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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!
She never got tired of killing things. There was just something about the satisfaction that traveled through her body to see the Delphinids go belly-up, the fog dissipating with supernatural ease. It sent a smile across her lips as she let her arms fall back to her side just as Maea came to thank her. Thal gave a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders, not wanting to linger on such soft-hearted feelings.
Her eyes turned to Hadama, smile dissolving at the sight of his blood leaking into the water. Without her own methods to heal him, she had to trust in his own faculties to do so, watching as the moonlit mist spread over them all. She watched and listened silently as the others healed before giving her own input on the matter. "I'm not usually opposed to leaving corpses strewn about, but maybe it would be a good idea to clean up the mess we just made?" They still didn't know what happened when Void infected bodies were left to rot, but she didn't think it could be anything good.
My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb
Waiting patiently for Hadama to examine his own injury, she gasped as new mist rolled in around them. Unlike the shadowed fog of earlier however, this one glowed as though lit from within, light and airy and healing. Sighing as the pain eased and her injuries knitted together with not so much as a scar to show for the trauma, any trace of void taint was banished from her vision. Rejuvenated, the ancient got to her feet, rolling her neck to release any lingering tension.
Hadama suggested they continue north from here, but Thalassa had a point about the voidy bodies currently flowing downstream. This inlet was flowing more east than north, as far as she could tell, but there was nothing to say they couldn't do a bit of both.
"How about we continue along the northern bank of this river until we have dealt with them? Then we can continue heading inland again?" Maea imagined they could keep an eye out for the all-important rose even along the way, until they caught up with the delphinids corpses. At least for her own part, the roses were far more tantalizing as she wasn't too keen on getting into the water with anything void related, dead or not.
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Maea chooses to search for roses along the river.
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Round 6: All are healed successfully! Choose whether to search for Roses or Corpses as you follow the river. You have 3 tries to catch the dead Delphinids before they reach the sea!
Relieved to see her two friends once more without wounds or Void afflictions, Thal was able to focus on their next course of action. It seemed like a good compromise to continue along the river, and she nodded her head, feeling that words would only waste time in their search for the bodies.
With everything decided, she shifted into her lyvern form, thinking it would give her a better vantage point and better means to retrieve the corpses. She hovered over the others for a moment to ensure they planned to follow before drifting along the currents of air, eyes peeled for any blackish purple figures floating along the river.
Thalassa chooses to search for corpses in her lyvern form, so she can pluck them from the water.
Hadama turned to Thalassa with courtesy at first, but at her suggestion his expression softened into open approval. He bowed to her, a gesture of sincere gratitude for her words as he agreed with them. "I would like to do that as well," he confirmed. "Thank you." looking to Maea to see what her opinion would be, the decision to continue along the river bank was met with relief.
He looked towards the water with an expression that might have almost been wistful if he wasn't so good at controlling his expression. In the end, though, he gave a slight shake of his head and remained on dry land. The advantage of height meant that he would have a better chance of seeing any Roses while he looked for the corpses of their slain foes. It was, perhaps, slower, but no chance of the treasured flowers could be passed up. Not with things becoming so dire.
Hadama stays on land and walks along the bank, looking for the corpses and ready to dive in and shift to hippocampus form to retrieve them with his water magic if they find one.
My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb
United in direction and (mostly) intent, the three firm friends set off along the river. Maea chose to wing her way along as a gore crow with the red scarf rippling like a banner from her talons. Her focus was more upon the shore and the forest beyond, and while she came up empty in the quest for roses, her keen eyes did spot something else of interest that brought her down to inspect. Amidst a pile of logs, twigs and other debris piled up against a scattering of rocks, a carved shaft of what could be either a staff or a spear stood out to her. Deciding she had the time to take a closer look, she fought to free it; only to find that a curved blade was attached to the other end. A glaive, of some sort, it was a simple yet fine piece of weaponry, and it thrilled her enough that she brought it along – on foot now, as the weapon was far too large to carry in flight.
In her lyvern form, Thalassa's search for the carcasses came up empty. In one instance a dark shape in the water might have tricked her into lowering nearer the water for a closer inspection. But it was only a half-rotted log washed downstream by the spring flood.
Hadama's luck was better. As he scanned the ripples for a sign of the Delphinids, he spotted his most recent victim. Bobbing along like a grisly cube of ice, the frozen delphinid was ushered back to shore without complications, and sat glistening on the riverbank in a morbid, eerily beautiful dedication to void and death.
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Maea: finds a glaive on the riverbank! She decides to keep it. Thalassa: finds a log bobbing downstream Hadama: discovers a Delphinid encased in ice drifting with the current. He successfully brings it up on shore.
Round 7: Dispose of the Delphinid or search for roses or the remaining 2 Delphinids. You have 2 turns left before they are lost to the sea!
