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!
The staff whiffed harmlessly through the air and Jigano might have growled in frustration if his voice hadn’t been full of song. A soft, gentle melody for the moment as the voice above expounded on the adverbs of darkness in all its glory, living its best villain life and loving it. Of course, as he was ordered to put a cork in it the bard did what bards were wont to do when faced with heckling.
He turned up the volume.
He didn’t try and argue with the invisible voice in the darkness; his breath was being put to better things at the moment, and it wasn’t the most trustworthy of sources, what with the hiding and threatening them from beyond their reach while hiding behind a soul hostage.
Kiada’s nudge and whispered breath told him what he needed to know, and he nodded fractionally. The staff was glowing red again, but whatever was above them was too high for its light to reach. He glanced around quickly, trying to find a building nearby or something they could use to get up on its level as Kiada begun tugging at the crossbow on his back. He flicked the buckle across his chest to free it and rested the staff across Auni’s antlers so that either of them could try and grab it if they needed to.
He didn’t think the attempt to barter would work, but he wasn’t going to sabotage it before Kiada had her answer, either. He followed her lead instead, unhooking the quiver of bolts from his belt and hooking it over hers as she took charge of the crossbow.
Jigano looks for a place they might climb higher while setting the staff across Auni’s antlers to hold for whoever needs it next. He helps Kiada get his crossbow and bolts.
And he keeps singing, louder and putting more force behind it because the monster isn’t his real dad.
10-25-2019, 06:23 PM (This post was last modified: 10-25-2019, 06:23 PM by Random Event.)
The pair might have the attention of the monster holding Ru'in's spirit, but those encircling the small circle of light are far less patient. More rocks are thrust towards Kiada and Jigano, some bouncing off of the shield but many strike at their legs, enough that several bruises will appear in the morning, if indeed they live that long.
"You seem to value it quite highly...so I expect nothing less than that in return. Upgrades. The technology that your ascended carry around. Bring me as much as you think his soul worth... "
do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell
i mean a used up bullet casing
Well, she has expected something far more cryptic. A soul for a soul, perhaps. But Ascended upgrades? Her thoughts drift to her mother, ascended now, but her stomach swirls with uncertainty at the idea of it. She doesn’t want to leave and come back, beg and grovel for items that are probably not enough for the price of his soul in her eyes. Nor does she think that it would work, a simple trick to perhaps recreate a Spire Demon? No thanks.
But her thoughts are short lived as more rocks come hurtling toward her, hitting her knees and legs with a resounding impact. Next time, she tells herself, she needs armor to cover her person and not just the vital bits. But the crossbow is in hand and she swings it toward the monsters that are throwing the rocks as Auni remains between them, antler staff hooked against his own in an easy to grab manner.
She shifts the weight on her feet, icy eyes looking up to the soul with longing and pain. “There isn’t enough ascended upgrades I know of to be able to trade.” She announces, no amount of ascended upgrades or items would be worth it to her to trade. So she bites down on her cheek, swinging the crossbow up and aiming into the darkness, firing an arrow off into the dark, somewhat by Ru’in’s soul.
Kiada declines the barter, and fires an arrow up toward the darkness above them.
as in, the aftermath of something lethal
as in, an echo of inflicted evil
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Souls were not currency to be traded – not, at least, to a mortal like Jigano. They had no equivalent price in metals or items or even power. They were not objects. They were people, and his anger and disdain for the monster burned in his chest, helping him to shrug off the flung stones of its companions.
Kiada clearly felt the same, and he pulsed fierce pride and affection in her answer – an answer for both of them – to his friend.
It was time to shed a little light on the situation, and maybe steal a march on the soul-thief who though it could filch from Mort’s domain. He continued to sing as he shifted swiftly, leaping skyward with his strong leg as clothing faded to feathers. His weapons belt slid from disappearing hips to land at Kiada’s heels, and the shield that had been strapped to a human harm dropped away from a feathered wing as he surged upwards. The lantern, too, might have dropped, but he was prepared for that and caught its handle in his talons as his flurry took him upwards towards the shining soul in the wake of Kiada’s bolt.
The song still poured from the raven’s pale beak, harsh but powerful as Jigano attempted to catch the bronze soul in the lantern – or, at the very least, to shed some light on what hovered over them with such malice.
Jigano turns into a raven (still singing!) and flies the lantern in the wake of Kiada’s distraction-arrow to try and snag Ru’in’s soul in it. Even if that doesn’t work he’s hoping to illuminate the monster and maybe burn it with the light.
"Then it seems your soul will be joining his after all." The creature laughed darkly. As her bolt flies into the darkness there is a soft thunk sound as the arrowhead seems to land inside of something. There is a hiss, but not necessarily of pain. As the raven brings the lantern upwards, the Sage will catch a glimpse of what appears to be a gigantic bat that hovers rather than flies, though its body seems improperly spread out; more like a leathery blanket with features. Feathers that are grotesquely out of proportion. With a flap of its wings a wave of shadow trails towards the bard, coating the lantern and his feathers as the monster heads back towards the safety of the darkness. The shadow melds much like tar, and the bard will find it nearly impossible to continue to fly with his pale wings as coated as they are.
do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell
i mean a used up bullet casing
Jigano flies up with the lantern when Kiada fires her arrow, and through the darkness she’s uncertain if it helps. But she does notice the darkness that encompasses both lantern and bard, unable to see much else, and with a hiss of frustration, she aims the bow upward again. In a split second, she’s shot another one off into the darkness where she’s pretty sure she knows Jigano isn’t going to be, hoping that she’s guessed correctly and she isn’t going to shoot the pale raven.
