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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!
The prospect of a tree-goddess that eats people ought to be enough to discourage Amhran, but of course the raeling is only further fascinated by it. "I will be careful," he says, giving the warnings the gravitas they deserve, but at no point deciding not go and see the Mathair. Perhaps it's his thoughts of the great mother tree that distract him enough to get fused to the gate with the mortar; either way, however good a job he's done at mixing the stuff up, he finds himself promptly unable to move.
"Oh," he says, attempting to remove himself and finding it a lost cause. "Oh!" Not one to outright panic - he's far too easy-going a soul for that - Amhran nevertheless does glance to Sah and Deimos with concern as they approach. "Thank you. I could always just take off my coat...?" He attempts to be helpful, but of course removing the garment will likely just make him freeze to death rather quickly. Better to wait to be rescued, he supposes.
At the knowledge that the goddess eats people, Elizabeth has the very logical and opposite reaction as Amhran. Hers eyes widened, grimacing at the possible direction an interaction with her might go. "Maybe I'll stick to the other parts of the Greatwood." Ones less likely to involve her death - or subsequent digestion.
While the demigod found himself partially immobilized, unlike Deimos, she chuckled lightly. With all the magic and abilities between them, she had no doubt they'd free the young man without any harm so she let the humor ring freely through the air. "We're supposed to be placing stones, not becoming them." Elizabeth shook her head, amusement evident on her face as she started placing the red then orange gems into the applied mortar mixture along the gate.
01-03-2025, 08:02 PM (This post was last modified: 01-03-2025, 08:02 PM by Sah.)
yet my blood renders me a King
It takes a surprising amount of finagling, but between Deimos and Sah, they manage to free Amhran. In attempting to help, the Demi-god got himself stuck repeatedly during the process, but in the end, they were successful. Understandably, Elizabeth was distracted by the chaos occurring adjacent to her and only managed to place around half of the stones and gems.
Equally amused and baffled, Sah stood back up. "I think we all deserve a break. Let's take a moment and then start focusing on actually building. We can split into two teams. One to handle the rest of the red and orange, and the other to work on the yellows and greens." It was already early afternoon. Hopefully they could finish this all up in time for a late lunch.
~
Round 5! No post order. Take a quick break and then get back to it! Sah will take what's left.
1. Two to finish placing the red and orange stones/gems.
2. Two to start placing the yellow and green stones/gems.
It takes a few unsuccessful attempts at 'helping' for Amhran to realise he's better off just standing and doing nothing at all, a soft and embarrassed flush to the demigod's cheeks as he's finally released from the mortar for good. "Thank you," he says to Deimos and Sah, glancing suspiciously at the rest of the mixture. "I think I have learned my lesson about that. I will not go near it again," he assures them.
A break does sound lovely, too, even if Amhran can't say he'd done much to merit it; nevertheless, the raeling goes to get himself some more hot, sweet tea and a pastry to enjoy - far from the mortar, he might add. Once he's finished and feeling a little more like himself again, he aproaches the piles of yellow and green gems. "I can get started on these," he says, grabbing some and moving a safe distance from the gate to begin placing them.
Amhran takes the yellow and green gems after a break!
Content with Amhran’s rescue, however difficult it was, and with an arch of a brow towards Elizabeth at her response, he silently acquiesced to the break. Deimos considered the pastries again as well, but any lightheartedness had left in between conversations of the Mathair, and rescuing demigods from mortar. In the end, he staved off any other snacking by pulling out a multitude of notes, jotting something down to save for later, and then carrying on.
Quieter now, he nodded at the directions, then went towards the red and orange stones and gems, intending to assist in placing these portions.
--
Deimos goes to help with the red and orange stones/gems.
As the men freed Amhran, she gave him a playful smile. "A hard lesson, no doubt." And while it was a humorous ordeal, she was happy to see the demigod freed with all his limbs intact. That's probably why her own work had suffered, leaving her with plenty of stones still around her. Sighing, she accepted to proposed break as a chance to refocus. "That's a great idea."
Elizabeth quickly refilled her tea and returned to her place beside the gate. She centered her body around the warmth in her stomach with a serene smile before resuming the work with renewed energy. They still had plenty to do, so she lapsed into comfortable silence as she placed gems with hands and magic.
Sah replenished his energy with another cup of hot chocolate before joining the others in building the gate and focusing on the yellow and green elements. This whole endeavor had been far more eventful than he'd expected, but they were still making commendable progress. Amhran redeems himself as he places his portion efficiently, using his height to his advantage. With Deimos assisting Elizabeth, the rest of the red and orange portions were placed. There were still a few yellow and green ones to handle, but they wouldn't take much effort.
Stepping back, the Wild Thunder gestured towards the tarps of supplies, "We're almost there. Let's finish up the yellow and green before moving on to purple and blue. We're getting to the taller part of the gate so if you need a stepladder, there should be some near the discarded bags."
