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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!
Her shout rings out from the small stand. It's one of the many temporary ones who have shown up to take advantage of the coming festival, apparently thinking it's okay to sell boring, bland bells for an exorbitant price.
The vendor doesn't appear to agree, narrowing his eyes at Nova's outburst. "They're handmade."
She scoffs, crossing her arms across her spider-stitched white sweater. One of the shapes moves over her shoulder when she lifts her chin. "I can make a better one easily." Putting out a hand, threads of shimmering light coalesce in her palm to create a silver bell etched with stars and studded with colorful gems. It catches the light, sparking almost as bright as the smug shine in her eyes.
I was so cold and lost, nothing seemed to ring true Then I whispered your name, that's when everything changed
Longnight is a lucrative time for the woodcutter. He tries not to consider the horrors of the darkness that stretches out over their land and the way those fears feed his pockets. It's not a favorite truth of his, but it is one he'd be stupid to ignore. He manages it better by shifting the perspective away from the depths of the night and what it hides, to the fuel he instead provides, feeding the light and the warmth that provide the hope and the comfort for people to carry through into the dawn. He is not profiting off disaster, he is facilitating survival.
Tucked away in a lighter coat and his red plaid flannel beneath, Iskra's head turns from his current exchange, drawn by the shouting. The shopkeep passing over coppers into his awaiting palm turns with him, each of them craning their necks towards the stall a few ways down where Nova is arguing about price scales. "What's that stall?" Iskra wonders, hoisting up the bundle of freshly chopped wood and thumping it down on the stall's table. The shopkeep finishes paying him and shrugs. Bells? I think. And other noise-making things. Iskra muses aloud, one hand tugging thoughtfully on his beard.
"I do need a bell, actually," he murmurs, then nods in farewell, reaching down for his sack of wood and lumbering down the stall aisles towards the noisy stand. He has enough time to see Nova create a bell from nothing, its metal gleaming where it sits in her hand. Iskra draws closer, gaze tilting from her to her creation. "Does it sound the same?" he wonders of her, genuinely curious. Being in Deimos' company often enough, creation magic is something he sees routinely, but it's special enough to still snare his attention.
Love came out of the rain, talk about being saved Suddenly I wanna live, more than I ever did
The vendor looks ready to argue while Nova is getting ready to stick her tongue out at him when a voice interrupts them. She turns to take in the flannelled man, an idea for an outfit sparking in her mind. Saving it for later, she raises an eyebrow at the question, confident as she chimes, "Nope!" She leans a little closer, pretending she has a secret to share, even as her voice carries loud enough for the vendor to hear when she says, "It sounds better." Nova lifts the bell between them, dangling it by the rainbow string as she wiggles it.
A bright, crystalline sound rings out, like the sound of diamonds falling or stars streaking across the sky. It's pure and beautiful and perfect in all the ways she'd intended, pride twinkling in her chest as she leans excitedly forward, white star freckles catching the light when she smiles at him. "Do you want me to make you one?" Her eyes flash to the vendor, ready to win this fight with stubbornness alone. The smile she wears is sharply mischievous, already plotting her victory when she blinks innocently back at the man, tone singing as she says, "I won't charge you nearly as much as this guy."
I was so cold and lost, nothing seemed to ring true Then I whispered your name, that's when everything changed
The sound rings out sharp and clear, Iskra's head tilting with the pour of the bright noise. An answering howl from behind Iskra announces Goose's arrival, the dog having chased a blink hare across the hillside until his tongue lolled out. If it should have tired him, the possibility is only brief. The dog is synonymous with stamina, especially this time of the year when the snow and ice that he favors is rampant, eliciting many zoomies.
"Seems Goose agrees with you," Iskra chuckles faintly, glancing back at the hound with a fondness that can never be fully hidden, not even when he's slinging complaints towards the mutt. Her offer to make him one catches him by surprise, brows lifting with the span of it. "You'd just make some for me? I don't normally forget a face, but have we met?" It's no easy task, creation, and so it usually has its limits, he knows.
He shifts the wood haul at his side, wondering if she might want the same sort of payment that many of these vendors have come to appreciate from a woodcutter when the world gets dark and icy.
Love came out of the rain, talk about being saved Suddenly I wanna live, more than I ever did
A howl echoes the chime of her bell, and Nova's greeted by an adorable dog with a dangling tongue. She accepts the praise with beaming smile, ignoring the vendor to crouch in front of the newcomer. "Hi!" Her hand reaches out to pet them, looking up at the man as she does so. The competitive stubbornness that had been there is mixed with confused surprise at his question. "It's just a bell." It's not like making them is hard and she did say she would charge him.
The second question is met with more consideration, head tilting so that blonde curls brush against her shoulders, blue eyes squinting to take in the man. From his brown hair to his flannel shirt, she inspects every aspect of him, vaguely recalling... "Hmmm.... OH!" Nova leaps to her feet, the movement ringing the bell in her hand as she abandons the dog to bring attention to how they might know each other. "We fought that big toad together!!"
