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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 next morning arrived with purpose, ambition, and drive. While they’d been successful in their efforts against the void monsters, again, the venture didn’t leave them completely whole. And Deimos had no intention of leaving their first line of defense broken, splintered, and fractured. Nor with a titan’s body on it. And the quicker they worked, the better he would feel about other impending threats – with two within a matter of days, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was more to come.
Setting up some hot breakfast items on a table nearby, hoping it would lure the rest of their capable workers, the Sword and his companions followed along after grabbing some toast, stuffing it in his mouth as he went to inspect the initial problem.
The large cretin remained lopsided upon the gate, obstructing some movement, and putting too much strain on all their metal fittings, timber, and stone. He’d wait for the others to arrive, but some ideas were already trickling in.
--
Welcome to the repairing the Citadel walls/gates PQ+! We have until February 26th to complete it.
Post your character arriving, grab some breakfast, and come on over to observe the current issue. Please list out what your character is bringing. No post order.
Rhiannon arrived meekly, her thoughts still filled with her abysmal failure from the day before. She’d wanted to help, and really thought that she could do something, even alongside the likes of Deimos, and yet her efforts had been in vain. In the end, nothing she’d done had mattered, and that rankled.
She gathered her breakfast alongside the others, though nothing sounded particularly good. She knew she’d need her strength. The titan had been huge, and today would no doubt require an abundance of physical labor. Once her plate was as full as she could justify, she took up a place near Deimos, though she avoided meeting his gaze. She was sure that he’d taken note of her role - or lack thereof - in the defeat of the titan, and she didn’t want to see his disappointment.
—-
Rhi arrives with everything on her profile, a basic sword, and a basic dagger.
After an uneasy rest with dreams of purple eyes in the sky and violet fingers clawing their way out of the snow, Sah awoke with the determination to make the day a productive one. After caring for the wolves, he made his way to the Citadel gates. The Titan was a fearsome sight, even in its death. Everything about the creature felt wrong and out of place. It was a further reminder that the Void did not belong in Caido.
Grabbing breakfast, Sah joined Deimos and Rhiannon, giving both a nod. "Morning." He managed a small grin but even he couldn't quite get it to meet his eyes.
~
Sah arrives with everything on his profile, minus companions. He gets breakfast and joins the others.
Having been otherwise distracted during the battle (with calming and guiding people to coverage), Elizabeth hadn't yet taken the time to assess the damages. It turned out to be worse than she'd expected, although she didn't know what she'd been expecting. The hulking behemoth leaned against the damaged wall in a way that made her think it might enjoy becoming a part of their defenses for eternity, somehow embracing the fallen bricks in its arms(?). Quite certain that the other Halovian citizens would be against seeing the purple monolith at their gates every morning, Elizabeth showed up to assist in the repairs.
The gathering of familiar faces would have immediately brought a smile to her face - if they didn't look so distraught. Trying to give them a moment of space while she analyzed the situation, Elizabeth gathered her own breakfast of hot tea and a muffin. She even stuffed an extra into the pocket of her long brown coat (you never know). However, she didn't leave the others to wallow for long, inching into their proximity gently. Rubbing her pink gloved hands around her cup of hot tea, she said, "Morning. Sounds like yesterday was pretty rough." She looked to all of them with a softness that invited them for discussion should they need it, but she understood that it might be too soon.
Elizabeth arrives with her therapist hat and a positive attitude. (Plus a hidden dagger just in case.)
Rhiannon showing up didn’t surprise him, so much as the way she avoided him. Given some of her actions yesterday, including direct insubordination of his orders to her, he wasn’t sure what he expected. His gaze slid to her briefly. “We will talk later.” A promise and a conviction, but he wouldn’t air the grievances in front of the others.
Sah and Elizabeth earned another nod of his head, a grim line instead of a smile settling into his features. The past few days had been wound into bouts of nonsense and violence, and even after years of living within such values, it was still wearing and tiring. “It was interesting,” he acknowledged to Elizabeth, who hadn’t been amidst the unfurling action. “And quick. But certainly had an impact,” as he jutted his jaw towards the monster, and its form leaning on the wall. “I want to dispose of that first. But I do not want any of us to touch it,” given any potential and possible void remnants. “I was thinking of air or telekinesis magic, and willing to hear other plans.” Arching his brow, he brushed his hands together, finishing off his food and waiting for their input.
--
Help plan how to best move the titan! No post order!
Sah nodded at Elizabeth as she arrived, "It was definitely a unique fight." If it could even be called a fight truly. He was still processing the brief but bizarre chain of events.
Deimos' plan was solid, and the hunter agreed easily. "Telekinesis and air sound like a solid combination. If needed, we could probably also use earth magic to nudge it." He let out a hum, "It also probably wouldn't be a bad idea to create an earth platform to burn it on, so nothing seeps further into the ground." As far as they Wild Thunder was aware, no one had left any of the void corpses hanging around long enough to see if they infected the ground as they disposed. He didn't want Halo to be the experimental location where it was confirmed.
~
Sah agrees with telekinesis and air and suggests that they burn it on an earth magic platform.
Tilting her head, Elizabeth didn't quite understand the reasoning for the odd behavior around an otherwise overwhelming win. She tried to stay vague with a subtle praise. "I suppose quick is better. Less time for deaths and damages." As evidenced by the fact that the wall was still standing at all. Things could always be worse, and she would say the results spoke for how well the participants had handled the battle (even if she didn't know of mistaken targets and associated guilt).
Regardless, everyone seemed eager to move past destruction and towards repairs. Elizabeth offered a warm smile. "I can help with the telekinesis part. Perhaps others can use shovels or gloves to avoid touching it?" Taking a sip of her tea, she listened to Sah's other input. It certainly made sense to ensure the Void didn't have any chance of regenerating. As the warm liquid slid down her throat, Elizabeth nodded her head. "That's a good idea."
