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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!
09-14-2025, 08:17 AM (This post was last modified: 09-19-2025, 10:10 AM by Jack.)
JACK
The sun isn't even close to rising when Jack arrives at a very particular spot in a very particular stretch of the Castaway Exchange. Here the area is easy to traverse, reinforced by dock boards and with some floating businesses having permanently berthed against the pier. One such business is too blocky now, truly, to be called a boat - it's more like a multi-level barge, it's own tiny bobbing marketplace renting out space for several eclectic stall owners.
The stalls are all sleepily closed at present, but Jack can see evidence of a butcher's, a business crafting maps, another selling bits of driftwood tat. He's only interested in one in particular, though; the one with the awning drawn up and open, the one selling oil lanterns, candles and flame-proof parchment. The old rogue manning the stall offers him a quiet nod as he approaches and gestures towards the back area of his wares, to a small and barely noticeable hatch in the boards.
It's here that Jack waits for some of the affiliates for his shiny new venture, silent in the fog and the Deepfrost chill.
This is a PQ to set up Jack's sekrit guildhall for The Grey Road - spy network and purveyor of lucrative information.
Vesper steps lightly along the dock boards, the quiet hush of the Castaway Exchange broken only by the soft creak of tethered wreckage and the far-off lap of black water against half-drowned hulls. The fog curls low and spectral around his boots, ghosting over the marketplace like breath over glass.
He wears a high-collared sweater beneath a sleek jacket, the layers neat and deliberate without being fussy. Warm enough to endure the chill, trim enough not to restrict movement—practical, if not exactly welcoming. The only hint of complaint lies in the slow, silent flick of a playing card between his fingers. A queen of spades, shifting from knuckle to knuckle like a restless thought he refuses to voice.
The fog parts just enough for him to spot the familiar tilt of Jack’s coat near the flame-seller’s barge. No words pass between them at first. Instead, Vesper lifts his chin slightly, the card still moving in steady rhythm, and lets the edge of his mind unspool just enough to touch. Not a knock. Not a probe. Just a brush of cool silk along the captain’s mental defences; a greeting in the native tongue they rarely speak. He knows better than to expect Jack to answer in kind. But acknowledgment? That’s the game they play.
you were beggin' me to stay 'til the sun rose
Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
there's so much time for me to speak up, but i keep quiet
She’s only been to King’s End a few times and each time had been before Deepfrost gripped it. She’d also been far enough inland that the cool weather of the sea hadn’t drifted in to bring even more biting cold winds. So, she’s admittedly bundled up in a grey sweater atop a longsleeve shirt, hands in her pocket and a scarf around her neck to cover her nose.
The fog curls around them all in a way that keeps her steps mostly hidden, silent despite the varying creaks of the boards that are dull in comparison from how she steps lightly atop them, learning which boards were louder than the others in her own little silent adventure out here in the cold.
She’d followed Vesper over to where he stands a distance away, leaning closer to him slightly as she silently looks up at him to wait for him to make the first move for them to delve into the grit of what Jack had planned. Gods knew it was going to be loads better than the shit she’s been up to lately.
09-14-2025, 06:49 PM (This post was last modified: 09-15-2025, 12:09 AM by Nova.)
Nova
An eerie, disembodied giggle filters through the fog before Nova clamps down on it. The cold had tickled her cheeks as her magic swirled around her in a cocoon of stealth. Illusion, water, and air moved in sync, disguising her like a whisp of dense fog rippling through the empty stalls. She doesn't so much walk as glide to join the others, her fuzzy brown boots making barely a sound like the soft padding of paws as she bounces forth from her own cloud of fog to blink up at the others.
Her usual exuberance is tempered in the long, flowing midnight blue sweater covered in tiny black gems that hangs over her tan leggings, but there's a mischievous grin on her face that no magic can hide. She's obviously very excited about the fun 'secret' guild and getting the chance to try a few tricks. Her hands clasp behind her back as she tilts her head smugly at them, lingering discretely on Vesper as she quiety asks in a cheery tone, No one else saw me coming, right? I was so stealthy, right?He'd obviously known she was following behind her siblings, but she expects to have gone spectacularly unnoticed by Jack, Caly, and everyone who isn't a telepath (that she knows of).
