "I promise I'll help you cull voidlings in King's End for as long as you like once the snow is gone. You have my word."
Knowing little about Hak Etme, she didn't recognize the name of the area, but trusted the Messenger to know his geography. With nothing else pressing to take care of on her part - she no longer had a job that couldn't wait, after all - she nodded, affirming the urgency.
"No problem. I'll make sure to be ready in the first week after Longnight, then. You may want to coordinate with Thalassa, she might be headed out with her ship once the sun returns." And once at sea, Maea doubted it would be easy to pry the captain away until at least Longheat.
Sneaking a glance at Maea, Tal saw her expression and he was immediately rewarded for his willingness to change his mind. He ducked his head to hide his own smile, feeling warmth in his own chest at making the right decision and being able to help out a friend - even if it was a little belated. "Yeah? You're on!" he agreed with gruff good humor to her promise to help in Longheat.
He didn't realize that the pale woman was unfamiliar with the Suvahasi so he carried blithely on without bothering to explain about it further. He'd only been there once before himself, in Ru's company. It had been a dangerous area even before the Void taint. Now... well, at least they didn't have to worry about a wildfire in the humid jungle?
"Um. Yeah, that's a good point," Tal muttered when Maea reminded him of Thalassa's schedule. "An' we should start figurin' out what we'll need. Are we just huntin' void critters an' rootin' out as much void-plants as we can find? Or is there a better way t'clear an area out?"
Pleased to have the matter of where and when settled, his next question was unfortunately harder to answer. Thinking back to the frustrating lack of results she and others had experienced in the Feverlands, Maea huffed in remembered annoyance and scowled off over the railing.
"We alone won't be able to do much of anything. Even with mine and Boreal's fire combined it won't make so much as a dent. It will take something fairly extensive, and I'm not sure how to prevent the critters from just returning after we leave."
Gravity and air were supposedly useful against the Family, but her experiment had come out inconclusive when it came to weaknesses in the tainted flora and fauna. And as far as she knew, they had neither of those in the arsenal.
"We could try oil, maybe? Fill glass bottles with it, and throw them across a larger area... That might help." At least it would extend the surface area they could cover. It would be at the expense of healthy growth though, and do little against animals that could simply walk away.
"Wait, you're thinkin' o' burnin' th'Suvahasi down?" He probably shouldn't have been so surprised - Ancients and fire went together like peanut butter and jelly, after all - but he couldn't think of any other use for bottles of oil. "Uh... I mean... gettin' rid o'th'Void doesn't matter much if we burn th'whole world down with it. For anyone who's not an Ancient," he added with a grimace and a gesture at his own all-too-human self. "'Sides, even if we tried t'do that in th'Greatwood or Feverlands since they're already taken over, it doesn't seem right t'do it in someplace that's still fightin' back. We're tryin' t'help Hak Etme. Not destroy it." While there were plenty of reasons to consider a scorched earth approach to the Void problem, Talyson didn't have the stomach for such ruthless tactics.
Though his nose wrinkled up of its own accord as he thought back to the cleanup on the beach, and his own suggestion to set fire to the Void Horror's remains. "... an' I don't think it'd be too smart t'burn large amounts o' Void-stuff," he added slowly, echoing Flora's opinion on the matter. "At least... we dunno if th'smoke would carry the corrupted ash an' just spread it further. An' it can't be good t'breathe that shit in, y'know? Targetin' individual plants an' animals with fire, sure. Just... maybe not burnin' down whole forests of it."
Gazing at her friend, Maea listened without interrupting. His concerns were valid of course, but she wondered if he truly realized the scale of the problem.
"... In Hak Etme that might work," she replied slowly, "but look at the Greatwood... You saw what it's like down there. Even if all of the regions came together it would take years to pick through the entire forest one plant at a time. We don't have years. We may have one - maybe - and somehow I doubt the Family will stand by and do nothing if we start to seriously tear up their new garden."
Gently shifting Boreal from her lap, Maea got up and went to the railing, leaning against it as she watched the purple-tinted forest roll by below.
"If fire is not an option, I won't be any use at all. And if burning the Void away is not a method, then... what do you suggest we do?"
She had no ideas left; it was too big, and not nearly enough time to work with.
Unsurprisingly, Tal hadn't really thought this whole plan through and Maea's quiet, reasoned words were logical and rational and sensible and the courier's scowl deepened with each one.
Because it would be so easy to fall back into that old low-level chronic depression and thinking that he couldn't do anything. That someone else would deal with it because he wasn't strong enough or smart enough or qualified in any way that mattered. He could feel her words tugging seductively at him, coaxing him back into inertia and inactivity, standing back and watching others strive - maybe hopelessly, maybe stupidly - and telling himself that it wasn't his fault it was all going to hail...
"Okay. Okay y'have a point," he growled, shaking himself in an echo of Boreal as she was displaced and stood up, her limpid eyes watching Maea worriedly. "So we leave th'Greatwood alone for now. Might be it is too big for us t'deal with on our own. But Hak Etme an' King's End an' th'Grounds? They're not overrun yet, an' we've got a better chance o' slowin' th'Void crap down there. Maybe... maybe we don't need t'stop it in its tracks by ourselves. Maybe we just need t'slow it down so th'demis can get their shit together, yeah?" He turned to give her a wan, lopsided grin. "An' we can pick through those places one plant an' critter at a time. An' if we're just burnin' little stuff, fire'll work just fine!"
