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!
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Aaaaaand they’re in.
Satisfied but cautious, Wessex is struck by the awe-inspiring column of energy that stems from what looks like a well in the middle of the room. It reminds her of the glory of the Mathair when her Lady lit it up. The Wraith enters and sticks to the edge, eyes adjusting quickly, identifying the snake that Jigano mentioned. Big snake. With a look back to see if the others are coming, she waits until they’re present to make sure they all hear her and can’t fault her for what happens after this.
“Here’s your chance to talk first,” she says (directly, but not unkindly) to Jigano. “Aloud, if you please.” Whatever that means to Jigano, but god help him if he lies. Meanwhile, she's trying to assess what might be most useful here - noting the lowish ceiling, the amount of room they have to move about.
She doesn't want to kill the snake. But like all of Old Gods' creatures, it seems to have a one-sided vendetta against her, and she can't let it stand in the way of freedom.
That it was the second time Jigano had seen the room didn’t make the portal energies less awe-inspiring. The same could be said for its guardian, though it was far more subdued than it had once been. He had begun to take a step towards it when Adam’s question caught him off-guard and he flashed a dark look at the gunslinger. ”That would not be wise,” he warned his LongNight confidante. ”It’s a guardian, and one I’ve been trying to reach again for a long time.”
He nodded to Wessex, though it was accompanied by a shrug at the end. ”I can speak aloud,” he agreed, ”but the snake communicates here,“ he tapped his head. ”I’ll translate though. Bear with me. It said that ascended shall not pass…” He glanced to Adam and Loren before looking back to the queen frankly. ”Which makes a certain amount of sense, at least until we can be sure that you’re not still an accidental carrier of the blight. Arduinna’s sacrifice may be currently cleansing the Greatwood and barrierlands, but we don’t know how far her power reaches or if you’ll be bringing it with you to the Fangs, if that portal is indeed open now.”
”May these others pass?” he asked the snake with due courtesy, both aloud and in Attuned speech, motioning to Loren and Adam just to be certain they would be unharmed by it.
Jigano chats (like you didn’t expect that) and asks the snake if Loren and Adam are free to go a-portalling.
The guardian looks weak and frail. A creature of Rae, once powerful and strong, having survived centuries down here alone only to be laid low by the toppling of the Spire and the will of gravity. Still, it uncurled slightly to raise itself up to peer at Jigano, its head hovering nearly 7ft off the ground.
No assssscended. It repeated. Though whether that was meant to be a confirmation to the Sage’s question or simply the aged and broken mind of a long forgotten creature was unknown.
11-08-2019, 04:32 AM (This post was last modified: 11-08-2019, 04:38 AM by Loren.)
there's light at the edge of the darkness
Well. That was a big ass snake. However, it didn’t seem to be in great shape. Indeed, Loren frowned as he took in its weakened state. At Adam’s question, though, the summoner gave the dark-haired man a quizzical look. Why he was asking the Launceleyn, of all people, he couldn’t say. However, before he got a chance to respond, the queen and then the bard were speaking. Actually, it turned out that speaking was all they were doing. That was fine for now, but they probably didn’t want to stick around for long.
Alright, well, there was literally nothing that Loren could do here. It was up to Jigano (for now at least), though the summoner imagined that Wessex would have quite a few strong feelings about the whole ‘no ascended’ thing. So while the summoner stayed quiet as the bard did his thing, Loren prayed to any god that might be listening that they could still avoid a fight.
However, if the snake was actually sentient—the way the white-haired man was speaking indicated it really was—then perhaps they could negotiate with it. Indeed, there could be something that Loren, and Loren alone could do. After all, there might be something it wanted more than denying Wessex and the rest of the Ascended access to the portal. The portal they still needed to confirm was actually working properly. It sured looked impressive enough, being a giant column of light, but that didn't really mean anything to him, since he'd never actually seen a portal before.
So in the interest of keeping the peace a little while longer, and seeing if everyone could get what they wanted here, he did the only thing he could think of. ”Will you accept healing in exchange for safe passage to the portal for the Ascended?” There didn’t seem to be any reason that Loren couldn’t speak to it, if it was capable of understanding speech. Self-preservation was a powerful force, one that might trump even the most sacred of duties.
Loren offers to heal the snake in exchange for safe passage for the Ascended. If it accepts in a way he understands, he will heal it.
