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!
09-20-2019, 06:26 PM (This post was last modified: 09-20-2019, 07:11 PM by Odd.)
mathair
The Ascended might have noticed mother-Voice noticeably lacking the past few weeks, but she was far, far from absent. Insidiously, thanks to the many and fruitful navigations of her child in the Greatwood, had become one with the Wood in a way the Fae could never have imagined. Or if not the wood, one tree in particular.
But now, she needed them again.
Come to me my bright ones. Come and see what has been taken from us. Let this last barrier fall so that we might retake the world... Her voice would carry to them far and wide, silent but immutable in the silent depths of midnight.
To the Mathair the ascended would find themselves drawn; not even the Greatwood would be able to put up a fight or slow their progress, but it would instead open to them and hasten their journey. As they arrive, they will see the Mathair, glorious and ancient, encased in electricity. Rings around branches, leaves shivering and falling to the snow. But this was not a door the Voice could open on her own.
She needed her best and brightest for this.
This is an ASCENDED ONLY KQ! You have 48 hours to respond, detailing your character arriving. So that nothing is missed, please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post.
REMEMBER: KQs are rewarding, but dangerous. This quest may cause death and/or permanent changes to your characters - join at your own risk!
09-20-2019, 06:54 PM (This post was last modified: 09-20-2019, 06:55 PM by Samuel.)
SAMUEL
Stretch out my life
And pick the seams out
Sam had suspected, after the Blight and the relative quiet from The Voice, that there might soon be a call for them all to meet her. As much as he didn't want to be presumptuous of a God, he half saw it as an opportunity for her to explain herself, to apologise for placing him in the situation where he had been responsible for the illness of several of his friends.
He didn't expect that, but he couldn't shake the hope, enough that it was the motivation that sent him off when he heard The Voice call. In the dark night he slipped out of Nate's arms and out of the guild, pulling his coat around himself and shivering as he walked out towards the Greatwood. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that even the looming trees could not intimidate him, not this time.
When he reached the Mathair he saw it bathed in crackling electricity; the sight made him step back and look up the length of the tree, not sure what it was he was witnessing. "Is...that you, Voice?" Sam asked, unsure if he was seeing a new form of his Goddess.
--
Sam arrives and asks if the Sparkly Mathair is the Voice.
Oh, Lucas heard. Of course he heard - the Ascended was roused from his state of not-sleep and well into the woods practically before the Voice had finished calling for them. He took his spear with him - obviously - and his shadows snapped at his heels as he prowled through the Greatwood. Green eyes pierced the darkness easily, made easier still by the ethereal glow of electricity from the distance.
And then he arrived and there she was. Glorious, possessed almost, the great mother-tree had been captured, it looked like, by their goddess. "Your wish, etcetera," he drawled to no one in particular, taking his spear from his back and wasting no time in throwing it at the great tree.
Amun was getting a little tired of all these voices in his head.
First, he’d come to this desolate and snowy land, having been transformed from his formerly glorious form to this much less glamorous and wonderful one, that couldn’t eat, couldn’t feel, couldn’t connect to the moon like he once had. Worse than that, after what should’ve been a nice little walk in the woods, he’d come upon a clearing, and been compelled to plant some dumb flowers by gods he’d never met and wasn’t sure he believed in.
He’d thought that would be the end of it, but then he got a little message ringing in his ears. It called him a bright one, which was a delicious bit of irony, considering he’d literally glowed in the dark once upon a time. At least barriers going down and retaking the world sounded good: he wasn’t a huge fan of what he’d seen of Caido so far, and the rest of it couldn’t possibly be this bad. And it wasn’t like he had anything better to do.
So he went off, following the call where it led him. Somehow, he couldn’t say he was surprised to see that it took him to that big tree where he’d planted one of the blooms. The lights hadn’t been there before though. That was new. There were two handsome men in the clearing already, which would’ve normally been quite exciting to the potter, but the blonde one was throwing a spear at the tree, and Amun’s eyes widened. ”Well. That’s not how I normally use my spear, but whatever works for you man.” Glancing between the two strangers, he gave them a lazy grin. ”Someone care to explain what’s going on?”
