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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!
Maea's aversion to swimming elicited a raised eyebrow from Thal. The woman obviously had a lot of trauma, some of which she was aware of, but a fear of swimming was one she couldn't imagine or relate to. Water was practically a part of her. Even now, she could feel the call towards the ocean. Even when it had nearly drowned her, she still longed to feel its touch. Although, with this particular pool, she wasn't as inclined to return to its murky depths, so Thal just shrugged in acceptance of the decision.
She followed Tal through the undergrowth, picking around the water carefully, making sure not to 'fall in again.' Her eyes were so trained on the ground and any possible tunnels that she quickly noticed the flowers jump out of the ground. "Watch out!" Their snapping teeth lunged and she pulled her arm back to avoid losing any digits. Pulling her daggers, she swiped to fend them off. "Maea! Can you give me a light?!" It was embarrassing, but she didn't have time to make a spark. She'd have to rely on Maea to provide the initial flame so they could fry these suckers.
Thalassa suggests she and Maea use their flames to eliminate the Preying Orchids.
Fire Manipulation: Can manipulate flames. Must be within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent
Type: Dark | Rank: Upgraded
Noticing the way Thalassa stared at her, Maea returned a rueful grimace, the smile a pale thing that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I really did drown once," she explained quietly. "Sometimes it's fine, but sometimes I remember, and.. well. Screaming under water is generally a bad idea." Extending a hand to let Tal help her up, Maea squeezed his fingers in quiet gratitude for his decision. She didn't say anything, but it was a relief to have company. The longer time they spent here, the firmer her dislike of the forest was growing.
Accepting the stick, she joined the others in searching for a way around the pit. Keeping her eyes on the immediate ground ahead, she was slow to notice the strange flowers. Thalassa's request received immediate reaction however; before she quite knew what they were burning Maea kindled a ribbon of flame and sent it arching out in a cone ahead of them. Hopefully it wouldn't sweep too high over the orchids; her realization of what they were attacked by came too late to adjust the angle right away.
"Flowers! Aim low," she called to Talyson just in case he hadn't seen them yet.
Maea conjures flame for herself and Thalassa and aims it in a cone ahead of the party.
Fire Manipulation: Can create and control flames. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
I can try to pretend, I can try to forget But it's driving me mad, going out of my head
The good news was that the team managed to stay dry this time, able to use their sticks to find the edge of the cenote hidden beneath the thick leaves and greenery before anyone slipped over it again. There was a slowly rising sense of anxiety among them, however. Whether that was from the dangerous jungle, their recent near-drowning experiences, or some outside source was difficult to say... but it seemed to be stronger towards Maea's side of the group.
And it was not without good cause, as it happened.
Thalassa was unable to capture any of Maea's fire before the Orchids attacked, but she managed to dodge the snapping teeth of Orchid 2. Instead it accidentally bit its ally as it lunged after her and Orchid 3 got in the way, but it didn't prevent Orchid 3 from taking a bite out of Thal's leg, and it latched on tight!
Maea did, indeed, aim just a little too high on her attack and the fire passed harmlessly over the predatory flowers. Steam and scorch rose from the parts of the jungle that were not so mobile, but Orchids 1 and 4 were startled back enough to disrupt their attacks and their teeth closed on only air.
"These are terrible flowers!" Tal complained as Maea drew his attention down to the level of the floral fuckery going on at knee level. And then at rib level as they pulled themselves from the dirt on skittering roots. His Dagger lashed out, neatly severing one in half and eliciting a dramatic, high-pitched whistle as the Preying Orchid collapsed beside itself. "Th'fuck is wrong with this place??"
Preying Orchid (uncommon) - If looked at from far away, it simply looks like a flower. However, upon closer inspection, instead of a pistil, it has a mouth with sharp teeth, and its stamens are replaced with eyes on tall stalks. However, by the point most notice, the Preying Orchid has already attacked them and ran away on its roots. When its roots are in the ground, the flower is less than 1 ft. tall. However, when standing on its roots, it becomes around 3 to 4 ft. tall.
Recovering quickly, Maea reined in the flames and twisted them around so that the blazing inferno vould be repurposed. Trusting Thalassa to help herself to the fire, the pale ancient focused on the skittering flora that had backed away from her, to keep them away from her.