~
Round 6! No post order. Sah will take what's left.
1. Two finish placing the yellow and green stones/gems.
2. Two to start placing the blue/purple stones/gems
At least this portion of their efforts seemed to go relatively easy. No one became trapped in snow or ice, or sank into mortar, or fell apart at the seams. A relief, really, and he could resume the mindless efforts. Though he did arch a brow at the insinuation of using a stepladder, glancing between himself and Amhran with a juvenile grin directed at the demigod.
Thereafter though, with the previous set of stones and gems done, he meandered to the blue and purple combination, and repeated steps as before; utilizing his imposing height when higher portions came into play.
Humming gently to himself as he works, Amhran is pleased to see the yellow and green gemstones go glittering into the mortar without any further mishaps. All in all it's beginning to look quite put together - and it's no bad thing that he isn't attached to the structure any more. He feels as though he'd be more of an eyesore than anything else. Stepping back from his work in time to hear Sah's instructions, he glances to Deimos as well with a smile before looking back to the group.
"I will help Deimos, since we are taller," he decides, leaving the rest of the yellow and green portions for either Sah or Elizabeth to handle, and going to assist the Sword. He keeps a handful of the gems with him as he works and places more in his pockets, so there is less leaning down and stretching up to be done, and the other man can help himself to snagging some as well.
Amhran joins Deimos placing the blue and purple stones!
Placing the final orange stone, she had to laugh at the demigod's comment as she flashed him a smile. "I would be offended if it weren't quite so undeniable." In fact, it looked almost like she was standing in a forest of trees. She was immediately reminded of the first time she'd met Deimos and asked for his help hanging her sign. Or her first time meeting Amhran, when he'd used his height to save the 'child.' Or the last time she'd seen Hadama and he'd helped her hang bells in her home. Wait...
Would this be considered a pattern? Even if it was, Elizabeth didn't care. It was nice having tall men do things for her every once in a while. Although her telekinesis didn't make it as necessary anymore, that didn't mean she had any intentions of stopping. If anything, it was just a funny observation.
Elizabeth settled into the comfortable lower area of the gate, gathering the yellow and green stones to her. As she set them into place, she hummed sweetly, admiring the way it all seemed to come together beautifully.
Sah laughed, "To be fair, it is a tall gate." The Wild Thunder was barely able to reach the top on his own without the use of telekinesis. With everyone working hard, the gate was soon complete. Deimos almost knocked a stone off but was quickly able to secure it before it fell onto Elizabeth's head. Amhran used his height and placed the very top gem as Elizabeth and Sah worked on the lower sections.
Once they were done, the younger hybrid stood up and flicked away a stray piece of mortar. "Perfect. I think we should give it a quick once over and make sure that everything is secure. If you find a gap, fill it in with a bit more mortar. Then we can clean up and get some lunch." The last few tasks had been completed speedily enough that it wouldn't even be a late one.
~
Round 7! No post order.
Double check that everything is secure!
With everything seemingly in place, the Sword breathed another silent breath of relief. Content that most of it seemed in proper order, he nodded at Sah’s request, pondering over future exploits and endeavors when all of this was accomplished and completed. It would’ve been easy to mull over lists and potentials, but then he wouldn’t be concentrating on the current plan – so he snorted inwardly at himself, and began the process of scrutinizing.
Anytime there was a gap, either by happenstance or error, he aimed to fill the portions in with mortar, a calculating, meticulous, and precise inspection over and over.
Having placed the very top stone, it's with a smile of pride combined with relief that Amhran steps back to look at the gate as a whole, his shoulders sagging a bit. "Once it's properly dry I imagine it will look beautiful," he says, wiping his hands on his coat just in case before he ruffles his fingers through his hair, not particularly wanting to get himself stuck to any part of himself by accident. Not after the first mishap.
Joining Deimos in checking everything over, with the memory of getting fused to the gate still fresh in his mind, Amhran is careful to scrutinise things from a safe distance. And if he does identify any gaps, he is quick to point them out to the Sword or to anyone else within earshot without getting close to the mortar himself. Listen, Amhran just doesn't want to risk ruining things now that they are so close to being done, okay?
She swallowed down the spike of fear at having almost lost her head, a grateful smile at the others for their quick reflexes. When the final stone was placed, Elizabeth joined in admiring their work. "I'm sure it will look even better in the Longheat sun, all sparkly and bright." For now, she'd have to settle for the beautiful progression of rainbow gems traveling up the gate like a perfect gradient. However, she made note to visit again later.
Letting her eyes roam with more scrutiny, Elizabeth hummed through a smile. "Lunch sounds good. We deserve it. Look how much work we did!" The tall structure was certainly something to be proud of, even as she spotted a few areas that needed some touching up. Careful to keep it away from Amhran, she scooped small bits into place before leaning back to find the next.
