Click here for a list of weather descriptions, seasonal festivals, and a real time:site time conversion.
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!
// tell me i'm forgiven, say you'll always be mine //
“According to what I have read, we should be able to find a cockatrice here.” The butcher murmurs to his lover, casting a glance over at the Maverick with a sharp smile that screams a little too excited. It would take all of the skills he’s got a history of using – scouting and destroying. And his mood is only improved by Danta being alongside him and the heat that continues to bloom through the Oerwoud.
Dressed purely for hunting, the butcher’s sleeves are pulled back, boots carry him up a gilled musk deer path that he assumes is often used by them to get from one of the water ways to another. It isn’t what they’re looking for, though, so they continue on. He’s got his threaded cane in his hand, the blade glinting against the smoke that begins to settle the further in they get, promising heat from what the butcher can only assume to be a wildfire.
Which means it’s likely the creatures might be fleeing their usual spots and make it a smidge easier for them to find the relatively elusive cockatrice. “Fire up ahead.” He murmurs quietly to Danta, stepping to the side and off the path, tugging his fiancé with him. It’s just in time for a few blink hares and moushrooms to run past, utilizing the trail themselves for their escape route.
Astaroth
// say that everything is over, tell me i'm fine //
that's not right, there's a person behind those eyes
Asta is in his scouting element and Danta is more than happy to follow in his wake, smiling at his back as he watches him prowl skillfully through the undergrowth. He's careful, in fact, to nearly walk in the butcher's footsteps, a thin stream of smoke curling from the cigarette between his fingers, his sunglasses still perched obnoxiously on the tip of his nose. Unlike the other man, Danta is dressed (as always) for how he feels rather than the occasion, his powder blue waistcoat hanging open and his soft grey shirt decorated with small, stitched daisies.
"Mmm?" Tugged suddenly off the beaten track and flailing a little as his balance is thrown off, evidently Danta has been watching the smoke from his cigarette rather than all of it suddenly hanging in the air, and he lifts his sunglasses to settle them in his hair and against his horns. "So there is," he breathes, smirking to see the critters scurry past in the opposite direction. "Does this mean we're about to be hunting down a fleeing cockatrice? Or will it be drawn to the fire, maybe?"
Dantalion
that's not right, any crack is a sign of lies
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// tell me i'm forgiven, say you'll always be mine //
As he tugs Danta away from the trail the vast majority of the prey animals would use to flee the fires up ahead, he settles in the shade of one of the trees and squints through to track the creatures that leave. Small beasts, ones that are easier to take note of anything amiss, but he still keeps his eyes peeled for a cockatrice up ahead. All the while he listens for his lover’s voice, his tail twitching behind him not unlike a pointer dog waiting to find its goal.
“My hope is that it will be fleeing.” He murmurs quietly, taking a few steps closer off the beaten path as more blink hares dart past them and a few other insects and birds. “We could take it while it is disoriented.” And perhaps give them a bit of an advantage in that regard.
He peels his attention away briefly to glance back at Danta with that same too sharp grin, his hand seeking out the Maverick’s to tug him closer to him while they head closer to the fire and the smoke that begins to stretch its long fingers out. Spying some kind of movement, there’s a group of green beasts with bat wings that seem confused whether or not they want to go get into he mix of everything or chase after the small frogs jumping away from the heat.
“There—” The butcher breathes, pointing at the frenzied circle of three cockatrice as one loses its nerve and begins to zip away in a zigzag, darting motion. It doesn’t attack them just yet, despite one of the larger ones remaining looking at them. But Asta knows from his research that the second they make a move it’ll immediately spur it into action.
So he starts it, latching onto a bit of conjured flame to toss over at it and pluck one from the duo.
Cockatrice HP: 403/403
Astaroth
// say that everything is over, tell me i'm fine //
that's not right, there's a person behind those eyes
"Being in this jungle is disorientating enough for me," Danta agrees, his voice pitched low now that they're playing a game of hide and seek with the fleeing creatures, and he reaches over to snuff out his cigarette on the trunk of a tree thick with moss. No sooner has he dropped the cigarette butt when Asta's hand is back in his own, and he half follows, half stumbles in the butcher's wake. Danta is no stranger to scouting, don't get him wrong, but evidently he's quite distracted today.