And after that, she sees something start to kind of fall towards her, dark and covered, but she can see the light glint of the shape of a lantern, and she slings the crossbow over her shoulder, hoping to catch Jigano in his decent.
Kiada fires off another arrow up above and tries to catch Jigano as he comes back down!
as in, the aftermath of something lethal
as in, an echo of inflicted evil
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
The lantern's light gave him enough warning to turn his head, protecting his face from the shadowy sludge before it coated him. He flapped mightily twice more before he realized he was falling and it was all he could do to direct himself and the lantern back towards the glowing beacon of Auni's antlers and Kiada's arms.
His song faltered as he fell, huffing as strong arms caught him from impacting the snowy ground but he swiftly wriggled out of them to hop the rest of the way there on his own. We need to get some light up there - keep it distracted, I'll try to light a fire! He shifted as he fell, scales replacing feathers as he rolled his body swiftly in the snow to scrape the black gunk off a smooth-armored body and doing the same for the lantern to release its gentle glow while he continued to hiss the song in soft, sibilant, serpentine notes.
Jigano is caught by Kiada then drops to the ground to scrape the gunk off himself and the lantern, still singing and ready to interpose his body between her and any more projectiles that get flung their way.
10-26-2019, 03:07 AM (This post was last modified: 10-26-2019, 03:09 AM by Random Event.)
The arrow once again softly clicks against something as the vast great moves. In the swirling velvety darkness is the oppressive chant of all the creatures that this fight had drawn out of the woodwork. They know enough to stay back, but how their eagerness fills the air with an anxious fury. The harpy and the sage are woefully outnumbered, vaguely protected from the wrath of the monsters by lantern and luxere light, but optimism can be smothered just like flames can. Rocks pelt out from the sidelines again, the shadow-hid monsters finding themselves antsy as they wait for blood to be spilled.
The swirling bronze light drops suddenly, falling into the stone-statue that is Ru’in. Black and blue eyes flutter open from the ground, staring blindly up at Kiada. “Go on. Tell him you want his soul to stick in some lantern so your friend can endlessly sing at it. Tell him you want to send him away to Mort, so that he’ll never see you again. At least this way he can see you once a year.”
do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell
i mean a used up bullet casing
They are incredibly outnumbered, and as the rocks come flying in from the outside of the ring, she can hear Jigano’s instructions while he cleans himself of the tar. And she hisses under her breath in her frustration, teeth grit. She knows they can’t keep up this way, small arrows plinking against whatever beast sits above. But there, as the soul drops once more, it catches her eye and she focuses on it intently. “Jigano, wait.” She says, rushed, eyes following to the stone-statue of Ru’in, eyes fluttering open while she starts to feel an incredible amount of rage.
The voice of the creature above speaks to her but her eyes are only on the statue of Ru’in, a blind rage creeping up as she grits her teeth. “Fine!” She cries out to the monster above, hands shaking as they tighten around the crossbow. She can’t keep this up, she can’t keep letting the monster use Ru’in like he’s some kind of puppet when he had been her world. “You want Ascended upgrades? Let us leave here unharmed and we will bring you upgrades for the soul.” She tries to blink away her tears, eyes remaining on Ru’in’s statuesque body, but her voice is surprisingly firm. “Do we have a deal?”
Kiada brings up the bargain again, asking to leave and get Ascended upgrades, to return to bargain for Ru’in’s soul.
as in, the aftermath of something lethal
as in, an echo of inflicted evil
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Snake to man again, and he desperately began scrabbling for the sticks and pieces of wood that had been flung at them amongst the earlier stones, gathering fuel for a fire that would last mere seconds before the monsters tried to throw shadow on it to snuff it. He knew that, but they had such limited options now and his wings were useless against this creature, no less than the rest of him--
His hand immediately closed on the smooth shaft of the spear that had struck him earlier, opening the bloody wound in his thigh, and inspiration lit like a spark, a bonfire of dominoes falling together. If they could just--
Kiada's voice held him. Not quite still, no. He continued to move in small, sure motions, deftly finding the free end of the rope around his waist and beginning to tie it tightly around the butt of the spear. He frowned as she gave in to the monster's demands, but he understood why. They were hurt, wounded... outmatched on their own. There weren't many upgrades they could easily lay hold off in the middle of LongNight, but there were two he could think of off the top of his head, if Rexanna and Bastien were willing.
He certainly was.
Kiada had been worried about making another Spire Monster, and he could see the logic in that, but they would have to cross that bridge when they came to it. For now they needed to focus on survival.
Jigano grabs the spear and starts to fiddle with it, standing behind Kiada and attempting to protect her with his body again.
From the ground, the ruined Ru'in stared up at Kiada with pleading eyes. She'd risked too much for him already, nearly died. He couldn't ask her to do this, to save him; but his lips wouldn't move. Not without his soul.
"Go then. I am interested to see what you will bring to balance the scales for his soul..." How Kiada would ever be able to judge the scales appropriately balanced in the dark, was of course not answered.