---
Amun arrives, does some light flirting, and asks what's going on
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Wessex can only walk so many tightropes; at some point she’ll have to choose which side she’s truly on and stop trying to play the politician we all know she isn’t.
When Arduinna had told her to rid the Greatwood of her Goddess, she’d been a little confused. Isn’t that what the Fae had done with her sacrifice? She’d never thought to go and check to make sure the blight had been removed from the plants, mainly because she’d been respecting Delah’s very explicit instructions. Like a good ally does.
But as the Wraith slips out of Theskyra House and into the trees, she can tell that this is something big. Something different. And when she sees the Mathair, beautifully encircled in electricity, it is both hope and dread that wells up in her throat: hope that they will finally be able to leave the Hallowed Grounds (isn’t that what they’ve been working towards? A portal?), and dread at what a PR nightmare destroying this great tree will be. Whatever it was to the Fae - it is no more, and can never be again.
She comes up behind Samuel and the others, armed with her bow and arrows and just stares up at it, entranced by the beauty and happy to ignore the others for a moment. Until Lucas chucks his spear at it, and then she has to roll her eyes.
silver is your groan. her laugh. twin voices, twin vices
two sets of arrows
She can hear it, the voice, and immediately stops doing what it is she’s currently doing. Swift feet take her along the calling until she reaches the point where she’s become familiar, despite knowing she’s not supposed to be there. Despite knowing they’re all not supposed to be there. But she spots Sam, dear Sam… and Lucas, right when he lobs the spear to the tree. And her sapphire eyes lift toward the Mathair, bright and brilliant, and she can’t help but to feel a pang of sadness for such a monumental task.
Are they to destroy it?
There’s a part of her that screams yes, and against her better judgement, against what she wishes to do, she stands beside Lucas with a light smirk sent his way in greeting — hands lifting in preparation of pulling the fireworks from within her to shoot at the sparking tree. She’s ready, she just doesn’t know if she should yet.
And she hopes she doesn’t regret it, whatever it is they’re going to do.
Rex wonders what they’re to do about the tree lmao
"Yes Sam. This tree is no ordinary tree, though not for the reasons that the fae believe—" She cuts out then, the electrical entanglement of the tree suddenly jarred by the spear thrust into the bark.
Simultaneously, two things happened.
The first, was that there seemed to be images coming from the tree. Flashes of landscapes; mountains, waterfalls, vast oceans, pits of lava and icy tundras. The hollow of the tree seemed to dissolve into an opalescent archway, through which these shifting vistas seemed near enough to touch.
The second was that those assembled would see why it was the fae thought a spirit lived within the tree.
Because it did.
A gnarled branch shot out suddenly towards Lucas. Bristling with the Voice's electricity, as the bough impaled the ascended his circuits were effectively switched off, all life trickling instantly from his body. With a bright and maternal wail the blue synapses surrounding the tree immediately disappeared leaving the Mathair dark once again; not that the ascended would mind.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO." The Voice screamed. "Kill it, bright ones. Kill it, and let us be free of this place."
Your randomly decided order of initiative is: Wessex, Lucas, Sam, Rex, Amun. You have 48 hours to reply (if not faster, please). Include a summary at the bottom of your post.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
A part of her is actually a little shocked (and dare we say, devastated) when Lucas is impaled and he goes forever dark. Wessex freezes for a moment, staring at the lifeless Ascended, and though she feels no sense of responsibility the way she did with the others, she knows it is a loss to their Mother and to the cause. So like a good little warrior and a Queen, Wessex begins to take charge.
They’ve got fuck all to work with.
