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!
Loren worked steadily in silence, though Jigano was worried about how much control the Launceleyn had over the jets of water and if they would weaken the rubble further, though since his ice was holding for the moment he decided to trust the much more experienced mage to know his own skills and limits.
Adam's offer was a good one, though his guns wouldn't be much use in such an enclosed space if there was anything else back there - the bard was reminded of the insect swarms that had protected the tulmhainar.
Wessex gave little back at his comment; he knew only that there were four dead Fae in the Greatwood that she had taken responsibility for, and he had no wish to see another portal tainted with blood. Her suggestion of his smaller shape was a good one, though, and he hummed thoughtfully as he paused in their rock-shifting to eye the opening. He would certainly fit as a snake... but he would weigh a lot more, too. With a nod he moved to hand Adam his knives before finding a spot a little out of the way, placing some rubble between him and the others before he slipped into his smaller form.
Light fox feet padded carefully up the rubble and to the opening where he peered inside, bag of seeds and smaller items clenched in his jaws and glinting necklace hanging from around his neck. His senses perked alertly to examine the space and the door before he leapt to the ground within, testing the space cautiously.
Jigano gives Adam his knives then shifts to foxform and takes his bag of seeds with him as he pads to the hole and tries to hop through to examine the door beyond.
Luck or skill, it's always so hard to know and so fun to keep secret. The slow and steady attempts seem to be working as does Loren 's magical means of moving the stones. The opening at the top can now easily fit one person through, tricky as it is to climb up the remaining debris to get to it.
As Jigano pads up to the top and through the opening, he finds himself on the other side of the wall quite easily. There before him is a door that he'll remember.
You have 24 hours to reply. Your randomly drawn initiative order is: Loren, Adam, Wessex, Jigano. Please include a summary at the bottom of your posts.
As Wessex spoke directly to the Launceleyn, he glanced around the chamber. There wasn’t anywhere to put pillars, since there was no ceiling to support except for a small lip over the rubble they were clearing. Unfortunately, pillars would need a stable base and there was no way to supply one when they were actively cleaning rocks out of the way.
Water pressure was a good idea, but before he could do it, he hesitated. ”I’m worried about what happens when I move on and the pressure shifts back. It might be enough to break the walls entirely.” The ice, at least, would last a while and melt slowly, unlike a sudden cessation of water pressure and he didn't necessarily trust his control to ease off the pressure slowly enough, especially across the entire surface area of the walls. Still, he walked into the center of the room. If the walls did start breaking, he’d do his best to hold off the collapse for as long as possible. For now, he kept his steady work clearing rocks with his water and his bear.
Loren continues clearing rubble with his water magic and the bear. Astra does nothing.
Adam blew out a bored huff of air, walking about the walls to make sure they didn't cave. They all looked...fine. Like ice walls. Coffee whined at his feet and he pulled a sympathetic face - both of them had expected more action from this quest, not...rock removal.
Jigano woke him from falling into a total stupor with the gift of two knives. He took them with a bemused smile, unsure why he'd been given them (could Jigano not see the pistols on his hips?) until he saw the man suddenly disappear then reappear as a fox. Adam had seen the Attuned shift before, but he hadn't know the bard was one. Idly, he hoped that not everyone except him had a cool animal form.
"Ice walls look fine to me. Keep on going with the cool bear shit." He contributed to the conversation, not wanting to encourage the weird cult owner toooooo much.
--
Adam uh...holds some knives and gives a bit of moral support. Go Team!
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
While their luck seems to hold for now, the Wraith can’t help but feel like it’s the calm before the storm.
She simply nods and lets them keep doing their things - Adam to his moral support, Loren to his water works and herself to debris at the top. Though when the space is wide enough and she (hopes) stable enough, she goes to the edge and squats, peering in, perhaps able to see a little more in the dark than the others (aside from Mr. Fox Eyes).
What she does see makes her nod to herself. Yep. Seen one of them before. “I’m the only one who can open that. It's a fancy Ascended door.” she says, to no one - or everyone - in particular. But before she does, she heads back to her previous task: moving more debris, in an effort to get a big enough space so that they could get safely in and out, and in a hurry, if need be.
-------------------
Wessex identifies the door and continues to move debris.
Having an Attuned bond didn’t do much good when there were no other Attuned around to hear him, so Jigano reluctantly shifted back into his human form to frown thoughtfully at the puzzle. He had seen it on the door before, but only in passing, distracted as he had been by toxic gas and trying to rescue Roana and Lucas. ”Symmetry?” he murmured softly aloud as Wessex identified it, eyes narrowing at the designs. He tilted his head first one way, then the other, counting fish and suns, and slowly a smile spread over his face.
