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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 Labyrinth is nestled against Peekaboo Rise, quiet in its shadow this early in the morning. Long hedgerows lead the way into the maze, perfectly overgrown in a way that almost looks intentional. Lyra stands just outside one entrance into the Labyrinth, searching the ground around her for any sign of an Efas Herb. She's heard enough rumors to know that entering the maze doesn't sound particularly appealing - though she will, if she has to, if it means finishing her quest.
She's chosen daybreak to hunt the herb, hoping to avoid the blistering heat of the season, but even this early, beads of sweat form at her temples and slip down the back of her neck. Reaching up a hand to swipe at her brow, the woman otherwise ignores her discomfort in favor of her search.
It's no use, she finally decides. She's going to have to brave the maze. She thought she might, after asking about the herb in the Inner Quarter. It is rumored to grow near the heart of the Labyrinth. Still, you can't blame her for trying her luck on the outskirts.
With a sigh, she looks into the hedges, then takes the first step towards the heart of the maze.
be love in its disrepute, scorches the hillside and salts every root
Early morning is not Danta's favoured time of day; indeed, you'd normally find him in a tangle of limbs and horns and tails with his beau at daybreak, but sometimes duty calls. In this case, duty means bloodlust, and having been told without room for argument that his has gotten bad enough (he's not great at noticing it himself) to need immediate attention, he'd taken himself off with the sun to soar towards the Outer Brambles in his crow feathers to search for an early breakfast.
And he's already found it by the time Lyra is considering the maze, luckily. The deer hadn't stood a chance against a crow-turned-tiger dropping from the sky onto its back, and Danta is back on two legs as he strolls through the early morning glow around Peekaboo rise, considering climbing it for a nap in the sun when he notices the figure departing into the Labyrinth.
"Careful of boggarts!" he calls after her on reflex, licking a bit of blood from his fingers.
be there and just as you stand, or be like the rose that you hold in your hand
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Just as Lyra steps towards the maze's entrance, a voice calls out behind her, making her jump. She pauses long enough to glance over her shoulder. Seeing as she and the stranger are the only ones around, she has to assume he's talking to her. "Oh, uh - thanks!" she calls back, then faces the labyrinth once more. But still, she hesitates. After a brief pause, she turns back to the stranger.
He's taller than her and thin, with diamond horns and a tail that easily mark him as Ancient. Blonde hair frames blue eyes; he's licking something from his fingers. Lyra chooses not to think too hard about what that might be. "Er - excuse me, but... do you have any tips for finding the center? Or, I guess, getting as close to the center as I can? I'm looking for an Efas Herb." Maybe she'll luck out, and the man will tell her that the herbs grow further out than she imagines, or that she's in the wrong location altogether.
be love in its disrepute, scorches the hillside and salts every root
"Mm...?" His hand drops from his lips, Danta having just been turning to reconsider Peekaboo Rise when the voice rings out again, and he spins on heel back towards the entrance. Lifting his sunglasses to make out the stranger properly, he's already taking a few steps towards her so they might speak easier when he realises what she's after and where from.
"Oh, shit," he said, shooting a crooked smile towards the Labyrinth. "Wish I could say - the damn thing moves around on its own." Meaning that no route is reliable. Were it not such a dangerous place to go, it might provide endless fun for people trying to while away an afternoon.
That doesn't mean it's impossible, though. "That's the healing herb, right?" he says, referring to what she's mentioned. "If you need it bad, I could fly overhead and direct you? I've got a shift with wings."
be there and just as you stand, or be like the rose that you hold in your hand
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
At the confirmation that the maze does, in fact, move around, Lyra grimaces, her bright blue eyes flicking back towards the entrance. There goes her hope that the rumors are just that. No - this is a quest for a god, so of course it wouldn't be easy. It makes sense that she should have to complete difficult tasks in order to earn her reward.
But hey, she couldn't help but hope.
At the stranger's offer, her gaze snaps back to him, eyes widening with surprise. "Oh! I couldn't possibly ask you to do that," she demurs, though the wistfulness in her voice says otherwise. "It's just... I have this ring that has healing abilities, and I'm on a quest to make it stronger, and one of my tasks is to find the Efas Herb..." She trails off. "If you're serious, I could pay you for your help?" she offers, raising her brows and hoping her desperation for assistance doesn't show.
"Good thing you didn't ask me, mm? I offered," Danta says with a wink, resting his hands in his pockets and peering up at the hedgerows overhead, his sunglasses taking the sting away from the morning glare. "If it's for a healing ring too, all the more important," he adds, already stepping back a few feet as if in preparation to shift. "And don't worry about payment. We'll just say you owe me a favour - never know when some healing could come in handy." He grins. "Danta, by the way."
With a roguish little bow, the Maverick swiftly exchanges flesh for feathers in a swift leap, the gore crow's wings fluttering a bit as they beat to get him properly airborne. Once he's made it, though, and circled a couple of times to get himself balanced, he glides over the entrance to the Labyrinth and lets out a croak to invite her to follow.
Dantalion
is just carvin' through the dark
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
”Well, when you put it like that…” Lyra says, amusement as evident in her voice as her gratitude. ”I’m Lyra,” she adds quickly, because Danta is already sketching a bow and shifting in a leap that takes him up into the sky. He circles a few times, then glides over to the entrance to the Labyrinth, croaking her for to follow. She laughs, marveling at her good fortune, and hurries along.