“Get down!” she yells first, more for Amun and Samuel than anything else. They can’t get out of the reach and still fight, so they might as well make themselves small targets. Ok, they need to work together for this… and fuck, “Do you have any weapons?” she asks, looking to the three others. Laying down her bow and quiver, Wessex looks at the tree from a crouch and hopes Rexanna can follow the ideas that are forming. “Fire first. Wait till I’m on the other side and then start at the roots.” The roots can't come at them like the branches can. And... maybe they can smoke the spirit out.
Waiting for a moment to make sure Rex gets it, Wessex dashes off as fast as she can, zipping around the roots and unleashing the only thing Edy had left her: Mastered Fire Magic. She tries to sustain it as long as she can, running in a circle and then sending it up the trunk of the tree.
Kill it, their Lady said. She just didn’t say how.
------------------------
Wessex tries to prep the group and then superspeeds (thx nighttime dex!) around the tree and releases Edy’s fire magic that she’s been saving up since this thread: the birds are whispering
Well, at least Lucas could say that he had successfully managed to discover that their enemy was as much the tree as anything else. As demonstrated by the way one of the boughs punched a forever-hole through his heart-that-wasn't.
"You have got to be fucking k--" the Ascended got most of the quip out before his circuits shorted out completely, dimming a light within him that he had never asked for, but had enjoyed thoroughly while it had lasted. And so there it was - hanging like some grotesque puppet from one of the Mathair's branches, Lucas was no more.
09-22-2019, 12:54 PM (This post was last modified: 09-22-2019, 12:54 PM by Samuel.)
SAMUEL
Stretch out my life
And pick the seams out
Sam fell to the ground out of instinct, flinching as he saw Lucas get thrown back; he had not been fond of the man but to see him so callously killed...for what? They had no idea what they were even fighting for. But he seemed to have little choice but to fight. He knelt up and seeing Wessex immediately going into action (of course) tried to steel himself for what was to come.
"N-no, I don't have anything." He answered, quickly turning himself invisible so he could at least have the defense of stealth. His daggers had been stolen not even two weeks after he'd gained them, and he was not someone that often bought weapons.
He stood back as Wessex ran around the tree, keeping as out of the way as he could, looking up the tree. If he could get a weapon, he thought he might be able to climb up invisible and make a strike.
----
Sam turns invisible and steps back, saying he does not have a weapon! (pls provide)
silver is your groan. her laugh. twin voices, twin vices
two sets of arrows
Many things happen, very quickly, and the Penumbra watches the tree almost in awe as the images flash before her. Where once she felt terrible for destroying a sacred tree for the Fae, now it is replaced by the urge and need of the tundra, of mountains, of oceans, and she grits her teeth briefly as her hands raise toward the tree — but it lashes out, immediately striking Lucas, and she can hear the goddess’ shriek as terror begins to swell in the pit of her stomach.
She doesn’t look to Lucas, she can’t. But she will when it’s all over, when she has time to process what the fuck just happened. And with it she listens to Wessex’s instructions, and glances toward Samuel as he tells them he has nothing. One hand glows gold and red as she crafts a makeshift dagger, something sturdy enough to handle this before tossing it in the spot she’d last seen the red haired man. “Sam, take this!” She calls, steadying her ground and focusing on the tree while Wessex reaches the back.
Rexanna focuses her energy next, sending a large firework straight at the root of the tree, praying to her goddess it hits.
Rex makes Sam a dagger and then shoots an upgraded, large firework at the roots of the tree!
Everything happened so quickly. Amun wasn’t a warrior, so he wasn’t used to tracking battles. It was only after a few seconds had passed that he was able to put it all together. One moment they were joking around; the next, spear-guy was fried and the tree was showing them visions Amun didn’t understand, and the voice in his head was screaming, and the red-head disappeared, and everything was insane.
It was only when Wessex shouted at the potter that he felt his limbs unfreeze. There was nothing he could do here as far as he could see besides desperately trying not to die like that other poor fellow. There wasn’t much cover, so he sprinted to the dark-haired blue-eyed woman, who seemed to be shooting lights at the Mathair, not that he was paying much attention. Amun would’ve rushed to Wessex’s side, but she was running around the tree spewing fire so the unknown woman would have to do.
