Click here for a list of weather descriptions, seasonal festivals, and a real time:site time conversion.
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!
"You know I will," Danta drawls, grinning over his shoulder to both of them - and perhaps letting his gaze linger on Asta for a second or two as if asking if perhaps now is a good time to do some real talking (it won't be, as it happens, but whatever) before he departs into the trees. Only once he's shielded enough by the canopy of leaves and branches does he shift into dark feathers, spreading large wings to take to the air.
Carrying himself a distance up the beach - there'd be no reason to have two caches so close together, he thinks - before swooping back to the sand, the Maverick (naturally) gets distracted for a bit by some shiny stuff on the shoreline - some seaglass, a broken pocketwatch, and his favourite, foil - it's admittedly a long few minutes before he even remembers what he's doing out here.
Shifting back and dusting himself off, he clears his throat and returns to his search like nothing has happened, trying to catch sight of another tree trunk with a mark on it.
Danta fucks about as a crow and then scouts!
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Unable to keep a smile from blooming across her lips as he nudges her, Flora peers up at him as her smile fades just a fraction. They'd only been dating for, what? Two weeks? While it was true they hardly knew one another and that if something was bothering the butcher over and above a rock in his shoe he might be disinclined to tell Flora, she at least wanted him to know he could. "You can tell me things, you know? I won't judge." She offers softly; she hadn't judged him when he'd mentioned his inclinations back in the Climb, and though that hadn't turned out the way either of them likely thought it would, for all the emotions it had inspired in the pair, Flora hoped judgement hadn't been one.
Happy to see the strains of gold in his eyes once more, Flora slides her fingers against his immediately, giving his hand a little squeeze. "What do you think? Looks like Danta has gone all the way ahead—do you want to look on the way or just go and meet him?"
Despite looking like a crow on cocaine, for all of his fuck around and find out, Danta is doing great at this. No sooner does he shift and begin scanning trees, he sees another star!
Danta has found another cache #rolleda97
I trace the evidence, make it make some sense why the wound is still bleedin'
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
While he could utilize this time to talk to her, between his blood lust filtering in like shadows into the brightly lit attic of his mind, the butcher isn’t sure how much she would like to know. But he can give her tidbits, if it helps, and maybe a preemptive reason as to why he doesn’t wish to divulge each and everything when his honeyed gaze finds her sweet and serene aqua blues.
“There are parts I think you would not like.” Because while she wouldn’t judge, he finds it highly unlikely that she would be okay with the whole cannibal thing. But, kind enough to offer her a bone anyway, he brushes off the sand from his knees and offers her his arm so that they can go and see or scout. “Gore crows gave me the majority of my scars.” Turning his attention from her to not see her reaction to that, he squints down the beach.
“Let’s go see Danta and perhaps see if anything sticks out along the way?” So saying, as they delve into the trees on the way, he sparks an orb of fire much like Danta had, scouting for any stars on the path toward the Maverick.
Asta decides to look along the path toward where Danta is! He uses his fire magic to illuminate the trunks further.
Fire Manipulation: Can create and control flames. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
Danta is so good at this. Grinning and lowering his sunglasses briefly, as if to double check he has, in fact, stumbled on another cache just as soon as entering the treeline, he turns to peer down the length of the shore for any sign of the Doubletake and the butcher, before realising he probably needs to find a way to get their attention.
First, though, he goes to fetch that bit of foil he'd found in the sand, busily folding it into a little frog as he heads back into the trees. Only once he's completed the frog and nestled it among the lower boughs does he lift his fingers to his lips to let out a sharp whistle, peering through the foliage for any sign of his two guildmates.
If nothing else, that should have given them time to catch up, because if you think he's digging this hole with Paws McGee on hand, you're sorely mistaken.
Danta whistles for Flora and Asta's attention!
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Looping her arm through his, the feeling of it familiar and reassuring, Flora bites at the inside of her lip as she considers for a moment. "Do you think you'd like it if someone else decided for you, what you would or wouldn't want to know?" She wonders, raising her eyebrows as she gazes up at him. It would be one thing to ignorantly wave her hand and say that she would like whatever he had to say, or that everyone has skeletons, Asta, but given what she did know about the butcher and especially his need for control, she thought those words might resonate with him more than anything else she might have said.