Using the stick like a foci in guiding the fire, Maea attempted to encircle the two orchids before tightening the noose, so to speak. Stepping carefully away from the cenote to give herself more room to navigate, she hoped that Tal would deal with any stragglers; it took a bit of focus to follow the skittering movements of these things. She wouldn't know if anything snuck up on her until it napped her ankles.
Maea uses more fire to try and scorch orchids 1 and 4 to cinders ~
I can try to pretend, I can try to forget But it's driving me mad, going out of my head
Their response was chaotic and unorganized, failing to do more than singe the foliage nearby. Luckily, she avoided the first orchid's snapping jaws, watching as it made no distinction between friend or foe. Distracted by the missed fires and utter embarrassment of a counterattack, she missed the flower that latched onto her leg. With the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she couldn't quite tell if it'd broken through her leather boots or trousers, but the frustration and otherwise sharp pressure had her yelling out. It was a barely contained cry that rang through her ears and spurred her to action.
Thal clamped her mouth shut and growled, pulling from Maea's flames for her own attack. She wrapped in around her body like a second layer of skin, trying to pull the assailant into the inescapable clutches of her fire. Aware that a non-fire-resistant person was with her, she tried to keep the blaze contained. Her dagger also flashed out in a vengeful slash. Even if her magic landed, she didn't just want the thing to burn, she wanted it obliterated for daring to touch her.
Thalassa uses her flames and dagger to target Orchid 3.
Fire Manipulation: Can manipulate flames. Must be within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent
Type: Dark | Rank: Upgraded
The orchids were not, in fact, fireproof, which quickly became apparent once the Ancients both had access to Maea's flame and the chance to aim at their petaled opponents. Maea seared Orchid 1 as it lunged again and it fell to ash and cinders at her feet. Orchid 4 had already been killed by Tal previously, so her fire met no resistance as it torched the remaining corpse to a sizzling pile of former-flower.
Thalassa was much more successful once she had fire to draw from and fire swirled around her in a protective cocoon that mere foliage couldn't safely penetrate. The vicious violet orchid that had latched on to her let out a high-pitched keen (or maybe that was just its sap boiling off?) and Orchid 3 joined its compatriot in a final pyre that left little for the Captain's dagger to strike, though she scattered the ashes with a slash of successful vengeance!
That left the littlest flower, which had already realized its error and begun to scamper away on its disconcerting root-feet. Given the mayhem that had swiftly obliterated its fellows Tal almost felt bad about what he did next. Almost. But they really didn't need the weedy fucker coming back when they were dealing with something worse later, so he scowled and made a short, half-hearted stabbing motion with his Dagger.
And missed.
"Hey!" He yelped, annoyance flashing across his open face as he took a few quick steps after the freaky flower--
And it vanished. Not into thin air or anything so dramatic, but ducking beneath a curtain of thick leaves that cascaded down from a low hill. Tal followed, his pride stung at letting it get away, but when he moved to push through the leaves his hand hit stone.
But his foot didn't.
This time it was the courier who slipped and disappeared from view, but there was no splash. His voice echoed up from a crack in the hill, reverberating strangely but not from very far down. "Uh... looks like there's a cave here?" He reported, his Goggles allowing him to see into the darkness within. "An' it leads down. An' it's fuckin'... spooky," he added with a shiver of deep unease. "Like, Void-spooky. An'-- ew, damp?"
One Orchid got away - or did it? Tal has 'found' a cave leading down! What do you want to do about it?
The snap and crackle of her fire consuming green material was most satisfying. Feeding it so that the orchids burned hot and fast, Maea avoided the smoke and was grateful for the cloth over her face despite the oily scent and greasy sensation it left on the skin.
Turning as Tal cried out, she watched him dart after one final seedling monster, and darted after him. When he suddenly vanished her heart sank - not another pitfalls! - and with a curse she braced herself to leap after him into whatever new devilry this place was about to offer.
Fortunately, she didn't have to act on the grim determination. His voice sounded hollow and distant when it called out again, and judging by the rambling he wasn't hurt.