Amun ran faster than he’d ever moved before, desperately hoping to get behind the dark-haired woman and then keep her and her lights between himself and the fucking murder tree. He certainly wasn't going to try to get close to the tree to try and kill it, no matter what the fucking voice in his head told him to do.
Fire seems to be effective as fuck. It's a bit unwieldy in the hands of an ascended like Wessex for obvious reasons, but whatever spark of Edy that went in with the magic comes out now in a bright wave. Flames race up the tree causing it to wail; the sound of which was like boulders being flung into deep rivers, and the sound of roots tearing from the earth.
Oh what's that? More fire? What a prepared group (not you Sam). Rexanna 's blast hits near the base of the tree, burning away the snow and fallen leaves to create a rather pleasant sort of smell.
Only able to see Wessex and Rexanna (Amun, you coward), the tree slapped out with two branches simultaneously meaning to hit the two women. Though the ascended were impossibly fast beneath the cover of the skies, luck tonight, was not a lady, but a tree.
An angry tree.
Swiping at Rexanna newly illuminated by flames, the tree knocked her aside, sending her flying about 10ft or snow into the trees. She'd not feel the pain of course, but it had hit her with a thump that might have knocked the wind out of normal lungs, and maybe even broken a bone. As for Wessex ? Well. She was able to dodge this time.
But the cry of the tree had brought the fae in from the woods.: 5 soldiers arrived on the scene. "Kitty", a tiger, roared and readied to pounce. "Smashy", a petite guard with a greataxe in his hand who yelled "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING.". "Hissy", a large snake with venom dripping from its jaws. "Leroy", a fae holding what appeared to be two molotov cocktails, nodding emphatically at what Smashy had said, and "Cleric", the healer one.
Your randomly decided order of initiative is: Wessex, Lucas, Sam, Rex, Amun. You have 48 hours to reply (if not faster, please). Include a summary at the bottom of your post.
WESSEX ATTACKS and HITS
SAM hides!
REXANNA ATTACKS and HITS
AMUN hides!
MATHAIR ATTACKS and HITS REXANNA
MATHAIR ATTACKS and MISSES WESSEX.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
The calvary has arrived. Wessex should have known it wasn’t going to be this easy. Unfortunately, she’s all out of real ammo and no time to savor the success of their first attack. Which is fine. It’s all fine. Her mind whirls and the lesson from the tentacles in the cave comes back, so it’s clear to the Queen that they need to keep focusing on taking the tree out the tree and it’s Whomping Willow-like branches. More importantly, Rexanna is best suited to do that right now.
So that leaves the Fae to her. And, uh, Sam. Oh, Sam, it’s your time to shine.
Having been able to get back around to Rex and Amun, she grabs her bow and arrow and hisses “Keep moving and stay on the tree” to Rexanna. The tiger is fierce, the battle-axe would hurt like hell, but the molotov cocktails are the most deadly, in her professional opinion. As fast and as suddenly as she can, Wessex lets two arrows loose towards Leroy, aiming to either stuff him like a pin cushion, or make him drop the weapons, where they might explode at his own feet. But she doesn’t stop there. No, Wessex is off again, sprinting through the dark and back around the tree, away from Rex, yelling to the Fae guards, “I’m going through a portal to get some dragons, what the fuck are you guys doing?” In the hopes, of course, that they’ll follow her.
Fairly certain that no one will know the other guy on their team isn’t ‘ Samuel, ’ she yells out again, “Be brave, Sam!”
-------------------
Wessex tells Rex to not be a stationary target and keep attacking the tree, then lets two arrows loose towards Leroy. Then taunts the guards and takes off as fast as she can away from Rex, to play the decoy. Tries to encourage Sam to get in on the action..
