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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!
At least they could follow the path left from previous quests for placing the rainbow-hued stones around Haulani. Flora's team had helpfully loaded the stones into a horse-drawn cart so at least the first part of their task would be made a little easier, and Hadama stood by the head of their trusty draught steed, idly scratching its chin as he waited for the rest of his own crew to arrive.
"Melita. Isla. Thank you," he murmured to them both with grateful inclination of his head to the women as they arrived. "It is good to see you again." He clicked his tongue and the horse began to move, pulling the heavy cart as Hadama walked beside it, guiding and setting a slow pace. He spoke as he walked, one hand resting on the horse's shoulder as he occasionally looked back at the volunteers for this particular task. "Isla, have you helped set rocks before?" They had gathered them once, together, in the early days of protecting Torchline. But he did not know if she had ever been on the other side of the quest.
Melita, he knew, had been, and he tilted his head back at her with wry lift to one corner of his mouth, acknowledging the repetition in what they did. "Do you think we should put them beside the previous stones? Or space them out between?"
Round 1: start placing rocks. So many rocks.
“Let’s space ‘em out. Really liven the place up a little.” She jested with a wry grin; because while she loved, adored, and found rocks really admirable and lovely, my gods could this task get boring real fuckin quick. She didn’t even have Jack to bother and annoy.
Taking a few in her hands, she flickered over with rampant skipping towards one of the many left before – placing them in between so there was a little variety amidst the blind sorting. If she hadn’t done this on another task, she might’ve just chucked them in a variety of directions. Instead, she took the mature route, but only because she had to wait out the possibilities and parameters of being the pissant.
"Truthfully, I don't remember," Isla confesses with a wry smile and a shrug of her shoulders. "But how hard could it be, right?" She keeps pace with Hadama and Melita, exchanging a smile with the other woman and reaching out to grab a handful of rocks to deposit them into a smaller sack. That should at least make it easier to scatter and place them, reducing her trips back and forth. "So these go all around Haulani?" she guesses, able to spot the previous markers from the other quest.
"I agree - let's really push the boat out." Smiling to herself this time, she ventures out just ahead of Mel so she can put a few of the stones down between those already settled. Between them they can relay back and forth and hopefully get it done a bit quicker. It certainly doesn't seem as though they are lacking in the rock department, anyway.
"Mmh. I would like to think that Frey appreciates the redecorating," he rumbled wryly to Melita as he and the horse made their slow but steady way around the outskirts of the city. The part on land, at least, which was easiest to reach for the trio. The Honeybee was able to find places between previous forays into dryscaping Torchline to place her chosen stones easily at first, but as Isla joined her it was Ludo's demigod who would notice the pair of Hels that had begun to follow them. They were quite large, and they also had an eye for the shiny, colorful rocks that the ladies were placing.
The largest of the pair hopped forward and pecked at one of the smaller recently-placed stones before grasping it in his beak and lumbering heavily into the air, intent on carrying it off. Several more Hels were starting to circle as the second one hopped towards a slightly smaller stone, examining it with clear intent to commit grand theft mineral. Hadama turned from nodding his confirmation to Isla's question to watch the avaricious Hels with weary resignation. "Do either of you have a way to convince them to leave our markers alone?"
Round 2: Some greedy Hels are attempting to steal rocks that have already been placed! Find a way to deal with them, please!
Oh thank the gods – there was something she could set on fire.
Watching the Hels begin to be really fucking annoying, Melita was eager to use any excuse to do anything but chuck rocks around all day. Already restless, she drew her bow. “Sure do.” Snagging at her favorite element from the quiver on her back, she grinned, and then pinpointed upon one of the large Hels as a suitable target. Once she’d pinpointed upon its cheeky little existence, she fired.
And hey, maybe that would make its brethren fuck off or be another victim. Either way worked for the Honeybee.
--
Melita tries to hit one of the Hels with a fire arrow.
Type: Light | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Bowstring Bracelet | At first this bracelet appears only as a length of intricately braided bowstring, adorned with vinelike patterns and tiny, fanged charms. But with an arrow in hand, upon miming the action of knocking and drawing it, the user will feel a bow beneath their fingers, as if it was there all along.
Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Fire/Lightning/Ice Quiver | A magical quiver with two compartments. In one, it turns any arrow placed within into a flaming projectile when shot. In the other, the arrow becomes imbued with electricity. (Made by Remi)
Glancing up as she notices the circling hels - not to mention the larger one that already seems to be trying to make its way off with their rock-haul, Isla is about to suggest a few more, er, humane methods of discouraging them, but Melita is already gung-ho with her fire. Which, really, from what she knows of the Honeybee, everyone ought to have expected. (And been surprised that it hadn’t come into play before now, honestly).
