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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!
With the morning came another note to tack onto a host of other necessities – so it might have been no surprise to find the Sword out amidst the haunting array of timber, hellhound nose in the air. Long strides left him sweeping the grounds of snow, and the occasional portion of memory mud grime, fanning out on particular trails, piercing eyes narrowed as he glanced towards the trees. He half-expected the monstrous spiders, at least the ones the merchants had been complaining about, to descend immediately; man-sized and vicious, waiting to tackle and snag at any unsuspecting passerby. Perhaps they’d yet to linger near him, for he was certainly enlightened with their traits. Or, he merely wasn’t in the right place.
Snorting when none came to meander in his presence, he traversed towards a more open grove portion, where the canopy remained chiseled to one side. Sled and wagon tracks were certainly visible there; hallmarks of travels near and far, but no signs of an obvious struggle or arachnid qualities.
i am on a journey to discover what it's like to be free of all my demons
He’d never really consider Halo to be a place of refuge for him – but after all of the fucking mud everywhere, even Sunjata’s figured that snow was better than everything else. So, with the extent of helping Deimos face man sized spiders which sounded absolutely fucking awful too – it might be fun to take on something to play with his hydra shift.
The woods are thick and he doesn’t quite remember them being there – though he hadn’t spent a lot of time in Halo way back when. He arrives, drifting through the cold and along the trail to find the hellhound as the dark scaled beast with three heads – six eyes to try and scout out the giant arachnids that were a detriment. Hey, find anything yet? He calls out to Deimos, his accent and intrigue vibrant as he scans the snowy forest.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
His ears flickered back and forth; the sound of wings echoing in his senses long before the hydra came into appearance. He knew instantly who it was, and snorted, leaving the surprise of finding Sunjata in Halo to begin with silent in his mind, and instead wandering further, into the middle of the copse, to be seen rather than scarcely noticed as the demigod landed.
A dog-like shrug filtered through his motions at the question – someone within the Citadel must’ve passed on the message of his intended hunt. No. His eyes went towards more wagon and sled tracks, strides taking more long, loping movements. Figured I would follow these. The merchants were complaining. By way of explanation, but that wasn’t surprising – he’d critique traversing through an endless parade of spiders in their shoes too.
Sunjata would likely be able to see farther, though it might not have mattered in the way the trees clustered together; nearly bracken-like in their tight knit contortions. His curiosity was more potent than the current state of his pursuit for the present though, lowering his nose to the snow. What brings you out this way?
i am on a journey to discover what it's like to be free of all my demons
Hmm. Sunjata hums as he trails after Deimos in the shift with multiple eyes – two craned up high to try and peer through the branches, the other last head peering along the tracks and wagon pieces. At the question, though, all three heads turn their attention back on the Sword – toothy and draconic in their motions. I was passing through and heard the complaints. He starts off, a sensation of a smile passing over the attuned bond.
Thought I could lend a hand if you want? Beats the mud-pocalypse back in King’s End. He snorts – from three separate locations – before he moves further through the path after the hellhound, looking for anything of note, tracking the pieces and portions left behind.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Going further into the darker depths, where the trees brushed together and created a canopy of hollowed portions, the light barely flickering through, he alternated his glances – some towards the high branches, and then sweeping down again to the ground, striving for any sense or semblance, a glint between intangible frames. If you would like. They are man-sized but difficult to spot. Nearly translucent bodies. But perhaps, from Sunjata’s multiple vantage points, he’d be able to spot the massive arachnids.
His ears kept maneuvering though, pausing every so often at the creak of a branch or the sudden pulse of the wind. It left him on high alert, but not enough to dispel all the traces of his humor, snorting through the bond. I heard – has it impacted a lot? Besides Colt’s pastures, the Sword could fathom a multitude of issues; those wide-open fields becoming naught but muck and grime. The Greatwood seems to have similar issues.
i am on a journey to discover what it's like to be free of all my demons
With three sets of eyes, it takes a bit more focus for the hydra to trail after the hellhound. But he tries to utilize it to their advantage – looking from above in three separate spaces, trying to take note of the information Deimos offers. Nearly translucent bodies were difficult to spot in a space where icicles could be mistaken for legs, and one of his heads stills as it spots something akin to that before they meander back on. Good to know. He offers in regards to the information before they’re continuing through.
A lot, honestly. I heard the Grounds are also dealing with it. Everything is just rain and mud. He recalls Danta’s letter, before one of the heads lowers to peer around a trunk while the others continue to try and scout through the branches of the little forest they’d found themselves in.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Deimos took the information too; eyes narrowing briefly as the mention of the Grounds. Despite Danta’s charge of it, and the drastic, different changes it held from the time of barriers and alterations, he still found himself wary and less likely to meander through it. For Kiada, he always would, but the haunting wake of prior destruction, loss, and horrors raked down his spine with all its ghosts. Even notions of memory mud within the place held a darker filament of a Fiat Lux gone terribly wrong; and he knew he wouldn’t need to mention that to the Flood. He altered the subject on parallel lines instead, back to prior offers. Unfortunate. But if you need something done in King’s End, I can try to make my way there. Perhaps he’d ask Danta or Kiada too, once they got some other things accomplished in Halo.