"Mm...?" Peeking over Asta's shoulder at the strange green bat-like things and realising quite promptly that he hasn't got a fucking clue what a cockatrice even looks like, it's only the other man's clarification that helps him understand what they're supposed to be killing. "Ah, right," he says, just as a lick of fire goes skewering for one of the remaining cockatrices.
The other flees immediately, and that suits Danta just fine, the Maverick conjuring his own wisp of fire with his magic. He has it tickle annoyingly against Asta's ear for nothing more than fun, before also lancing it out towards the creature through the haze of smoke in the air.
Scorch (Ancient): Can generate and manipulate flames within a 30ft radius, pulling heat from the environment or their own body.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action
Regional Score bonus: +5 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +5 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.
Dantalion
that's not right, any crack is a sign of lies
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
02-09-2026, 02:23 PM (This post was last modified: 02-11-2026, 10:55 AM by Astaroth.)
// tell me i'm forgiven, say you'll always be mine //
Upon tossing the fire over to pull one of the cockatrices away from the other, scorching the beast’s foot with a hiss from the creature, it works well enough to capture the attention of the one while the second of the group peels off to flee the smoke. The targeted cockatrice twists with a gruff squeal of a sound, wings beating to lift it higher precisely in time for Danta’s fire to lash out at it.
It tries to erratically zip around and avoid the fire that the Maverick throws toward it, and while he’d been distracted leading up to the actual wind up, it doesn’t seem to be the case at all as the creature twists into the fire purely by accident. It singes its ear, catching fire for a brief moment before it’s trying to buffet its visibility with its wings, drawing some of the smoke in front of it like a smoke screen.
Asta, meanwhile, infinitely charmed by the heat that brushes by his ear before his lover’s attack lands, has a moment to glance over at the other Ancient with a shark tooth grin. “Beautifully done, as always.” He purrs, drawing more fire up and letting it play between his fingers, squinting forward to the smoke screen the creature’s made in its fury and launches the fireball out at the cloud at precisely the time it darts out from the cloud, aiming for the butcher’s face.
Asta uses scorch:
Scorch (Ancient): Can generate and manipulate flames within a 30ft radius, pulling heat from the environment or their own body.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action
The cockatrice has failed its dodge and been hit by both Asta and Danta with their Scorches!
that's not right, there's a person behind those eyes
Unable not to laugh as it appears, at least to Danta, that the cockatrice has flown directly into his line of fire, he steps away from Asta to give them both more room to play and shrugs his shoulders. "I'll never complain about a compliment from you," he purrs, ambling properly out of the undergrowth now and tilting his head at the creature hovering and smouldering in the air. "It's pretty ugly, isn't it?"
More fire brims to life as he speaks - three small motes of it, to be specific, and the Maverick even has the audacity to juggle them a bit before he sends one lancing out at the creature. "Maybe I should've considered being a street performer, like the man we saw from our window that one time," He suggests, the remaining two motes of fire melting between his fingers now, making it seem as though his hands are alight.
Scorch (Ancient): Can generate and manipulate flames within a 30ft radius, pulling heat from the environment or their own body.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action
Regional Score bonus: +5 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +5 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.
Dantalion
that's not right, any crack is a sign of lies
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// tell me i'm forgiven, say you'll always be mine //
“Mm, I should hope not. I do love complimenting you, darling.” The butcher says with a smirk as he feels Danta grant him space as the cockatrice focuses on them in its sudden frenzy – disoriented by the smoke and the fire that’s taken its usual hideout. It hovers and flaps its wings to try and rid itself of the singe of fire, a shriek escaping it as it starts to focus back in and try to pull itself together. “Yes. Yes it is.” The butcher snorts, but he hardly has time to wax more comments about it as he’s ensuring his sleeve is rolled up, aiming for a change of pace from the scorch seeing as it’s already connected with the charging creature.
In his peripheral, however, he spies Danta’s motes of fire as he juggles them, and while he snags his blade from where it’s hidden on his person, he can’t help the warm laugh that leaves him to hear Danta’s comment about being a street performer. “Pined after by all of the arsonists in Caido, I would bet.” He shoots his fiancé a sharp smirk.