At Deimos’s calm we’ll talk later, Rhiannon hid a wince behind the facade of a yawn. No doubt she was in for a lecture on how to properly aim, and frankly, it was unnecessary. She’d already beat herself up about her poor performance. She didn’t need Deimos to add to it.
But for now: cleanup. She listened to the ideas of the others, nodding along where appropriate. She didn’t have much to add, and her lightning magic was of little use in this particular situation. If she’d had disintegration or something - but no. They needed to be careful, in case the corpse of the titan had the ability to infect their lands further. ”We need to be careful. What if its remains taint the ground?” she said, then listened to Sah’s suggestion about an earth magic pyre. ”Perhaps some kind of container for the ashes, if we burn it,” she suggested. That way they could contain the creature’s remains and figure out if it was dangerous.
—-
Rhiannon agrees with the plan, and suggests some kind of container for any remains.
Prone to listening rather than speaking, he did just that as the ideas bounced and bounded, back and forth. His eyes narrowed in speculation, taking in the considerations, until eventually, it seemed as though they’d meandered straight into place. “So, we can try this. I can make a container to go underneath the pyre to collect the ashes and remnants,” that way, nothing could be funneled into the ground and corrupt it again, and then they can decide what to do with the portions thereafter, “Sah can make the earth mound,” given the other hybrid’s control over the elements as well. “And Rhiannon and Elizabeth can pick the best location.” Preferably, away from the Citadel at large, so none of the issues would rise again towards the gates and walls.
Presuming everyone would be in line with the plans, the Sword began to do exactly as he’d noted – moving several leagues ahead of the Citadel itself, and beginning to make a container, slick on the bottom much like a sled (for easy removal and movement), so that Sah could begin his work as well.
--
Deimos is making a container to collect the titan remnants, Sah can make the earth mound, and Rhiannon and Elizabeth can scout out a preferred location for all of it to go down! No post order!
With a plan set in place, Rhiannon nodded once before jumping in to get to work. She turned to the woman she assumed was Elizabeth and stuck out a hand. ”Hi,” she said, offering a tired smile. ”I’m Rhiannon. I don’t think we’ve met officially. But you played capture the flag with us, right?”
With introductions in place, Rhiannon turned to lead the way out onto the tundra, searching for the perfect spot. Ideally, they’d want a spot with as little snow as they could find; it would make it easier to clear and build their pyre. Although she supposed that Deimos could just siphon away the snow, given his magic, so perhaps her attempts at making their lives easier were a moot point.
”Somewhere far enough from the walls that we won’t damage them further, but close enough that we don’t have to drag the titan far. What do you think?” she asked Elizabeth, cocking her head to one side as she thought aloud.
—-
Rhiannon searches for a place to do the thing with Elizabeth!
Not a soldier herself, Elizabeth substituted a salute for an understanding nod of her head at the directions. She was more than happy to work with the woman, smiling warmly when she introduced herself. "That's right. Nice to meet you!" After all, they hadn't done a lot of talking during all the chaos of capture the flag. "I'm Elizabeth." And then her smile widened. "By the way, you played a really good game. Congrats on your victory." Since they'd all kind of dispersed afterwards, she hadn't really gotten the chance to share in the celebration of the team's win.
Following farther into the snow, she burrowed her head into her scarf to fight off the gust of cold wind. She listened to Rhi's words, looking around for anything that met the description. "Hmm. What about that spot?" Just ahead, a flat portion of earth was covered with a thin layer of snow. It was far away from any water or plant life, a good trek from the wall, but not far enough to be tiring. To her untrained eyes, Elizabeth thought it looked like a good spot for a titan bonfire.
Sah watched as Elizabeth and Rhiannon walked off to scout the best location for their pyre. When the duo returned, the hybrid quickly got to work. The spot that they had chosen seemed reasonable and with a brief grin, he called on his magic with a raise of a hand.
The earth around the spot trembled and began to rise up. Keeping his power steady, Sah made sure to keep the platform flat enough that the Titan wouldn't slide off and ruin their work. He also kept in mind the height of the mound and how much effort it would take to lift a creature of that magnitude. With how much force it had struck the Citadel walls, its dead weight was likely immense.
When the hybrid felt that he had created a suitable platform for the task ahead, he lowered his arm and stepped back. "That should do it."
Magic and motions combined to ensure the building blocks and foundations of their intentions were well and good – now they’d have to see if they could put it to work. Content with the container and mound arrangement, Deimos’ gaze snapped back and forth from makeshift pyre to desecrated titan multiple times, calculating several things in his head. Though the location wasn’t far away, there was certainly room for error, as with anything in life, he supposed.
Rumbling again, he nodded. “We need one of you to brace against the container in case anything falters,” because he’d be quite impressed if they could smoothly lift the monster all the way over without anything going awry. “And the rest can help move the beast with either air of telekinesis.”
Dispersing them to their posts, the Sword took his long strides towards the defeated foe, beginning to unfurl his own Mastered Air enchantments.
--
Let’s move the titan!
Two more to help magically, and one to brace the container! No post order!
Sah stepped around the Titan's body, moving to be perpendicular with it and parallel to the Citadel wall. He'd never attempted to life such a large creature before, or anything of this magnitude in general. Tilting his head, the hybrid decided to focus on a single limb. Concentrating, he tried to grab hold of the lower left leg and began to pull.
It was difficult, and Sah's brow furrowed as he adjusted his metaphorical grip to balance out with the others' efforts. He didn't want to risk overdoing it and somehow pulling the Titan down on himself instead of up onto the platform.
