From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
07-01-2019, 07:52 PM (This post was last modified: 07-01-2019, 07:53 PM by Jigano.)
His struggles were in vain, his thrashing too confined to do much damage, and the feeling of constraints wrapped around him grew from disconcerting to a mounting anxiety as he was unable to break free promptly. But brute strength had never been his, er, strength and when sharp teeth proved to cause more problems than they solved the quick-thinking bard came to a different conclusion.
It was either going to be brilliant, or he was going to screw himself over royally.
Focusing on his ability to shift forms, he tried to shrink himself swiftly down to his smaller raven body, twisting and trying to slip free of a gap in the vines around him before they could tighten around his body any further.
Whether or not he was able to free himself, he opened both his beak and his mind, singing wordless notes to accompany the song in a crooning descant as he encouraged the source of the music to rise up. This way, friend! his song seemed to urge, working in notes and musical phrases from Ludo's Song to call the lost soul back to the light.
Snake-gano shrinks down to ravengano to try and slip free of the vines, and begins singing along with the lullaby, mixing in some of the music received from Ludo for coaxing lost souls to try and lead the singer to them.
07-01-2019, 10:00 PM (This post was last modified: 07-02-2019, 03:36 PM by Deimos.)
DEIMOS
And in your darkest hour,
I hold secrets flame
The beatific red light curled and formed in his hand, and there was a moment’s reprieve – an unwinding of pain, soft, not so biting, not so grating, down his forearms, along his shoulders, respite before the next oncoming storm. His eyes ghosted to Amalia, purveyor of the staff, and his heart ached. Lord – when and where did all of them learn how to care so deeply for so many things?
Vai pushed the smoke away, and the toxins flooded again, but he breathed through his mask, puzzled and toyed with what to do next. His magic was waning, a warning sent beforehand, so he rose, a little tremulous, leaning heavily on the staff, swatting at the insects thinking to land and bite on his flesh again.
Then there was a song.
It reminded him of Jyoti, and for a moment, as he raised his head and his gaze rambled in all directions, he thought it was the little starwhale, come to rescue them all with its constellations, galaxies, and sonnets. But it seemed to echo from beneath the knoll, haunting, poignant, calling, beckoning to them? Was it a siren’s wake? Was it a warning, an ultimatum? Or was it something crying and keening for help?
He couldn't hear or see anything else though - no hint of what was going on beyond the cluster of dirt and soil. Were they safe? He shouted over to Vervain, hoping to confirm she was safe and sound, as well as they could be, in the void of gas and tunes. "You all right?" Meanwhile, he utilized the staff again, drifting it along some of the more devastating wounds that hadn't been completely mended.
Then he grabbed ahold of one of his daggers, slashing at whatever insects happened to come near.
--
Deimos tries to use the staff on himself again, and then attempts to attack any insects coming near him with his dagger.
Delah ignores the vines now that the light is seeping from the ground. Her eyes close, and her hands go out to the warriors around her. They interlace their fingers, and, perhaps grudgingly, offer hands to Amalia as well. With no hands to offer Jigano, one of the warriors extends a finger to the bird, to encourage him to join in however he is comfortable.
A thrumming hum surges from the fae, their heads tipped back and their strange language seeming to mirror the call of the rumble from low in the earth.
Delah and co link arms/hands and continue to sing.
Oh come on. More gas, more bugs; a cyclical horror show that had Vervain swearing colourfully even as an ethereal song began to emerge from deep within the earthen hovel.
Unfortunately, she and Deimos were still outside (with the horde, with the suffocating smog), and so Vai fought her way across to him. Given that fire had pretty much exploded the room, she decided to keep up the whipping gale, much as it might irritate the plants.
Hoping to strike at the bugs with her magic (and stomp them with her feet, too), she would draw close to Deimos that they might fight together while... whatever it was happened beneath the ground.
Vai keeps up a magical attack on the bugs whilst keeping the air clear, and fights her way across to Deimos.
There is a song which echoes up from the earth. At first the baker thinks it is Jyoti, and reacts with sudden clenching fear, reaching out through their bond to tell the little whale to stand down. But no- she can sense that Jyo is far away, and this chord is bigger than her starlit companion, beautiful and ancient enough to bring tears to her eyes.