The mote of Danta’s flame flies right into the cockatrice’s path as it aims for the butcher’s face, jostled and knocked out of its frenzied approach to zip past them toward the other side. Asta huffs out an amused grin to see it sail past, stepping to the side as his tail flits contently behind him. The butcher’s blade presses down on his arm and drags a deep wound – one that has him gritting his teeth, emitting a quiet little "hng," and doing his best to ignore the pain as the bloodbane tears into the cockatrice, carving a bloody line through its back. The cockatrice screeches again, loud and jarring as it tries to force itself through the pain to dart at Danta with frantic wing beats, trying to scratch its beak on the Maverick.
Asta uses bloodbane this time on the cockatrice!
Bloodbane (Ancient): Can injure themselves for mastered damage to weaken others at a 1.5x their mastered level with a range of 30ft.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action
Both hits land on the cockatrice and send it spiraling. It then tries to recover and aims its next attack at Danta!
that's not right, there's a person behind those eyes
"And for good reason," Danta adds with a grin as he's able to pelt the cockatrice with more of his scorch magic. He might be pined after by arsonists but he also has the pleasure of being one himself, so it's likely that any street performances will end up as public health hazards before too long. But anyway.
Satisfied as he is to see the cockatrice sent reeling, Danta is distracted near instantly by the scent of familiar blood in the air and the sound, however soft, of Asta's discomfort. His head snaps towards the butcher, and though it's painfully clear that the other man has used his Bloodbane, he can't help but wince. "You're a danger to yourself," he quips in a low voice - which is about when the cockatrice makes a dive for him.
Reacting purely on instinct, Danta dart!s in an attempt to get out of the way; he reappears some 15ft behind the creature, blinking at Asta as if he's surprised even himself by reacting so quickly.
Danta tries to dodge by Dart!ing out of the way!
Dart (Ancient): Can teleport up to 15 ft away
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action
Dantalion
that's not right, any crack is a sign of lies
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// tell me i'm forgiven, say you'll always be mine //
“If it works, it works, darling.” The butcher purrs as he watches the wound open on the cockatrice that turns its focus onto the Maverick. Its wings flare and beat rapidly, its movement janky as it fights through the pain to zip toward him. Danta’s quick reaction earns him the perfect chance to dart! behind it, leaving the cockatrice to spin out where it thought it was about to collide.
In this time, the butcher has traded his human form for that of his fyrhund shift, blood leaking along the volcanic plates of the creature’s front leg as he launches at the cockatrice – absolutely overshooting it and launching himself into nothing but underbrush with a snarl of frustration. He whips back around in time for the cockatrice to descend on him, the flurry of wings blocking out the peck to his front leg still leaking blood.
A snarl leaves the butcher as he aims to try and chomp down on the creature’s wing to keep it in place.
Asta shifts to his fyrhund shift and launches at the cockatrice and misses. Danta’s dart! Is successful and puts him behind the cockatrice that’s just pecked Asta after that spectacular miss D:
that's not right, there's a person behind those eyes
Feeling quite pleased with himself, Danta doesn't realise it just yet, but his victory is going to be short-lived. And not because of anything that befalls him, oh no - in true Astaroth fashion, his lover takes to his fyrhund shift and completely overshoots his aim, the Maverick watching with blank confusion as the clumsy pass takes place.
"Are we going to pretend you meant to do that?" he wonders, half amused - but then the cockatrice descends and, more importantly, connects, and everything becomes more serious all of a sudden.
"Oh no you fucking don't," Danta mutters, lips peeling back in a snarl, and he lances another arc of fire towards the creature to try and draw its attention away. And more importantly, of course, to burn the fuck out of it as well.
Danta uses his Scorch again!
Scorch (Ancient): Can generate and manipulate flames within a 30ft radius, pulling heat from the environment or their own body.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered | Cost: Action
Regional Score bonus: +5 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +5 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.