The first stretch of the Labyrinth is simple enough: a straight row, which Lyra trots down as quickly as seems prudent. For a few steps, nothing branches off - but then she reaches a hedge directly in front of her, and the path branches off to the right and the left. Looking up for her gore crow guide, she calls, ”All right then, which way, Danta?”
The Labyrinth is quite enjoyable when you aren't stuck amid its hedgerows and dangers, Danta realises, and he's quite enjoying the aerial view of it. He can see hedges moving in the distance if he watches long enough, but alas, that defeats the point of leading Lyra right now, and so he forces himself to focus. Good timing, too, because her voice calls up to him a moment later.
Circling back, the crow can see both left and right branches; the former leads off deeper into the maze-like undergrowth indefinitely, with further twists and turns to come. The latter, though, that winds disorientingly into a dead end. Swooping to the left and letting out a sharp cry for Lyra to follow, he leads them further down what he considers the correct path.
It goes like that for a few turns - a left here, a right there, and at one point a very confusing double-back where the hedges have opened a brand new path - before Danta suddenly dives low and shifts back onto two feet before her. "I think I can see what you're looking for up ahead," he says, cheeks flushed from the shift.
Dantalion
is just carvin' through the dark
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Following the crow is an exercise in trust, and while Lyra is not one to blindly give hers away, she has found that, in certain cases, it can be granted to strangers for just a little while. In this case, she merely hopes that Danta is leading her to what will, in fact, be an Efas Herb, rather than, say… some demonic creature plaguing the labyrinth that requires human sacrifice to leave the rest of the Grounds alone.
They turn left here, and right there, and then they double back on their path in a very confusing way that leaves even Lyra, who usually has an excellent sense of direction, a little disoriented. When Danta appears again before her as an Ancient, he’s flushed, but triumphant, and Lyra perks up immediately as he indicates that her herb lies ahead.
”Oh, perfect!” she says, smiling at her new friend with delight. Then she rushes on as quickly as she dares, keeping an eye out for anything that might trip her up or cause her or Danta any harm. Luckily, the path remains clear, and she spots the Efas Herb shortly thereafter: a clump of brown amidst the dry grasses of the labyrinth. Reaching out, she grabs Danta’s arm with excitement. ”There it is!” she squeals, and then she’s there beside it, gently beginning to harvest the herb from the ground.
be love in its disrepute, scorches the hillside and salts every root
Whilst it would be chaotic and fun to lead Lyra into trouble, even if only temporarily, Danta hadn't been kidding when he'd said a favour from a healer is worth having. And so - for today, at least - she gets a relatively well-behaved Maverick, and he smiles triumphantly and steps aside for her to be able to rush ahead down through the hedgerows. Following at her heels and admiring the way the Labyrinth seems much more intimidating from within, Danta is jolted back to the present by her hand on his arm.
"Thank gods, I was worried I'd just led you to a really interesting weed." Grinning, he stands guard beside her as she bends to harvest the Efas Herb, tilting his head curiously now that he's able to see it up close and personal. "It doesn't look like much, does it?" he remarks. "Hard to believe something like that could be so powerful."
be there and just as you stand, or be like the rose that you hold in your hand
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Lyra harvests the herb with quick, efficient movements. Gardener extraordinaire, she is not, but she hopes that what she manages to gather will be sufficient for her needs. She briefly contemplates digging up the entire plant, but that feels like overkill. Besides, what if someone else happens across this spot and needs a healing herb? It feels selfish to take it all, and so she takes only enough that she feels confident in the plant's ability to keep growing before standing and turning to Danta.
"It's not so different from all of us, I suppose," she offers with a smile. "I think we all have a little more power than it looks like from the outside, don't we?" Danta does, certainly; Lyra has always been intrigued by the ability to shift forms, and although she doubts very much that she would fare well as an Ancient, she has considered attuning more than once. "Now," Lyra says, satisfied with her efforts as she packs the Efas Herb carefully away. "I don't suppose I could entice you to help me out of the labyrinth, hmm?"
"True for a lot of us," Danta agrees with a crooked grin. "Not all, though. I've met a few people who looked like they'd pack a punch and they did." Sometimes literally, though the Maverick is pleased to say that he's been on the wrong side of a fist a lot less since waking from his long sleep up in The Climb. As for helping Lyra back out of the labyrinth, for a second Danta can only hold that wicked smile and offer her a teasing raise of his eyebrows.
"Go on then," he concedes, tone playful. "Couldn't ask for a favour if you get lost in here and eaten by boggarts, huh?" Before she can ask what those might be and certainly before he can care to explain, the Maverick takes to the skies again under a cloak of crow feathers, circling a few times before starting to lead them out.
The going is surprisingly a little longer this time - evidently the hedgerows had taken themselves for a little jaunt whilst they'd been chatting - but Danta manages to lead them out before it gets too tedious. It's with a croak of victory that he swoops and soars through the entrance, and the Outer Brambles sprawls before them again at last.
Dantalion
is just carvin' through the dark
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
"Fair enough," Lyra concedes, smiling and shaking her head. "But even then, there's often more beneath the surface than we give credit for." But this is not the time for a philosophical debate, and Lyra is relieved when Danta agrees to lead her safely out of the labyrinth. He shifts into a crow before she can ask about boggarts, leaving her befuddled by the comment and amused by the man who'd made it.
The going is longer this time, but Lyra doesn't mind. She has what she needs, and that's all that matters to her as she makes her way through the hedges, carefully following Danta's cawing instructions until, at last, they exit the labyrinth. Fortunately, they do not run into any boggarts - whatever they are - or any other nasty surprises, and once she has a chance, Lyra thanks Danta profusely before they part ways.