Let your light shine, no matter how dark the world around you.
They arrive, one by one, like ghosts in the fog. Vesper might be surprised to feel a similar unspooling of magic in response to the way his own reaches out, like a mental handshake between the two telepaths. Jack inclines his head in a nod as he arrives, gesturing to the back of the stall and the hatch that he's now propped open, revealing a ladder heading downwards.
He offers a similar greeting to Calypso, and gives a pointed raise of his eyebrows towards Nova, which is about as good as it gets when it comes to spectacular surprise on the captain's part. After ushering them into the stall and giving a final nod to the merchant, he follows them down the hatchway.
A few motes of fire ignite in the air around Jack until he can coax them into one of the (many) available lanterns, revealing a surprisingly substantial space in the belly of the barge. It's cluttered, right now, with shelving, an old table, and a few boxes of supplies for the business upstairs, and thick with dust and cobwebs.
"Let's get this place clear, an' I'll explain everythin'," he rumbles.
Round 1!
Let's get this secret guildhall clear of debris and old stock.
- Two people to take boxes of supplies up to the flame-seller's stall above and place them in a way that subtly hides the hatch down to the HQ.
- One person to dust and sweep up!
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
Calypso 's thoughts press soft and stormy against the edge of his mind, familiar as the tide and twice as restless. Vesper doesn’t speak to it—wouldn’t—not with the weight of what she’s been carrying and the way it still trembles just beneath her calm. But he tips her a wink as she leans in, silent acknowledgement glinting like the queen of spades still tucked between his fingers. He knows. Maybe more than she wants, but such is life with a telepath for a sibling.
Nova follows with a current all her own; bright, slick with delight, trailing illusion and pride like ribbons. Her mind buzzes against his like a hummingbird brushing sugarwater, and when her voice silently follows it, he doesn’t miss a beat. He turns to her with widened eyes, lifting his brows in mock astonishment as he gives a solemn, emphatic nod. Entirely unspotted. A master of the fog. He gestures as if to mime applause, then flicks the card from his knuckles into his palm and pockets it with a smirk.
Jack ’s fire spirals into lanterns, illuminating the cobwebbed clutter in amber glow. Vesper squints slightly as the shadows peel back, the edges of his thoughts brushing the room’s corners like fingers testing fabric. "That’s handy," he mutters beneath his breath, mostly to himself, the curl of amusement still warming his voice.
His gaze sweeps over the room once before landing on the boxes, then the ladder, then the narrow, dust-muffled hatch above. Of course. He sighs, long-suffering and theatrical. "I’ll go up," he says, already stepping back toward the ladder. At its base, he glances to his sisters. "If you leave shit here, my shadows can bring it up." Then, without touching a single rung, he vanishes in a quiet rush of displaced air, misty-stepping into the flame-seller’s stall above. His shadows rise like obedient tide below, waiting for cargo.
Vesper is at the top of the ladder and will ferry the boxes up to hide the entrance!
you were beggin' me to stay 'til the sun rose
Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
there's so much time for me to speak up, but i keep quiet
Caly snorts softly to Nova as she arrives stealthily. And she leans in to Vesper a bit briefly before Jack’s inviting them over, taking little time to make her way over alongside her siblings to the stall, slipping into the back of it as Jack ushers them to the hatchway.
She’s silent all the while, keeping her storm buried underneath her usual sunny swanning smiles – knowing that Vesper knows the truth but not knowing that her father does, the young Attuned watches as Jack sparks motes of flame to light the lanterns as they walk, quietly awed. “Cool.” She breathes softly, until they reach the space where their work would begin.
“On it.” She murmurs, snagging the broom because she’s fairly confident her sister would have loads more fun taking the boxes of supplies as opposed to sweeping and dusting. So she pushes up her sleeves and quietly gets to work, muted and stormy and pretending valiantly to not be.
She accepts all forms of flattery with a stifled giggle, bowing like she's finished a perfectly dramatic and dazzling performance. Vesper's playful shock already has her running on a high, but she doesn't miss Jack's widening eyes, her chest puffing with a pride that can't be dampened by the dreary fog and dingy hatches. Dropping into the room, she immediately starts wandering with a light bounce of her steps, peeking behind spaces and into boxes in search of something more than the unassuming space of the barge.