Dantalion
that's not right, any crack is a sign of lies
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// tell me i'm forgiven, say you'll always be mine //
It is unfortunately a hazard of the shift, the butcher thinks as he misses and promptly gets got with the peck of the cockatrice. The immediate tingle sensation that blooms in his leg is something he tries to ignore as he latches onto the cockatrice’s wing and shakes his head rapidly, like a canine with a new chew toy. As the wings flare upward from the bite, Danta’s arc of fire from his scorch pelts the underbelly of the beast that’s trying to scrabble away, eventually tearing itself from the fyrhund’s teeth as it singes and shrieks some more.
Its wing is torn now, though, and it collides with the ground hard, hissing and staring up at Danta and Asta as the butcher pulls himself up, pretending like the leg that’s slowly petrifying isn’t the thing that makes him limp. Ears pinning back, the butcher’s jaw parts and a cone of flame begins to unfurl from his volcanic stone maw to aim at the cockatrice to hopefully bring it down as it turns its focus toward Danta again, running toward him with a jagged movement and more shrieks.
Asta’s bite and Danta’s scorch connect with the cockatrice, rendering it flightless and between the two ancients. It decides to try and run toward Danta this time while Asta stands back up and breathes fire at it!
Regional Score bonus: +5 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +5 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.
Danta has had quite enough of this thing, and it's evident from the black look in his eyes as the cockatrice writhes and shrieks and does not go down. "Stand back," he mutters, if Asta hasn't opted to do so already, glimmering dark scales starting to scatter across his cheekbones and down his neck. It's not a great place to shift into something as massive as a black dragon, no, but neither does Danta give a fuck, and as the bulk of his body fills the smoky clearing, more than a few spindly trees snap under his weight.
Resisting the urge to thrash his tail or shift his wings (that are currently snug against his sides), instead Danta opts to greet the cockatrice running at him by parting his enormous maw directly into its face, breathing a gout of flame in a jet that will only further contribute to the raging wildfires.
Danta dragons out and breathes fire at the cockatrice!
Black Dragon Type: Dark | Level: Mastered | Cost: Action | Mythical: Yes
Regional Score bonus: +5 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +5 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.
Dantalion
// the devil's in the house of the risin' sun //
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
// tell me i'm forgiven, say you'll always be mine //
He watches over the smoke that burns through the clearing thicker now with all the fire they’ve played with, watching as the fair golden light of his fiancé becomes that of a black dragon, rising above the smoke with too sharp teeth and wings pressed in tight, trees bending and groaning as they give way to the intruder to the space they’d spent decades growing into.
The cockatrice doesn’t really know what hits it, charred into a cocoon of nothingness but singed scales and death, the butcher finally straightens once he’s sure it’s dead. He shifts back into himself, drawing up to his full height, a slight snarl on his lips as he nudges the still smoldering creature with his boot to see it remain lifeless. The blood has stopped on his arm, at least, though not for a better reason.
A sickly grey hue has begun to spread from a scratch above his bloodbane, cracked and gnarly looking as it slowly stretches its fingers along the rest of Asta’s arm in a slow splay. His tail flicks with his annoyance, but it fades immediately as he looks up to his lover and offers him a gentle smile. “You are a stunning dragon, darling.” Comes the compliment from his breathy panting as he starts to regain his composure.
At least enough to bag up the corpse of the cockatrice to bring to Dygra.
FINALLLYYYYY, between both flames of the dragon and the fyrhund, the cockatrice is slain!!
that's not right, there's a person behind those eyes
Even after he's well aware that the cockatrice is nothing more than a crisp, gnarled corpse on the ground between them, Danta remains a dragon for a few moments longer. His eyes are pinned on the creature like it might decide to get up and cause them further problems, and only when Asta steps forward to collect his prize does he relax. A curious, rippling note thrums deep within his scaly throat at the compliment, like a purr caught in a chainsaw, and slowly the dragon shrinks back down into something less offensive to the surrounding foliage.
"Thank you," he says, voice rougher than usual as he straightens up, brushing off his clothes and offering a dark little smile to his lover. "Though if it's all the same I'd prefer not to do that again." Stepping forward now, while Asta might be focused on the cockatrice, of course Danta is more interested in the other man and his injuries.
"What's this...?" He arches an eyebrow and gently takes hold of Asta's wrist, gazing at the slowly spreading stone that appears to be creaking out from where the cockatrice had pecked at his forearm.
Dantalion
that's not right, any crack is a sign of lies
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