He did so love puzzles.
But playing with puzzles didn’t get the rocks moved any faster, and he heard Loren’s concern over the walls shifting with a wince. He might not be a hero, but maybe there was something he could do to make it easier on the others. The magic of Caido was still strange to him and he lacked confidence in his use of it, especially considering where it had come from, but he cleared his throat and spoke up from behind the pile of rubble.
”There’s a puzzle-lock on the door; I believe we need to trace counterclockwise on the top left and clockwise on the bottom circle, but there’s not much room back here. If we clear the rubble it will be easier for us all to reach so Wessex isn’t stuck back here alone.” Stating the obvious just to make sure everyone knew why they were waiting, he hesitantly turned to lay his hands on the pile of rocks behind him, pushing his awareness into the earth and rubble and trying to use his recently-found earth magic to steady the pile while the others worked, so they could move faster and more safely.
Jigano tries to use Upgraded Earth Magic to stabilize the rubble so that blocks can be moved faster and more safely.
11-07-2019, 03:18 AM (This post was last modified: 11-07-2019, 03:27 AM by Court Official.)
key quest
Your luck was bound to fail sooner or later. The boulders that were being gently moved now begin to shake. There is only so much that Jigano’s magic can do, given that there isn’t any real dirt or soil between them, merely collapsed stones. He steadies the rocks on his side, though a few falling bits of stone thunk haphazardly around him.
Rocks fall towards Wessex, grating against her ankles and lower legs. She can’t feel it, but if she could she’d find one of her ankles badly sprained. As for Loren? The sudden tremor of the rocks falling cause the walls to groan and buckle ominously. Around them yet more dust not captured by the summoner’s ice begins to fall in liquid-like puffs from the lip near the opening above them.
And Adam? Well. Given how much smoke he’s used to breathing in, a little dust hardly bothers him.
The good news is that with the rubble spread more evenly it’s only about 7ft tall now at it’s highest point leaving an easy amount of space overtop. Not everyone in the Hollowed Grounds would be able to clear it, but enough would. The space around Jigano makes it so the bard could easily stand tall, with at least another person at his side.
You have 24 hours to reply. Your randomly drawn initiative order is: Loren, Adam, Wessex, Jigano. Please include a summary at the bottom of your posts.
As the pile of boulders began to topple, Loren immediately dismissed the bear and ceased his efforts with his water, calling the liquid back to him. He couldn’t really see Jigano, but Wessex took the brunt of the damage on their end. The queen seemed to be holding up well enough, though, and Adam and the summoner were unharmed, as far as he could tell. However, his eyes noted two things: first, that the pile was far more manageable (to navigate, at least), and second that there was dust falling from the lip of the opening above them.
The dust was not a good sign. He couldn’t do anything about the door, and he didn’t want to keep clearing rubble until attempting to secure their route in and their route out to the best of his abilities. Using the water he already had, plus some more he created, he made three ice pillars, one on either end of the rubble pile, and one under the overhang that led to the stairs out of here. He was trying to prop up both of the little lips of stone hanging over their path. To facilitate that, he did his best to make sure there were no rocks they needed to clear at the base of the pillars on the rubble side.
Then, assuming nothing happened while he was setting up his pillars, he would walk forward with Astra by his side. The unicorn horn was secured to his belt, clearly visible if the Ascended needed to come heal herself before continuing. All it would take was for Wessex to lay her hand on it and call upon its power.
Loren dismissed the bear and made two ice pillars by the rubble pile and one under the overhang that leads to the stairs they came in on. Then he walked forward with Astra.
11-07-2019, 05:57 PM (This post was last modified: 11-07-2019, 06:08 PM by Adam.)
Adam
Hallucinate a shady grove where Judas went to die
Unfurl the black velvet altar cloth
Adam whisked around at the sound of the rocks shaking and falling, expecting to see his companions crushed underneath boulders. Fortunately it seemed the worst injuries were just hurt egos rather than anything physical (with Wessex showing no signs of pain, it was hard to know when she was hurt). Feeling the need to say something after the loud crash ended in silence, he contributed: "...It's dusty, huh?"
And excitingly, there was now a sizeable gap in the rocks. Walking over, excited to be off of wall-checking duty, Adam climbed up the pile, peeking into the hole. "We ready to be getting in, then?" Still he paused before climbing in, waiting to see if there was to be an order (and as much as he wanted to believe he'd be at the top, he knew better).