There is light, too, spilling from the ground, making the leopardess pause her digging as wonder courses over her. Shifting back to her human form, Amalia's hand remains flush on the ground, feeling the song of life below. She cannot see the chaos without, how Deimos' is wounded in Vai's fire, and it is for the best: Amalia cannot afford distraction. Not when they are so close.
Blinking in surprise as small hands reach for hers, Amalia lets her fingers slip among the Fae's, standing back up as the group begins to sing a mystic response. The sound is unlike anything Amalia could make, could understand: and again she thinks of Jyoti, of that night when the Fae sang to her to help.guide her to the ground. Swallowing, Amalia closes her eyes, reaching into the ground with her thoughts and wishes, projecting her mind to the life below. It's okay... We are waiting. Vi and Mort and Rae are waiting. The world is waiting for you to be free. As she repeats this prayer she hums, her alto voice a human offset to the wild call of the Fae.
Amalia shifts to human form, holds hands with the Fae and continues to pray/attempt to mindspeak/hum
07-02-2019, 09:41 PM (This post was last modified: 07-02-2019, 09:42 PM by Court Official.)
key quest
Inside the hovel...
As Jigano shrinks, so too do the vines try and ensnare his new form. Relentless as they are, their intention seems to bind, not kill, and they seemingly can't figure out how to grasp the bird without breaking his hollow bones. Whatever their intentions though, the vines tighten around Delah's wrists further even as she reaches for her companions. Amalia 's fingers are not all that is grasped. Soon vines work their way up her legs, fixing her in place, holding her...
...and then...
the ground begins to shift again. It moves like quicksand, the legs of all those current upright sinking down immediately to their knees. Only Jigano is left unencumbered by this sudden change in the ground. The singing grows louder, the lighter bright, and gravity, of all things, seems to increase..
Outside the hovel...
The bugs are relentless. In a swarm they fly at Deimos ' face, aiming for eyes only partially hidden behind his mask. They go for whatever flesh they can find, insidiously meaning to crawl within his wounds. As he uses the staff again, the light is fainter this time. Will it work a third time?
For the time being, Vai's wind keeps the air clear even as the around on the outside of her gale grows thick and pungent with poisonous gas. She will not be able to maintain this much longer. What then, when the gas comes hurtling back in?
Ending HP
Earthen hoard thing: 71 HP
Amalia: 69
Jigano: 189
Deimos: 41
Vai: 37
Delah: 47
You have 48 hours to reply. Posting order (randomly decided) is: Jigano, Deimos, Delah, Vai, Amalia
Glad though he was to finally be free of the vines, the raven was decidedly less happy about his friend(s?) suddenly sinking up to their knees in quicksand. His singing faltered for a moment as he looked frantically at the changing situation: the growing light, the growing song, the vines that held without hurting. He had no idea what was happening outside the hovel, and could only hope that their companions had managed to subdue the insects or trick them. Inside, though, it seemed like whatever was beneath the earth was either rising to join them...
Or dragging them down to join it.
Delah seemed certain that it was a Tulmhainar, and though he was wary of the ferocious Fae chieftess, he trusted Amalia, and that meant seeing this through as far as she was willing. That, and if he could help to save the creature Roana had tried to slay, well, righting that wrong might help to balance some of the Outlanders' ledger in the books of the Fae and gods alike.
The raven didn't take the offered finger, because he wasn't a raven for long. Shifting back to his snake form, he wrapped his tail firmly around the Fae's leg as an anchor, even as he took a deep breath and filled his lungs with oxygen once more. Not waiting for the vines to wrap around him, the big snake began to burrow, plunging headfirst down into the soft, shifting earth and straining to reach the source of the light, if it was within fifteen feet of the surface. All the while he continued to sing the song Delah and her Fae sang along the Attuned telepathic link, matching the words if phrases repeated, or simply offering melody when he didn't recognize the words.
Snake-gano returns, anchors himself on a Fae-friend with his tail, and attempts to dive down into the soft earth to see if he can find the source of the singing, while supporting Delah's song on the Attuned mental frequency.
It didn’t end. None of it did – the eerie tunes, the unrelenting insects swarming, attempting to gnaw at his flesh, sink into his wounds. He growled and hissed, but he doubted that would deter them. Vai managed to make it over, closer and closer, so her wind continued to snap along the room, but she could only last so much longer. “How is it going?” He shouted over the gale, the snapping breeze, the masks striving to keep the poison slipping into their lungs; striving to get the hovel occupants’ attention, incapable of seeing what was going on inside, while they were struggling outside.