"Sit tight, we're on our way." Turning to look over her shoulder for Thalassa, Maea arched a brow towards the young woman, in case she had any objections. Barring complaints, Maea sent an orb of fire in ahead as she carefully made her way down along the steep slope, following in the wake of Tal's skid marks until she found him in the cave.
"You alright? No injuries?"
Maea follows Tal into the cave.
I can try to pretend, I can try to forget But it's driving me mad, going out of my head
The sizzling of the orchid brought a smile to her face, almost overshadowing the pain of its bite. Luckily, as it seemed to flake out of existence around her blade, the pressure on her leg dissipated. But Thal didn't let her guard down as quickly this time. She looked around for the other flowers, spatting another pile of ash and a sliced stem nearby. Only one was missing. And Tal's carrying shout gave her a reason to suspect that he knew exactly where it'd gone.
Thal stretched her leg out to test the injury. It didn't seem too bad, but she hid the limp as she tried to jog it out. Either the pain would go away, or she'd check on it later. For now, she noticed that Tal had vanished into a well-hidden opening. Looking to Maea, she nodded her head, no objection to exploring the cave. She made sure to pull a small bit of the pale Ancient's fire to light her own. It wouldn't do for them to be on the receiving end of another sneak attack. Her blue eyes scanned each dark corner with increased suspicion as she followed close behind the others.
Thalassa follows down into the cave, keeping her eyes peeled for any more ambushes!
"Sitting!" Tal called back to Maea, his voice sounding slightly strangled. Indeed, as the Ancients made a far more graceful entrance down into the rough, narrow cave he was brushing the last of the silt from his trousers and looking more than a little green around the gills. "Nothin' hurt but my pride," he muttered, but there was a flash of gratitude across his be-Goggled face at her concern. The gloom was oppressive and without the fire the women both controlled the cave would be dark, its entrance covered by thick leaves. The orchid was nowhere in sight but the weight of the hill seemed to settle down on them, pushing the air from their lungs and promising imminent collapse at any moment.
Or maybe that was just Tal. What water was for Maea, caves were for the courier, and he was a twitchy, jittery mess as they pushed deeper and down a gentle incline into the dark. He didn't even argue if one of them wanted to take the lead, though he'd look slightly shame-faced as he fell back to the middle of their little line.
They didn't get very far. After only a few minutes of walking and squeezing through low, narrow walls of stone the cave widened into a dripping tear-shaped cavern a couple dozen feet across with a few inches of still water on the floor. It seemed like a dead end at first; Tal was too jumpy to focus, hands flexed tight into fists and jerking at every stray drop of water or whisper of distant echoes from the jungle. Maea missed it as well, perhaps distracted by Tal or by her own sense of growing dread. But Thalassa, alert for ambush, noticed the shadow in the side of the cavern as it danced in her firelight. Investigating it would reveal another passage, this one smaller but only a few feet long.
And beyond it...
Her fire orb couldn't light it entirely, but it hardly needed to. A faint purple glow, gentle and malicious, filled the underground lake where a large colony of Void Lotuses grew in protective darkness. As she watched, one of the faintly glowing flowers drifted away from its fellows, caught in an invisible current, and a few moments later it bobbed underwater and was whisked away. Perhaps to pop up in a cenote elsewhere in the Suvahasi where it would spread more of its taint.
"Well... shit," Tal breathed, looking out over the nightmarish garden as icy fingers closed around his heart and throat. "Any ideas?"
Congratulations!
Thalassa has found: Underground Lake Full of Void Lotuses! Achievement Unlocked!
...You should probably do something about that so they don't keep spreading.
The dark earthen walls were oppressive around her as Thal followed the others down. Each flickering shadow pressed into her psyche, eliciting an anxious pressure that had her head swiveling even more. Things just felt wrong.
Her feelings were validated as she spotted a faint purple glow in her firelight. The familiar purple blossoms swayed in a winding draft, catching their petals on the orange hue. Glancing at the others with concern, Thal paused to step closer, analyzing the situation. They were obviously being slowly relocated elsewhere by the murky water. The only real solution would be to eliminate the supply, but she wasn't sure if her fire would be as effective with all the nearby water. What were their other options though? A net? Sealing the hole?