The first body was retrieved and Hadama used his water magic to set it higher up on shore away from the river bank before he shifted back to two legs to rejoin his friends. "Apologies. Fire is more useful than my magic for this," he admitted. With the great monsters that the Void had occasionally spawned, size was a significant factor in disposal, but the delphinids were small enough that he hoped the smoke and ash would be minuscule enough for the Lily at the Mathair's heart to cleanse any lingering corruption away.
"I will continue the search." With the coast growing closer and Maea and Thalassa able to cover more ground from the air, Hadama chose to prioritize the corrupted corpses for the moment. They could search for roses on their way back over the same ground, but once the delphinids reached the sea their bodies would be lost and they would taint the waters.
Tying his hair back into a tighter braid, he nodded to the Ancients and then returned to the water to shift into his Hippocampus form and continue his search for the remaining two slain void creatures from there. He searched deeper under the waters, leaving the surface for his flighted friends.
Hadama admits that he doesn't have a quick method for disposing of the body and continues searching for the other two delphinids, this time from the river itself in his Hippcampus form, ready to drag them with water magic out if he comes across them.
Something in the water caught her attention, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be nothing more than a drifting piece of wood. She lifted back up to the sky, eyes scouring for anything as she glided through the air. When she noticed Hadama pull his frozen Delphinid from the river, she gave him a reptilian not of approval.
She then gave Maea a low grumble as she dove low over the pair, letting her know that she'd have to do the burning while Thal continued the search. As much as she loved watching things burn (literally), it seemed more logical for her to stay airborne, able to pluck any corpses from the water with her large talons. Meanwhile, the pale Ancient's gore crow wouldn't be strong enough to do so, and they didn't have any time to waste arguing over such matters. So she took to the skies again, eyes scanning for any dark figures amongst the water.
Thalassa continues the search for corpses in her lyvern form.
My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb
Despite her grimace of discomfort, Maea accepted the chore of disposing of the carcass without complaint. Leaning on the glaive like it had always belonged in her hand, she summoned a firedevil that roared as it enveloped the forbidden sushi and began to melt the ice, then steambroiled the creature within. It took longer than expected, and somewhat to her annoyance the kept thinking back to a recent encounter with a spirit. How hot did a fire have to burn for bone to be incinerated? Here was her chance to find out, and she was not happy about it.
In dogged pursuit of the remaining carcasses, both Hadama and Thalassa struck figurative gold. With seemingly no effort at all they found and recovered the burned and slashed corpses one after the other, and was able to return to Maea and her still half-burned void-victim almost at the same time. The stench of burning flesh was terrible, smelling a little too much like rotten eggs underlaid with a sweet, mouth-watering aroma of charred fish... Hungry, anyone?
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Maea: manages to burn the creature partly, hindered by the coating of ice. Hadama: finds a delphinid and brings it back to shore Thalassa: finds a delphinid and brings it back to shore
This time, when she spotted a strange figure in the water, it turned out to be exactly what she was looking for. The dead Delphinid bobbed above the surface, making it easy for her to stretch out her claws to snag it before it could drift any further. Luckily, her large form made it easy to move the corpse, and she carried it back to where Maea was working on the frozen one.
Once her own carcass was safely on shore, Thal shifted back, already feeling her fire magic flaring to answer her call. Spotting Hadama and his own quarry, she gave him a nod of approval, letting him place it amongst the others before lighting them all on fire. She pushed and pulled against the magic, urging it to consume every bit of oily skin and purplish innards. The smell was rancid, but she didn't stop, eating away at the bodies until there was nothing but ash, her subtle rage and chaotic glee fueling the destruction.
One carcass had sunk below the surface and become tangled in a nest of roots that extended into the water. Sharp-eyed and alert, Hadama had noticed it as he swam past and twisted back to capture it with his water magic, encasing it in a globe of ice to prevent any more blood from spreading into the water. He towed the sphere with its grisly cargo behind him as he swam upstream, forging against the current to return to where Maea was struggling with the pyre.
Thalassa had made a swifter journey in the air and he snorted equine appreciation of her own success before floating the ice coffin out of the river and over to where Maea was dealing with the first carcass. Seeing the trouble she was having, he reached out with his magic a final time to draw the moisture from all three of the delphinids, taking the ice back into the river and leaving them dry and far more ready to catch fire.
Only then did he emerge from the water and shift, frowning faintly in thought as the Ancients struggled to burn the bodies. He could offer nothing of use to the magic in play, so instead he hunted for dry fallen wood to bring back and add to the bonfire, assisting by providing fuel to bolster their power.
And he stood upwind of the smoke as much as possible.
Hadama draws the ice and water from the bodies and then gathers firewood to add to the burn pile.