“Could use some help out here,” the Reaper managed to grumble and shout back to them, head tilting, desperate for some sort of answer, swatting at the insects, picking a few off his skin, trying to slam their bodies into the nearby wall, longing to hear a satisfying crunch. He’d had enough of the ongoing nonsense, of not being able to understand or comprehend what was going on. Were they successful? Did they need assistance? Because in this section of the ruins –
The dimming light of Amalia’s staff (yet another great sign that he might be steadfastly doomed) caught along the fringes of his net. He grabbed ahold and put it back to use, aiming to toss it over an assemblage of the swarm. Instead of his deadly magic though, because the strain behind his eyelids was just one more damned reminder of how much this quest had cost him, and could continue to maul, he simply tried to stomp on them all. His footfalls were heavy, focused, intending precision in the ferocity, a way for his frustrations and anarchy to remain vivid and clear.
--
Deimos attempts to shout to those in the hovel. He finds his net and tries to cover some of the insects, then stomp on them.
As Delah and her warriors sink (far more than up to their knees, given the difference in their heights as compared to Amalia), the chief's eyes snap open. "There is not much time left." She barks, hands clenching those around her tightly for balance and support. Wings aflutter, the fae try to maintain their position as their mental singing intensifies.
Leave the light. Stay with us. The woods need you still. Your time has not come, old one. Stay.
With the last bit of magical strength she has on offer, Delah and Co pull at the earth doing their best to burrow down deep towards the light below.
For all of her prowess at the infirmary; for all of her open door policies at her cottage and her willingness to pitch in and give her all... Vervain Calob was not one of those fabled heroes of the hour. She had a husband and a daughter and a baby boy at home, and she was not going to die here. Especially not for something that she has asked about, but received no answer towards.
Why were they even here? To be buried alive and eaten by bugs? Not today, thanks.
"Leave them," she barked at Deimos over the howl of the wind, Vai feeling her strength beginning to wane. They were not a cohesive group; her efforts felt wasted against the horde of insects. They'd not had enough time, not acted collectively, and even if someone was hurt at this point, she'd end up unconscious trying to mend them.
So, pouring the last of her magic into the effort (leaving just enough, hopefully, to get out of there conscious), Vai tried to flatten the insects against the sides of the cavern with her gale. Meanwhile, she pitched it towards the exit.
Vai tells Deimos to leave, makes a last ditch effort to crush the buggos and retreats from the KQ!
Something is happening. The ground is rising up to meet them, the vines pulling them into its embrace. Amalia gasps in surprise, her reverence momentarily broken, her attention flickering outside the cavern to where Deimos and Vervain, presumably, still wait. "Go to the Shrine!" she calls through the earth dome. "Call for Safrin! She will help!"
Then she focuses back on the earth, and the song and light that rise from within.
Jigano digs; the Fae all sing; and Amalia does the only thing she can: she prays, her mental calls continuing, asking for help from whatever gods can hear. And then she remembers the other Tulmhainar, the way it bloomed and became strong with her memories, invigorated and made youthful by her happy thoughts. Feed it! she cries out silently to the fae and Jigano, hoping they will understand. Memories begin to rise in her mind: sunlight on the Oasis in summer; the smell of fresh bread on a market day; her mother, sitting and teaching her letters; her room in the bakery; Jyoti's song; Deimos' eyes. She hopes that the creature can hear her, feel her, that it will be enough to lend it the strength it needs to escape from its prison at last.
Amalia tells Vai/Deimos to go call Safrin, and then tries to feed the tulmhainar happy memories.
07-03-2019, 11:21 PM (This post was last modified: 07-03-2019, 11:22 PM by Court Official.)
key quest
Inside the hovel...
Though it might be Jigano 's desire to burrow himself before the vines can fully attach, luck is not on anyone's side today it seems. The great snake is constrained, the vines curling about his head and anchoring it backwards—not uncomfortably so—but bowing his body enough that he no longer has the point of his head to burrow with. Instead his body succeeds simply in moving some of the dirt to the sides as he warbles.
Below however, the light grows brighter and gravity it seems, increases once again.
The fae Jigano has anchored himself to is spared by this sudden tug, but not so for Delah. Her lithe body is dramatically pulled, burying her up to her shoulders. Muffled by the earth there is a faint crack; the leg she broke only a few days prior in the cave finding itself bent at an unnatural angle once more.