"Ah." Flora cuts the sound off with a click of her teeth as she feels him pulling away, looking down the beach. Knowing no amount of I'm so sorry, or I understand would likely mean a thing to him at this point, not with how old the scars were, instead the Doubletake merely pulsed her fingertips against his arm to try and pull his attention back. "Thanks for putting up with it to help get this done. I really appreciate it."
Grinning in agreement, Flora kept her own eyes peeled for upside-down stars, pausing only as a sharp whistle rang through the stillness. "How much do you think he'll gloat if he finds them all?" The queen wonders with a grin, trudging over with Asta toward the grove of trees Danta was in.
Lets dig up the next one and put more obsidian in!
I trace the evidence, make it make some sense why the wound is still bleedin'
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
She does know exactly what to say, because with a huff of a soft laugh and an exhale of a sigh, the butcher shakes his head. “No.” He would want to dive in and claw out everything he could. “Well, at any rate, it is not a subject for here.” Out in the open, that is.
Thankfully, the gore crow admission gives her something else to focus on, and Asta nods and flashes her an easier smile. “Danta knows enough to not let me see him that way.” Despite not hearing the earlier comment between the two, Danta’s shift was certainly a boogeyman for the butcher. “It helps with the ‘putting up with it.’” Squeezing her arm against his as they make their path up, the acceptance and ‘you’re welcome’ are shown with his body language rather than words when Danta’s peel of a whistle erupts through the trees.
Groaning lightly but changing trajectory, the butcher snorts. “We will never hear the end of it, my dear.” The fire sputters out as they approach, and he releases Flora to do the same as before — shifting into that canine shift of his to start digging into the sand.
Carefully, this time.
Asta shifts to his fyrhund shift to dig up the next cache!
They certainly will not hear the end of it, and it's with a smug smile and a flamboyant flourish that Danta gestures to the tree and the star on its trunk, before getting out of the way for Asta to do the dirty work. "I didn't realise there were so many of these on the beach," he admits to Flora with a curious tilt of his head. "The one in the Grounds is doing well, by the way. No one seems to be the wiser, anyway."
Waiting until Asta has finished digging up the box, Danta steps over once more to offer his services re: please use my shirt as a makeshift obsidian shard basket, assuming Asta still has the original hunk of gemstone on him for them to start shaving slivers off it. "Are these all over Torchline, then?" he wonders. "Or do you just have them along the coast?"
Danta preps to help get the shards of gemstone ready!
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"Later, then." Flora hums, smiling up at him as something soft and shivery fluttered in her stomach.
"He seems good for you." She comments, of Danta, and quite what her smile is meant to communicate is probably above Asta's level of comprehension. Having thought earlier that the butcher and Maverick were together if not based on how comfortable they were around each other than by the sheer amount of shitfuckery between them, whatever they were to one another seemed good.
Rolling her eyes and laughing, Flora grins up at Asta. "He did say I could have one favour from him. Maybe it could be that he's never allowed to mention this or be smug about it." She suggests, before stepping away to allow him to shift and glancing to Danta. "Oh, I'm glad to hear it." Bouncing her eyebrows, the queen grins. "I might have something to put in it, actually. But it's back at the Tavern." All the more reason to end there.
"All over." She explains with a casual shrug, stepping further out of Asta's way. "Different symbols mean different things. These ones on the beach aren't super well hidden as you've seen. They're good for quick drops. The ones in the Fingers or back in the city are a good deal harder to find."
Lets set the obsidian and then cover up the hole like last time!
I trace the evidence, make it make some sense why the wound is still bleedin'
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
“He is.” Astaroth hums, thinking nothing of the words and their implications, especially as they make their approach toward the Maverick. As far as Astaroth is concerned, things do work well between them, when neither are fighting for their bloodlust to be taken care of.
Chuckling lightly, he nods as his smile brightens. “It may be worth it.” He contemplates briefly before he’s pulling away so that he can shift. The molten canine arrives with a wagging tail toward the Maverick, digging the hole, before he shifts back once more to collect the obsidian and knife and glance expectantly to Danta for his shirt to rinse and repeat it.
Cutting the shavings off and letting Danta place them like last time, waiting so that he might be able to hide the cache once more, content to remain silent and listen to Flora and Danta’s banter.
Asta shifts back and cuts some more obsidian shards off and gets ready to cover the cache back up.