--
Adam comments on the dust (dusty) then goes to look through the hole.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
After taking a moment to check her systems for injuries from the boulders, Wessex casts a glance to the hole, then to the walls. With the addition of the ice pillars and the growing need to get through the door, she nods. If they’re successful, they can hopefully remove the rest of the rubble on the back end. Or like, summon more creatures. Whatever.
“If you’re all ready, I am.” With Jigano’s instructions in mind, she stops only to look to Loren for permission to use the unicor horn (never doubting he would give it), then presses it to her injured ankle and tries to direct the healing power to where it is required. When all seems right again, she hands it back and steps into the space by Jigano. It looks like if anything is going to come through the door at them, it will hit one of the two of them first. Fine. The Queen swallows needlessly and accepts this.
“Symmetry,” she says aloud, dutifully tracing counter-clockwise on the upper left circle, and then clockwise on the bottom circle.
--------------
Wessex heals her ankles (hopefully) with the unicorn horn and then tries to open the door.
The rumbling shift of rubble was all the warning he had before stones fell, thankfully missing him as he did his best to keep them from moving too far out of place. It was hard work, though, and though the pile had slid out so more space was available it obviously would be difficult to manage anything like a small cart of trade goods or an injured person through it.
"Is everyone alright?" he called up, coughing and waving away the dust. Adam's suggestion and Wessex's appearance a moment later seemed to be answer enough, and he edged back to give the Queen room to play with the puzzle. "Remi and I, maybe with Loren and one or two others can maybe try to secure the walls and shift the rubble later," he suggested, thinking of how to utilize what he knew of earth magic with telekinesis and other talents to stabilize the area. It would take time and would be easier if no one was in a rush...
But it might not matter if the portal beyond was damaged beyond repair anyways.
Hello? Is anyone there? he sent tentatively through the Attuned bond into the room beyond the door as the door opened - or through it, if it didn't.
Jigano suggests coming back later to stabilize things and sends a greeting through the Attuned bond to anything that might be beyond the door.
Blue light sparks brightly from beneath the Queen's finger as she traces the appropriate circles. Though the door frame has been damaged by the falling rocks, a little elbow-grease from Jigano and Wessex is enough to pull it back open.
The pair are instantly greeted with a bright and altogether awe-inspiring column of blue-white energy in the center of a dark and dimly lit room. It is about 5feet in radius and streaks directly up into the heart of the spire itself. It buzzes and crackles and strangely gives off a cooling sort of breeze and the pleasing scent of petrichor.
Where once the walls were lined with shelves, now the ground is littered with broken bottles, bones and various other bits of debris that might once have (read: absolutely was) valuable items. Curled around the base of the stones, its body encircling it several times was a massive snake. With a body the colour of soap-stone, and eyes bright and intelligent the snake guardian regards the ascended and the hybrid. Where once it might have risen up with fangs bared and acid pouring from its jaws, now it merely regards them from the base of the well.
Noooo asssssssssssscended sssssshall passsss The snake hissed in a voice that sounded like burlap rubbed against the base of a particularly knotty tree.
You have 24 hours to reply. Your randomly drawn initiative order is: Loren, Adam, Wessex, Jigano. Please include a summary at the bottom of your posts.
It appeared they’d gotten through the door on the other side of the rubble. At least that meant they were successful at one part of this expedition. Go team. While Loren would have preferred to have cleared the pile entirely before moving on, he didn’t want to get left behind by his companions.
So, sighing as Jigano and Wessex went through the door, the summoner tried to reinforce the ice within range one last time. Then he boosted Astra over the rocks before attempting to climb over the remaining pile himself. Assuming he was successful, he’d hurry through the door to the next chamber.
Loren tries to reinforces the ice he can reach, then lifts Astra over the pile before trying to get over it himself and heading into the next chamber with her.
Jigano and Wessex disappeared onwards and Loren headed in too - Adam was not going to be left behind just as the adventure got exciting. Hoping the next room would hold more than some rocks and crumbly walls, he left Coffee fly in before him then slipped through himself, peering over Loren's head to see what lay beyond the door.
Seeing both a massive column of light and a huge fuck-off snake, Adam mentally fist pumped. Now shit was really getting started. Still, he knew he was the one most ignorant of what to do here so he bit down his instinct to rush in guns blazing and stayed back, stood as close to the door as he could with Coffee at his heel.
"...Are we meant to kill it...?" He whispered to Loren, sure a weird cult man would know about appropriate murders of big snakes.