No other ideas came to mind, so with a shrug and another excited grin, she suggested, "Burn them all?" To be safe, Thal ensured that her facial covering was in place before letting her fire burn brighter and drift over the field(?) of flowers.
Peering past the shoulders and back of her companions, Maea could only agree that fire would be a satisfying solution to the problem. Possibly her opinion was enhanced by the renewed dread that clawed against the more reasonable parts of her mind, painting shadows along the edges of sanity until it was nearly impossible to accurately gague what was reasonably cautious and what was overkill.
Right now she was heartily sick of this place, and sorry that she had suggested it in the first place.
"Yeah, let's burn it." She cast a glance at Talyson's back. "You might want to start heading back... If we're going to do this, we'll need to make it really hot."
Pulling her bag off the shoulders, Maea began to rummage through the contents, and uncovered a tightly sealed bottle which she handed to Thalassa. "Lamp oilil," she explained shortly. "Should make for a nice bang.."
Maea agrees with Thalassa and suggests using oil to enhance their firepower.
I can try to pretend, I can try to forget But it's driving me mad, going out of my head
Despite being confronted with a literal lake full of nightmare fuel, Tal couldn't have been prouder of his companions on the hunt. Neither Thal nor Maea faltered under the influence of the corrupted flowers, and he couldn't argue with their plan of attack.
"My Dagger's not gonna be much use against this many," he agreed with a scowl of reluctance. It wasn't something he was happy to admit to, but there was no denying that the current situation called for 'area of effect.' Unfortunately, he had focused his own damage into hitting one thing real hard, and wasn't prepared to hit lots of smaller things all at once. Although he hated stepping back and leaving it to his friends when he was the instigator of this hunt, he couldn't argue with Maea's warning.
"Heat, I can take," he grumbled, mostly to hide his reluctance to leave them. "But I don't want t'get in your way..." And he would be in their way if he stayed. Even with his Frey-granted protection, he'd be a distraction that they'd worry about.
"Give 'em hail for me, yeah?" he asked Thalassa, punching her lightly on the arm with gruff camaraderie as he headed back into the horrible short little tunnel that led back to the teardrop cave. The effects of the combined lotuses was stiflingly anxious and his Goggles couldn't do anything about the shadows that darted and twisted at the edges of his vision, growing more solid the longer they lingered within the effects of the tainted perfume.
Tal agrees with Thal's idea for burning the Void Lotuses and reluctantly follows Maea's recommendation to clear the area so the Ancients can work!
Thal grinned at Maea's contribution of lamp oil, excited to see the kind of damage it could do to the soul-sucking monstrosities. It would be nice to see them burn, taking with them the general pressure of anxiety in her chest. Before then, the punch to her shoulder from Tal surprised her. She gave him a curt nod with a sharp accompanying smile. Although it was hidden behind her face covering, the movement was obvious from the blazing of her eyes in the dark tunnel. "With pleasure."
Turning back to the task at hand, Thal grew her fire, letting the flames spread as far as she could reach without touching yet. She'd wait for Maea to throw the oil before fully letting loose, but her hands stood ready to guide the fire and her feet were rooted to the ground in preparation for the possible explosive impact. She didn't fully pull her eyes from the deep purple mass of petals as she spared a glance for the Loreseeker next to her. "On your count."
Thalassa uses her fire to help Maea demolish the Void Lotuses!
Giving Tal a curt nod in gratitude over his choice to withdraw, Maea waited for him to move out of sight around a bend in the tunnel before turning her attention towards the task at hand. Measuring the distance between them and the colony of void flowers, she weighed the bottle in her hand to get a feel for how far she would have to throw it.
Drawing a deep breath, she let it out slowly. Pulling deeply on her endurance, she prepared to join her flames with Thalassa's and began to count.
"Ready? In three, two, one –"
The scrape of her soft boots as the took a few quivk steps whispered in the cave. The bottle flew high and wide, aimed for the ceiling of the cavern above the cluster, where it vould break against the rock and rain oil over the flowers. And in the next moment all her effort was put into feeding an inferno, as large and hot as they could make it.
Maea throws the bottle and joins her flame with Thalassa's, to make a big bang
I can try to pretend, I can try to forget But it's driving me mad, going out of my head