”Ah,” Isla says. ”Right.”
Still not convinced that skewering the birds is entirely the right course of action, she nevertheless contributes her part to the proceedings, promptly exchanging skirts and legs for the sleek, molten gold and orange of a tiger. Shaking herself off - and flecking the ground with splashes of liquid gold as she does so - Isla peers up at the feathered pests and lets out a fierce sounding roar in the hope of spooking them off.
And if that doesn’t work, she’s not beyond swatting at them with paws either.
Isla roars at the hels as a molten tiger to try and spook them away!
Hadama was, indeed, unsurprised when Melita chose violence. He nodded in solemn solidarity to Isla's efficient summary of the situation but held his position with the cart, both to keep the horse calm and to guard the greater stash of their remaining stones. His heart was in the right place, but in spite of his aquatic half-equine shift he was himself no horseman, as was soon to become painfully evident.
Beginning with things that worked, Melita was a frighteningly accurate shot with her bow. The arrow flew straight and true and the Hel, it must be said, never even saw its death approaching like a tiny, fiery comet. The large Hel burst into a cloud of flaming feathers, not unlike the poor bird that got between a Diamondbacks pitcher and home plate during spring training. The rock it had been trying to abscond with fell back to the ground only a few feet from where Melita had originally placed it.
The other Hel was undeterred - or perhaps just too stupid to realize what had happened just yet. It made to lift off with its own ill-gotten gain when Isla turned herself into a large, flaming cat and let loose a mighty roar. The bird flinched and almost dropped its shiny treasure, but managed to keep its grip and began to flap away with it. Burdened as it was, however, the transformed Ancient would have no trouble batting it out of the sky with her paws.
But that was where things took a turn for the unlucky.
Hadama's instincts were sound as he remained with the horse and cart, for while Melita's fire arrow did not cause the stolidly dependable gelding to so much as blink, the sudden appearance of a molten tiger so near at hand was another matter entirely. Especially when that tiger let loose a mighty roar. The Hel might have been nonplussed, but the horse was very much aware of where it stood in relation to the local food chain, and it jumped and bucked in its traces. It first attempted to rear, and when the weight and harnessing prevented that it bolted, tearing the reins from Hadama's startled hands.
"The stones!" Hadama called to his helpers to draw their attention to the new crisis unfolding as their cart of precious protective markers took off down the lane.
Good job on taking care of the Hels, but now the horse and cart have bolted! Off we go on round 3 to get them back!
If the adultier adults in the room had a problem with it, they could say something. Melita would’ve done it all anyway, but y’know. They might’ve felt better.
Regardless, the Honeybee gave a congratulatory and impressed whoop when the molten tiger shift came into play, a ferocious little smile on her face as the pests were set on fire and beaten off. An excellent way to start the day.
Did it set off more of a shitshow? Yeah. Would Melita would say it was worth it? Probably.
She sighed as Hadama started freaking out about the horse, the cart, and the stones, and with no way to fly over there, the demigod shrugged her shoulders and began walking calmly over. Well, for her. “Hey, let’s all be chill and it should settle,” she offered to the workers nearby too, hoping maybe some of them would stark taking the advice (not her), and then she started going through her pockets, hoping to find some treats in them that might entice the equine.
--
Melita tries to be calm and approach the horse with some treats.
Feeling equally as gleeful about the situation if only because felines and birds have a long and bloody history with one another, Isla does indeed rear up to swipe at the hel who is still trying to make off with a stone. She manages to swipe it clear from its stupid beak just in time for the horse to loose its shit, and Isla turns and promptly shifts back to a less menacing form, but the damage is unfortunately already done.
”Sorry!” she calls to Hadama, wincing and setting off after Melita as the Honeybee opts for placation and bribery rather than any further violence. Deciding not to go near the animal in case it can still smell something predatory on her, Isla instead goes about picking up any stones that have fallen off the back of the cart so she can add them to the pile again.
Isla shifts back and grabs up any stones that have fallen off the back of the cart, deciding to leave the horse alone in case it is still spooked by her.
The Hels were swiftly dealt with, much to Hadama's quiet satisfaction, but the frightened horse and the cart it ran away with were another matter entirely. Uncertain of how beast to soothe the panicked creature and likewise unable to fly, he turned to the voice of calm and reason in the situation - Melita, who had a plan. He paused at her calm tone and stilled instead of attempting to chase the cart down, and he raised a brow in curiosity as treats were produced.