Despite his prying eyes though, it’d be Sunjata who’d find the spiders first – or, well, one would find him. On long, slow descent, it must’ve sensed the hydra, but clearly not the size, shape, bulk, or many heads of the beast, for as it drifted downward it flattened right on the tip of one of the three heads’ nose.
i am on a journey to discover what it's like to be free of all my demons
The mud monster of Fiat Lux was something the Floor definitely wouldn’t forget. It had spurred much of his life into shifting, ever changing motions. It had been the tidal wave that made him meet Nate, after all. It had also been the wave that had spurred him into the spite wedding — even if the marriage hadn’t lasted that long. Thank you, I appreciate it. The Flood offers to the Sword with a pulse of gratitude for the offer as he continues to scout for the glassy spiders with three heads.
But then, the hydra hesitates, the glassy sheen of something large landing to flatten against his nose. A sensation of sudden surprise flashes through the attuned bond before the Flood’s stilling completely. Found one. He says though the attuned bond, as both other heads swivel around to peer at the spider on his nose briefly as if debating which one could get the spider off the quickest.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
He nodded at the acknowledgment and gratitude, but then his attention was drawn away from the surroundings, and on the sudden bout of surprise flickering through the Attuned bond. Maneuvering his head so it whipped back around towards the hydra, he snorted, realizing the beast was hanging off one of the heads’ noses, and certainly out of the Sword’s reach, for the moment. He didn’t think the Flood would appreciate him shifting into a thunderbird, what with the lightning affiliation and all.
So he moved beneath, glancing upward, long tail waving in amusement, the potential for destruction if Sunjata deigned to share. If you want to toss it down here, I can set it on fire. Then there'd be more range for all three heads, and the inferno pulsing from his paws.
Not that the arachnid was eager for such a bout - angling its eight legs outwards and trying to clutch the demigod's nostrils.
i am on a journey to discover what it's like to be free of all my demons
He certainly appreciated a less electric response to the spider dangling from his nose. The other two heads crowd it out of pure curiosity, staring at it from all angles before Sunjata’s following the suggestion with ease — more than willing to watch the creature become a ball of fiery ash.
The two heads that had inspected it return to their scouting, while the one it clings to starts to lower so he can snap his head in just the right way to basically yeet the spider down toward Deimos, awaiting with a touch too excitement to see the fire as he fights off the tingly sensation the arachnid had sparked in his body.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
He waited, muscles bunched, coiled, fervent, and ready for the spider to hasten downward. What occurred was a source of amusement too – he couldn’t help the bout of laughter – as the arachnid spiraled from the jostling of the hydra, into a faint heap in the snow. Whereupon, the hellhound leapt.
Deimos had grown in speed, and despite the magnitude and size of the beast, he remained thoroughly undaunted. He knew the threat, but the omen was worse for those who traversed out in these grounds every day, intending to reach their points in the Citadel without losing limbs or being paralyzed. His paws sprung with the well of fire, embers brimming as his teeth sunk into fleshy points, instantly alighting the spider.
It shrieked, it jostled, it flung outwards to bite and withdraw amidst the snow; the flames hoarding their way through its membranes. The Sword maneuvered out of the way, with just enough momentum to spare himself a strangling toxin, and permitting Sunjata an avenue of assault and siege, if he’d like.
i am on a journey to discover what it's like to be free of all my demons
He feels it – however minutely – the second that the spider falls from his nose into a heap in the snow. Deimos is immediately upon it, though, descending with flame and teeth and paws, setting the crystalline arachnid aflame. Amused to watch as it struggles, it’s only when Deimos shifts his body to avoid the toxic bite, does the Flood descend, too.
It’s a lot like having three dogs trying to play with a toy as he snatches out to chomp at it with too sharp teeth from one head, the second snagging it in the hopes of trying to tear a leg or two off as they continue to try and play a game of tug of war with the spider.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Sunjata’s shift was a spectacle all on its own – amusing, really, to watch as three heads descended upon the spider. Much larger than the arachnid, the man-sized cretin seemed nearly dwarfed by the masses, and despite its toxic indulgences, couldn’t find any purchase on either head. It scrambled and strived though, aiming for annihilation, but the Flood seemed to time it perfectly in between each rush and chomp, avoiding the venom potentially looming at large.
As one leg was torn off, the spider screeched in either agony or defeat, but likely both. Deimos took the opportunity to sear it along its sides, only launching in when Sunjata had peeled away for a moment, leaving room for fire and flames and the crescendo of vehemence. It turned, hastened towards the Sword again, intending to take another opportunity.
i am on a journey to discover what it's like to be free of all my demons
He latches on, avoiding the toxins which was a relief. One head bites down on the main body of the spider while the other latches onto the leg. He pulls it away with a sickening crack and satisfaction blurring through the attuned bond alongside the energy that’s expelled with the withdrawal from the beast. It’s enough time to watch as Deimos launches toward it, attacking it with more fire and flames.
Sunjata dashes out with one head, nipping at a leg from behind, trying to pull it back so it doesn’t land a bite on Deimos’ form. He follows it up with a second and third head of the hydra, waiting to see if he needs to snap out at it again or if Deimos has brought it to its demise.
SUNJATA
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