Amalia 's memory's of summer days, blue eyes and wild hair cause the ground to suddenly stop its gravitational shaking. The light ceases. The singing stops.
And then there is a voice. Faint, far away. I stayed. For centuries I stayed. Alone. Forgotten...and then they came. And I thought...I thought they had come to bring me back to the light. By Rae I am tired. Let me go.. The voice is but a mere whisper of thought that drifts upwards into the minds of those assembled.
So weary...wanting only the embrace of its maker.
Outside the hovel...
The combined efforts of Deimos and Vervain seem to finally align, and now the ground is littered with far more dead bodies than living ones.
Vervain 's consciousness wavers just as the air inside of the cavern does. Luckily though, through sheer force of will, Vai is indeed able to retreat fully back into the stairwell. The air there is putrid, though perhaps not quite so deadly as that within the cavern.
However without her control over the air, the yellow gas rushes into to fill the space her lack of magic has left. Thick nearly-tangible smoke rushes against Deimos reducing visibility to mere inches. The components of his mask and the one Delah created are quickly breaking down beneath the acidity of the air.
Ending HP
Earthen hoard thing: 39 HP
Amalia: 69
Jigano: 183
Deimos: 32 Vai: 31
Delah: 27
You have 48 hours to reply. Posting order (randomly decided) is: Jigano, Deimos, Delah, Vai, Amalia
Trapped in the embrace of the vines, Jigano continued to struggle, writhing as best he could even with his head bent back. Releasing the Fae he had been anchored on - no longer needing an anchor if he couldn't dig - he instead tried to curl his tail around Delah 's arm, where she had been holding hands with the other Fae, providing her in anchor in case the ground should shift further.
But Amalia's plea is finally met with words, a consciousness, even one so weary as the voice that reached out to them at last. Jigano's heart went back to the weary creature, having felt such despair himself but recently. Remembering Amalia's words, however, he does his best to focus on happier memories - many of them from his time on Caido: exchanging gifts with Melita at the Longheat celebration, lighting candles with Amalia and Rory under the Fiat Lux moon, crafting songs in the spring sunshine beside Rory, drinking tea and sharing gossip in Sam's comfortable home, singing to the luxere with Amalia... the day Isuma's egg had hatched and he had rushed her to the Infirmary for Isla's advice.
They did not know, the python sang gently back within their minds. But we do, and you are not alone anymore. There is another like you, a Tulmhainar who lives with the Fae. Please, won't you meet him? Won't you see the light of sun and stars again with us? Please, just give us one more chance to help you see the sky again.
Snake-gano attempts to use his tail to help anchor Delah so she doesn't get dragged beneath the earth. He begs the mental voice to come with them and see the sky again while offering it joyful memories.
It unraveled further – the chaos and bedlam shirking and careening down around him: Vai’s yell echoed in rancorous waves (how could he just leave them? Leave her?), and she committed to her actions, the last gust of air flailing around him until she and it were no more. Then there was just smoke, embers of old fire, and insects droning in his ears.
Alone. He was alone. It should’ve been a comfortable, familiar feeling. But in here, it was hollow and empty, a void, a sickness, a promise of death scratching its knife down his spine.
While the rest sang and promised their convictions, he debated his choices. He had no intention of abandoning – it felt cowardly, it felt unjust, it didn’t feel right; the Reaper had come at Amalia’s request, utilized his enchantments, strived to ensure they were safe while they dragged their tulmhainar out of this disastrous wake.
But now the poison seeped into his lungs and his eyes, and now he was on his lonesome, strength waning, magic strained, over-exerted, enough, enough, enough coiling into his pulse. Am I going to die here? a consistent inquiry that layered itself back over again and again; circling, shrouding, but granting him no semblance of comfort.
Amalia’s voice rang through the venom and vitriol, and he listened, grateful she was still within, her commands a sudden respite in the gloom and Stygian force of his incoming demise. Go to the Shrine – call for Safrin heralded and beckoned, and his brows furrowed as he swatted at insects. Didn’t she know that was a lost cause? That he was Abandoned, and the gods would never listen to him?
Or was this just one more way she intended to save him?
He clenched his jaw, and the dimming, crimson staff, nodding at his pursuits, loathing, detesting, abhorring the position he’d been placed within. “I will!” He shouted over the songs, over the flickering memories, pledging a promise as he turned back the way they’d come, sprinting back into the light, for a chance at another failure.