My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb
As the moisture wicked from cursed bodies, the fat deposits beneath rubbery skin finally caught on fire. Between Maea's and Thalassa's fires and the fuel Hadama brought to the pyre, they were able to reduced the void animals to fine ash, as purified as they could get without divine intervension.
By the time they were finished, the sun had traveled a few finger's breadth towards the west. There was still some time left before darkness fell, and after this 'break' Maea felt ready to make another push.
"Shall we head north from here, then?" she asked the others, while wrapping the crimson scarf around her neck. With the long ends rippling in the breeze and the glaive rested casually over a shoulder, she looked like some heroic figure out of a legend – if you squinted. No doubt a fated enemy would show up to the fight and be disappointed that the hero wasn't quite as tall as they had expected.
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The delphinid carcasses are successfully disposed of thanks to their shared efforts!
Round 9: Let's get back to the search! Maea suggests heading North as per Hadama's earlier request.
Among friends he was more relaxed and his expressions were shared more freely. As the delphinids burned even Hadama looked satisfied, quietly pleased with their efforts at cleansing the Greatwood even this small amount. At last the corrupted creatures were reduced to ash and smoke, and only then did he return to the water to wash the lingering smoke from his skin.
He stood to squeeze the lingering wetness from his braid, looking over his shoulder as Maea asked her question, and he looked over to Thalassa with an inquisitive tilt to his head. "I have no objections," he confirmed quietly. The time remaining to them was swiftly ticking past, and soon he would need to return Thalassa to the Hollowed Grounds and the crew that waited for her there. But they had some time yet remaining to them, and he retrieved his trident, ready to spend that time as efficiently as possible on their hunt.
Hadama checks with Thal and then heads out to search again on foot!
It looked like the flames slowly licked at the horizon, burning the bright blue to a yellowish tinge of coming dusk. They still had plenty of time, but Thal was happy to be towards the end of their journey. She let the fire burn hotter until the bodies finally fell apart to flaking pieces of ash. A small breeze rustled the pile, pushing the new scent of charred nothingness to her. It was much more pleasant than the earlier smell, and she relaxed her magic, certain that everything had been properly sterilized of Void.
Shifting her cloak, she looked to the others. "That should be fine." Her blue eyes scanned the forest, dreading having to walk through the thick foliage. "I can shift again, to give us some eyes in the sky." And keep them all from being caught off-guard by something. Thal had spent plenty of time in these woods recently, but that didn't mean she trusted it any more than before.
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Thalassa agrees with going North, offering to shift again.
03-23-2025, 03:17 AM (This post was last modified: 03-23-2025, 03:18 AM by Maea.)
Maea
My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on the limb
With their new heading, the party left the river at their backs and traveled inland, deeper into the Woods. For maybe a quarter hour the forest was all there was to see, complete without so much as a scraggly rose bush to instill hope.
Thalassa would be the first to spot something unusual from her aerial vantage point. It was a cloak caught high up in the branches of a tree, ragged and torn. Only the brightness of its rich blue dye and embroidered trim suggested it wouldn't have been there long. Strange, though; it seemed much too fine a garment for hiking this far into pathless country.
Next, Hadama would stumble ‐ quite literally - over something that rattled and jingled as it tumbled along the ground. Upon closer inspection he would find a pair of vambraces, perfectly intact save for a snapped leather fastening. The metalwork was as finely wrought as the axe and the dagger he had found earlier - painting a picture of some errant knight caught in serious misfortune.
A bit further up ahead, Maea spotted a hollow in a treetrunk. Out of absentminded curiosity she rose up on tip-toes to peer inside – and gasped at the sight of gold poking out of a drawstring purse tucked within. Plucking it out, she undid the knot on the string and poured a fistfull of starlight onto her palm. Squinting against the reflections of afternoon sunlight, closer inspection revealed a collection of rings and necklaces, exquisite brooches and even a small diadem fit for a princess.
"Uh, guys? I found treasure," she called out to the others; figuring that at least Thalassa might find this interesting. "What in Dygra's chaos is going on here?" Was it a stolen stash she'd found? The hidden wealth of some ruined family? Whoever had left this here must have been desperate; why else come this far into the wilds? It was a mystery, and most intriguing – and Maea was absolutely greedy enough to accept that fortune must intend for her to have this loot. Atleast some of it. There were a few rings in the mix that would look lovely on her tail, just saying.
"Wanna split this with me?" she offered, after a moment of hard struggle with her conscience. This would fix her economy for a year at least, if she spent it carefully - but it didn't sit right to hogit all to herself.
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Maea: Finds a stash of jewelry! She offers to share with her friends.
Hadama: Finds a pair of finely wrought vambraces (basic)
Thalassa: Finds a torn cloak in a tree.
Round 10: Pick some treasure if you want any, and keep searching for roses.