Oblivious to any of the conversations or hidden implications (or not, Asta, you dumb bitch) that might be occurring, Danta hums something that suggests he's quite impressed with the way the guild has developed in Torchline and kneels for Asta to deal with the obsidian. "Well if you ever need somewhere else to store things in the Grounds, let me know. Our Temple has become quite the den of sin, according to... I don't know. Norman, probably." He hasn't seen him around lately, though, so maybe not.
Nodding to Asta to signal he's got enough of the shards now to continue, Danta hops down into the hole to place them around the cache before carefully closing it up, mindful not to disturb the shards, and climbing back out. "Oho, do tell," he purrs at the idea of something to put in their little hidey hole in the Dusklight, already stepping out to move on while the butcher covers their tracks.
Danta completes his bit of the task!
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Norman? Flora mouths, giving Danta an amused look as her head tilts to the side.
"Well, for now—" The queen's eyes dart around, the implication being while we're out in the open, "—let's just say that it's something I want out of Torchline." Nothing dangerous of course, just something that would be more conveniently located in the Dusklight. "It made me think, actually. You know those feathers, the ones that bring people back from the dead? Be a pretty good spot for one of them, wouldn't you say?" The queen lifts a brow, grinning.
Watching as the pair work seamlessly together—another indication of their prolonged time together Flora was quite sure—she flashed them each a warm smile as Asta began to rebury the box only for a dry hiss to fill the air. The sound was not unlike paper tearing as a puddle of shadow uncoiled itself, weaving back and forth as if it might transfix the butcher before striking.
OOOP. Snek, Asta.
Shadow Serpent (uncommon): Once a Rock Slider, the Shadow Serpent now moves with an eerie grace, its scales tainted by void energy. It lurks in the shadows, ambushing prey with a venom that induces hallucinations and despair.
I trace the evidence, make it make some sense why the wound is still bleedin'
// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //
Re-burying the box, the hiss fills the air and Astaroth looks up right in time to spot the shadow serpent — brows pinching initially because it looks like a corrupted rock slider, there’s a certain irony in it as he makes his movements slow so that it doesn’t strike before he has a chance to even react.
“How unfortunate.” Astaroth hums, though not at all saddened or annoyed by the fact they’ve been interrupted as he sparks fire from his fingertips, curling it into a white hot ball that immediately gets sent to the shadow serpent, hoping that it’ll burn it before it has a chance to strike him or anyone else.
Asta uses his fire to try and attack the snake!
Fire Manipulation: Can create and control flames. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
Ever more intrigued by the trickle of information Flora provides, Danta looks forward to being the one sequestering the queen's contraband out of Torchline. She also makes a very good point about one of the feathers he's heard about but never seen, the Maverick nodding thoughtfully. "They're not exactly common though, are they? You don't happen to just have one lying around?" He raises his eyebrows.
Whilst they've been chatting, of course, Asta has apparently drawn the attention of a big, fuck-off voidy rock slider, and Danta's eyes flick sharply towards the creature as he spots it. "Well, fuck," he hisses, stepping to the side and conjuring his own fire to ward the creature off. Undoubtedly Asta's will be more than enough, but overkill is fun, and there's always the just in case element to think about, right?
Danta provides some fiery back up, juuuust in case.
Fire Manipulation: Can create and control flames. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"Do I seem like I'd just leave one lying around?" Flora asks, raising a brow. No, she hadn't answered Danta's question, but as he wasn't Jack, the queen was finding it wonderfully easy to be able to bend the truth a little.
But then there's a snake and fire and then more fire. Stepping back, Flora immediately reaches into her bag for one of her daggers, holding it loosely between her fingers as she tries to peer between the Maverick and the butcher.
As fire roars from Asta's fingertips, the infected creature hardly has a chance to recognize its oncoming doom before its body is engulfed. Not terribly large to begin with, its skin sizzles and splits away as its muscles begin to burn and whine. Danta's fire is absolutely overkill, but it has the creature rendered to little more than ash and bone within just moments.
"Look at you boys, taking care of yourselves." Flora chuckles, returning her dagger back to the bag and grinning at the pair affectionately.
"Might as well leave it where it is. It'll probably keep anyone from wanting to get too close." So saying the queen took a breath and exhaled it on the heels of a laugh.
"I vote we do the rest another day. How's about we all go back to the Tavern, I kick everyone out, and we have a drink?"
Last round! Danta can close us out!
I trace the evidence, make it make some sense why the wound is still bleedin'