And, somewhat surprisingly, it worked. The tiger had vanished and with no one chasing it the horse soon slowed, burdened by the cart as it was, and turned to look behind itself nervously. Seeing no large predators but instead only a human with a hand full of something that smelled tasty it stamped a hoof and snorted, but didn't continue its flight. It waited for Mel to come around to its side and then curved its head around to sniff warily at the snacks being provided before lipping at her hand in acceptance of the bribe.
That left Isla and Hadama to drift along with the rest of their helpers in the cart's wake, retrieving the precious stones that had bounced out during he short flight. "It was a mighty roar," he informed the medic solemnly, though there was a hint of a twinkle in his eyes now that Melita had soothed their runaway steed. "Do you have other shapes as well?"
With the horse calmed and the rocks re-gathered, Hadama nodded to Melita in gratitude. "Will you lead the horse? I will help Isla with the stone placement. And soon we will need to move to the water beneath the floating islands."
Round 4:
Mel successfully calms the horse down.
Isla has no problem picking up fallen stones and returning them to the cart.
Hadama requests switching jobs with Mel for the next round.
Finish up the land portion of the stone placement and we can move on to the water!
Melita somehow being the calm one and actually reasonable in the moment should probably have been recorded in the history books. But she also knew about snacks, and gave a light, merry sort of laugh when the horse’s gigantic lips accepted the offer, patting it on the neck as it munched.
That she also got out of the endless rock derision was acceptable – and before Hadama could change his mind, she opted to take hold of the reins. “Sure.” She tugged lightly, and then deciding to keep up the sedate pace as more stones were placed, she hummed a little under her breath, and started telling the equine a semblance of stories – watching as its ears flicked back and forth under the quiet, ridiculous nature of the myths. “Okay, so listen to this one – there once was a farmer from Leeds, who swallowed a packet of seeds,” pausing to make sure the animal was listening, she carried on. “It soon came to pass, that he was covered with grass, but has all the tomatoes he needs.”
--
Melita takes the horse and offers it stupid limericks to listen to.
”Thank you,” Isla says to Hadama, her tone equally as serious, though the smile playing across her lips as she glances at him out of the corner of her eye very much gives her away. ”I have been practicing.” Letting out a relieved sigh to see that Melita, of all of them, has managed to calm their spooked steed, she presses forward to return some of the rocks to the sacks, opting to keep the rest so she can continue to place them.
”Mm, I also have a gore crow shift,” she tells the Tidebreaker. ”Though I don’t know if that would have done as much good against the hels.” Now, for better or worse, they’ll probably never know. Smiling to Mel as the other woman takes the reins, Isla continues setting down stones and pretends not to listen to the lyrical genius between Mel and the horse; her quiet laughter, however, proves that she’s not doing quite as good a job as she might hope.
The horse seemed much happier to be walking beside Melita. Maybe it was the treats in a language they both understood so well, or maybe it was the sound of her voice, the reassuring humming and the snippets of golden verse that she shared with the calming gelding, but he was soon back to his calm, stolid self. He was happy to clop along at the pace she set, pulling the cart behind them at a steady walk that made it easy for Hadama and Isla and their other helpers to remove stones and place them at intervals between the existing ones of Rae's Barrier.
The pair on rock duty ran into no further problems, either. Instead they were able to enjoy a pleasant conversation as they made progress towards the coast. Hadama chose primarily blue or green stones to place, with the occasional golden yellow or silvery grey to set into the protective ring they were reinforcing around the dwellings of the landfolk. "i would bet on a gore crow over a Hel in a fight," he assured Isla solemnly while they worked. "Especially if the Hel is weighed down by a stone." But there was the glint of mischief in his eyes as he spoke.
Eventually they reached the far side of the island and Hadama called a halt as he looked over the amount of stones left in the cart. "Now is a good time to break for lunch," he announced, much to the relief of most of their help. Indeed, several vendors were bringing their carts out from the city, having been requested in advance to join them at this time. "Take your meal and rest. We will place the rocks in the water around the floating islands this afternoon."
Round 5: Time for a lunch break! What will you have?
If there are any preparations you want to make before heading out onto the boats, now's the time. Feel free to use your own boat if you want, otherwise one will be provided for sailing around below the edges of the floating islands to place rocks in the ocean around their perimeter..
With the horse in tow, and stones placed where they needed to be, Melita was content to take a break, even if she wasn’t all that winded. Patting the gelding and leaving him in the right hands, she sauntered over to partake in a meal, picking through some fruit and then meat kebabs.
As for boats, she grinned.
Making her way over to Isla, she bumped the Ancient with her elbow. “We can take my skyboat.” It’d brush them right over the water, as they hovered and continued in place. “And I promise to go fast,” she offered with another menacing sort of grin. Which probably said she would’ve done so regardless.
--
Melita gets some food and offers Isla a ride in her skyboat for the next part of the PQ.