When it seems like the room is everything that it seems, she tilts her head, blonde curls shifting with the movement. "It doesn't look like much." She might have given her own recommendations on ways to spruce it up - involving an exorbitant amount of glitter - but Jack's directing them and she gives a dismissive shrug of her shoulders. Her eyes follow Calypso, tempted to try and cheer her sister up, but also wanting to give her space. It has her feet shuffling indecisively for a moment before Vesper is calling for assistance, and Nova commits to the work.
Although she doesn't just 'leave' the boxes as her brother instructs, choosing instead to make a game out of it by tossing the lighter ones for him to catch. The heavier ones require a little more work, forcing her to push and shove against them will all of her body weight and a fair amount of magic. She distracts herself with the task, piping up to Vesper with playful teases and comments (verbal and mental).
Nova helps Vesper with the boxes!
Let your light shine, no matter how dark the world around you.
Together, the trio are louder in silence than they might ever be at a social event, and Jack spends a few moments setting the threads of the girls' thoughts into some sort of an order - Caly, turbulent as any rogue storm on a sunny day, and Nova, bright and effervescent as ever. "It's got its perks," he agrees of the licks of flame, letting them settle into the lanterns and turning to survey the rest of the space.
He's content to let Vesper and Nova get to work, and between the two of them (and the demigod's shadows) they are able to make little trouble of the supplies. The crooked merchant running the stall up where Vesper stands is also surprisingly helpful, directing the placement of his supplies where they can hide even the slightest entry through the hatch.
Downstairs, Caly makes similarly swift work with her dusting and sweeping, Jack burning through thick cobwebs and using his air magic to corral the dust into a heap. He also works at cleaning the table and shelves up, shoving one particular shelf to the side, revealing a hidden door out of the barge.
Opening said door once all the Marins are back belowdeck, outside they'll see the dark, cold waters of the Exchange, and a handily tethered rowboat filled with boxes of very different supplies. "Next we gotta unload this in here - don't fall in," Jack advises, grabbing a box for himself.
"I've been learnin' that information is just as lucrative an' contraband as anythin' I've smuggled in the past. So I thought I - we - might make a business of it," he tells them.
Round 2!
The supplies are moved and the space beneath the barge is now clean and tidy! Jack has revealed a hidden (emergency) entrance/exit with a rowboat tethered outside filled with guild supplies. Help bring them in! There are:
- Several fragile tubes and scrolls of rolled-up maps.
- Boxes of stationary, including ink, empty leatherbound ledgers, parchment, folios and other writing implements.
- Stacks of parchment scrawled with writing in numerous different hands.
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
Nova ’s teasing hums against the edge of his mind like a trickle of sunlight through frost. Vesper doesn't look up as she tosses the first box, instead letting his shadows snap it from the air mid-flight, gliding it down in a gentle arc to the proper place. The next one nearly hits him in the shoulder. This time he does look up, one pale brow arching slowly as he catches it with a coil of shadow mid-spin. "Careful," he drawls under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear. "Jack ain't gonna be happy if you go breakin' his shit." But the smile tucked in the corner of his mouth is unmistakable, even if it’s faint.
When Jack opens the hidden door, the air shifts again; colder now, damp and sharp with salt. Vesper glances over from the newly stacked supplies as the outline of the rowboat comes into view, fog lapping at its sides like a curtain half-lifted. Vesper’s gaze drags toward his father with a theatrical sigh already building in his lungs. "Startin’ to think you only had kids with Safrin to subcontract the labour," he says, voice bone-dry, though the glance he throws over his shoulder is pure Marin: sharp-eyed and laced with amusement.
Stepping through the narrow door and out onto the platform with a flick of his coat, Vesper narrows his focus to the fragile tubes and scrolls resting in the boat’s hold. His shadows reach down first, curling beneath the scrolls like lifting silk. One by one, he begins to vanish and reappear, misty-stepping with the scrolls clutched either in hand or floating just beside him in tendrils of smoke. From rowboat to archive, barge to box, until the maps are safe inside.
