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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 goal for this endeavor is to find and collect something simple and easy to keep alive. With so many new broadcasts in their heads, letters from demigods calling her husband to the front lines yet again, and the already impressive balancing act of a newborn, a region, and a new demigod to guide, Evie is not intending to waste time here. Normally she might try and combine this bitter duty into something pleasant such as a stroll, but today she is on edge and consumed by thoughts of the future.
Considering she is normally the one reminding them both to enforce self care it's understandable - hopefully - that she wants to get this done with quickly if only to preserve her own mental balance.
The frostblooms are a horrible blight to her eyes, making her stomach twist and curl. Rae's words whisper in her head, but her heart can't seem to resonate with the scientific neutrality they'd presented. It makes her feel like an insufficient follower, but she's new to even being a woman of faith, so maybe that's normal. Frowning as she approaches warily - mentally warding Micah away to the safer stretches of the well-trod footpath - Evie opens the glass container in her hand (already prepped with soil and moss) as she surveys the small cluster of plants. "Just one and we can call it done," she mutters mostly to herself, though she knows Deimos will hear it regardless.
Her magic reaches down into the earth and coaxes the spring-softened topsoil into relinquishing its grip on the void plant's roots, creating motion that has the plant swaying and jolting as its supporting cradle is dismantled.
Don't look up, just let them think There's no place else you'd rather be
The frustrations were a mutual thing, and in lieu of striving not to make the situation worse, he stayed quiet. Erebos didn’t, squealing with delight at being on another outing, but overall the mood seemed dour, quick, swift, and rapid, and his eyes merely fell to the ground, some immeasurable bout of guilt beginning to trickle its way over his shoulders and down his spine. Perhaps for measures well out of his control, but they were there nonetheless; just as they’d been before the war, now presently waiting out another plotline of doom and damnation.
Zuriel and Belial walked beside him, the latter clearly sensing now wasn’t the time for antics. He followed Evie’s trail with silence and the tread of his footsteps across the snow, and the infant’s soft coos managing to be muffled by the sling containing him. Once the Evergreen had found the frostbloom though, he stepped right alongside, unleashing and unfurling the same earthen origins and incantations, breaking it away from the ground even further, so neither would be at risk of touching the vegetation.
you're all bronze and bite all venom and fistfight
She wants to be able to reach out verbally, as is often her way - not duty, never duty - but today even the smile Erebos' cooing and burbling normally inspires is faint and strained. She thinks she has held it together remarkably well given all that has happened (giving birth for the first time, rearing a newborn, welcoming a newborn but otherwise adult demigod into their lives, Dahlia's appearance at the conference, the letter from Ronin...) but even the Evergreen, rooted and stubborn, has her limits.
As Deimos comes up beside her and lends his magic to hers, intertwining in a way that feels nearly tangible, Evie's shoulders loosen just a little. Using her telekinesis this time, she floats the container out toward the plant, certain as the sun that Deimos will understand and take on the accompanying task of lifting the bloom and depositing it into what will be its final home.
Don't look up, just let them think There's no place else you'd rather be
He thought they’d both held it together remarkably well for everything that had occurred over the last season, but it had certainly been enough in a trial of patience, might, understanding, and foreign concepts that still trickled down into the spring. And still, with more to come, he didn’t have any of the right words to convey – even in the similarities of pending plans and meetings. So in the end it seemed to be only patience and duty, guilt and dread and apprehension, and desperately wishing he had anything to grant that would make the situation better.
Instead, his features remained impassive, hidden, drawn away, and it was his air magic following after her telekinesis, binding along and gently pushing, cajoling, controlling, the roots, soil, and plant, towards the glass container, until it floated and lofted, drifting into the vessel.
you're all bronze and bite all venom and fistfight
As you walk, your leg catches upon something causing you to stumble ever so slightly. Turning, you see a very thin strand of clear thread: The unmistakable webbing of a Crystal Spider. Though you cannot hear it, somewhere nearby the vibrations of the strand have already reached one of the spiders and soon, if you do not move along, it will be upon you. You’ve encountered a Crystal Spider. This counts as a creature encounter for the purposes of levelling, but does not count as a Random Event for levelling or MP. There will be no further admin/re intervention. If you choose to follow this creature, you do so at your own risk, however, just having it in this thread is enough to satisfy your levelling requirements.
Crystal Spiders (uncommon) - Living within the Hollow Forest, these man-sized, eyeless arachnids have perfectly clear chitin allowing their last meal to be seen within. They spin thin filaments of webbing between the trees to alert them when creatures are passing through, waking them from their long hibernations to stalk their prey. They have long, slender legs, a thick abdomen, and fangs that release a paralyzing toxin that lasts for several minutes in an adult human. In the light of fires or lanterns, they are almost invisible.
The plant doesn't stand a chance with their combined mastery of magic, but it still feels anticlimactic to have it settle inside the glass with hardly a sound. So small to cause so much grief, she thinks to herself as she closes the container swiftly. The shiver that crawls over her shoulders doesn't originate from the plant's proximity but rather from the idea of it.
As she steps back to gain some distance from the rest of the patch of blooms her leg catches on a thin strand that she could never mistake. Grimacing, she pulls her leg away and tilts her chin toward the patch as she catches eyes with Deimos. "Burn it all, honey. And the web too if you can. Let's go home." Perhaps a bit of indulgence to his arsonist tendencies will make him feel a bit better.
As the area lights up with flames, the trio head back toward the Citadel, allowing the crystal spider to live for now in light of the precious cargo attached to both of them. One of far more value, and the other a vile offering they can't afford to waste time replacing.
- Fin!
Don't look up, just let them think There's no place else you'd rather be