Vesp takes the maps!
you were beggin' me to stay 'til the sun rose
Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
there's so much time for me to speak up, but i keep quiet
Her mind is stormy and calculated, but at least hopefully it’s quiet with a similar stream of thoughts as she gets to work. Having a task focuses her away from letting her thoughts spiral out of control but it also forces her to work with more intent, clearing up the space. It looks pretty clean with Jack’s help to rid the space of the dust that’s been dragged into piles, and when she’s finally satisfied with this amount of work, the young attuned drifts back over toward her father as she waits for her siblings to join.
It doesn’t take them long to get down here either, and when the door is opened Caly’s intrigue blossoms, leaning over so she can see the rowboat tethered to the barge. “Oh I’m happy t’deal in information.” She comments with a sunny yet sharp smile, as if it hadn’t been something she’d practically dropped down from Safrin’s domain and done. Quiet and unassuming as she is, makes it relatively easy enough to get away with it in most cases.
Vesper takes the fragile tubes and maps and as she hops down into the rowboat to snag the supplies, she opts for the stacks of parchment scrawled with writing. It felt important enough that as she gets to work hauling them up, she’s extra careful and cautious to not drop any of the papers as she goes.
Caly takes the parchment with the writing on them!
'Perks' being a hidden door in the wall! Even as she's working and sticking her tongue out at Vesper, Nova notices the shift in air current, her eyes drawn to the door Jack reveals, pausing in her work to giggle and bounce lightly on her feet. "Cool!" Then she tosses the last box towards Vesper, finishing their portion so she can skip over to the rowboat without a care for falling in.
Letting her siblings grab their preferences, Nova pointedly ignores her brother's comment and any response their father has. She knows about being the result of a 'transaction,' but she prefers not to think of it, especially not when they're quite literally doing his dirty work.
Luckily, the remaining supplies are a container full of writing implements and she peeks inside at the various bland tools, her mind choosing to occupy itself on multitudes of better options. Her eyes find Jack as she glides by with bounty in hand, a wink shot his way. "Do you have invisible ink? I think that'd make things really secretive." She'd be partial to a glitter ink, but there's something exciting about an ink that can only be revealed under certain light or circumstances. She wonders if it's something even she could make, pondering it as she carries the boxes into the space.
Nova takes the stationary!
Let your light shine, no matter how dark the world around you.
"Most of it ain't my shit, but the guy upstairs won't thank you for it either way," Jack calls across to Vesper and Nova, before the supplies are well out of range of any shenanigans and they've got the rowboat to deal with. That is all his shit, and he's pleased to note that it's appropriately taken care of, the captain grabbing a final box and ensuring that nothing is left behind before leaving the boat at its moorings and shutting the door again.
Scoffing at Vesper - the captain doesn't say it, but this type of sub-contracting isn't something he'd trust with just anyone, and the Marins are particularly suited for this sort of thing - he crosses the room to lean against the now clean, smooth surface of the table. "No invisible ink yet, but there's time. An' I'll take that as all of you bein' on board," he says.
"This'll be the base of operations. It ain't much to look at and it ain't easy to find, an' that's on purpose. Doesn't mean it's can't be comfortable, though. We can unpack first though, before thinkin' more 'bout that."
Round 3! Time to deal with all this stuff.
Jack instructs Vesper to unroll and pin up the maps on one of the walls so that they are easy to access.
Calypso is in charge of organising the stacks of parchment and putting away the items in the stationary boxes.
As for Nova, Jack tasks her with deciding the layout of the headquarters. (E.g. picking what furniture/other items they ought to get and where it should go).
you wanted perfect, you got your perfect but now I'm too perfect for someone like you
there's so much time for me to speak up, but i keep quiet
Once everything’s hauled in, Caly finds herself also leaning against the smooth surface of the table as Jack responds to Nova’s comment, nodding a touch too eagerly perhaps to be involved in this guild and feeling better about leaving the Thieve’s Guild behind. “Sure. Makes sense t’me.” She hums, pushing off the table to push up the sleeves of her sweater to get to work.
Each of the parchment she designates in a specific section of the stationary boxes, filtering through them to determine what kind of information they covered and where they’d be better suited. She places them within, with little dividers to give an overall view of which each portion was roughly about – in code of course – and then starts on placing the ink, folios, other writing implements, and ledgers in each respective spot.