It seemed Jigano had some kind of magical snake-talking power (in the back of his mind, Adam remembered Amalia telling him something about Attuned being able to speak to animals, but he hadn't seen it in person until now) so he let the bard take control, watching what was happening with interest.
It seemed they were more going down the line of talking to the snake rather than fighting it. Boring, but less dangerous at least, he supposed. "What did it say?" He asked Jigano regarding his and Loren's passage, leaning forward to look at the snakes untelling eyes.
If Jigano told him it was alright, he'd head on in.
--
Adam will walk forward if Jigano says it's okay.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Oh, Wessex has many strong feelings about what Jigano just said, chief of which that for all the Loreseeking he did, he still doesn’t know how the blight was spread. The Ascended aren’t carriers of the blight in the way that animals carry rabies. They were facilitators. Eyes. They opened pathways. It was a targeted attack with indiscriminate consequences; if they had been carriers, everyone in the damn Grounds would have been infected.
She’s also wondering if the man is there to protect the snake, rather than open the portal to everyone. If so, it would be an egregious, selfish betrayal of Wessex’s call for volunteers. It would be something she could not forgive.
“That’s not how the blight worked,” she murmurs quietly, choosing to remain quiet and in the background at the moment. As Loren asks his question and the snake turns its attention to Jigano, Wessex tries to sneak around behind Loren and Adam and out of the snake’s line of sight - if possible, all the way to the back of the room.
-------------------------
Wessex tries to do a sneak to the back of the room while the snake is occupied with Jigano and Loren.
Jigano tilted his head at Loren as the man made his offer, considering that he had told them already that the snake had refused to abandon its duty to save its life before, when the Spire was collapsing all around them. Still, it wasn't as though it wasn't worth trying again. "It's struggling," he said quietly to the mage. "It had much greater clarity when I was here before. It might need a little help returning to that state, though."
The snake's answer was simple but unambiguous, though, and Jigano nodded to Adam with a wry smile. "'No Ascended' is its only request. It let Roana pass before, so I believe it. If you and Loren want to go on ahead I'll stay here with Wessex and see what we can work out."
He only shrugged at Wessex's comment, slanting a glance at her with a raised brow. "The Voice didn't do anything to help clean up the mess she made, regardless of how she made it, and all the evidence points to the Ascended being used to spread it - without their knowledge, so no, I'm not blaming you. But I am concerned about it happening again someplace else. Given that I nearly died from it once, I hope you can understand why I don't want to risk anyone else, especially people we might otherwise make allies of, finding it racing through their home because the Voice takes a dislike to them... or wants to try and force new converts with a plague that only being Ascended can save you from." It certainly put some of the previous plagues of the Hollowed Grounds into an interesting new light, as he was reading through old histories and journals, but for the moment he just shook his head and stepped towards the snake, hands outstretched.
"I can try and help you think more clearly, if you'll let me," he offered, remembering his talk with Evie in the woods and feeling the warm energy gathering in his palms. If the snake permitted, he would try to heal some of the mental fog that seemed to afflict it.
Jigano gives Adam and Loren the nod that it's safe for them to go ahead and offers to try and clear the snake's mind with healing magic if it accepts.
As Loren spoke, the great beast reared up higher, spreading its jaw wide to reveal pale liquid dripping from its fangs. Where the liquid fell to the floor it burned and hissed like acid. NO ASSSCENDED It roared, accompanied by a hiss that sounded like so much pressure being released from a far too small container.
Ignoring Jigano in lieu of Wessex 's movements, the snake uncoiled itself a single loop, streaking around the opposite side of the well to meet the ascended head on. Lunging out for her the creature's jaws unhinge and then snap closed again, catching on naught but air.
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.
11-08-2019, 03:33 PM (This post was last modified: 11-08-2019, 03:53 PM by Loren.)
there's light at the edge of the darkness
Well, fuck. Apparently it wasn't going to accept the bargain. Guess it was a fight, then. However, it was a fight that Loren really didn’t want to have: the creature was just doing its job, and was willing to let all but Ascended pass. That was only a problem for a few people, and he wasn't one of them. Also, he was very much worried that any fight would ruin their careful work at maintaining the structural integrity of the Spire and bring it toppling down around their heads.
Jigano had said that Adam and Loren were (likely) free to go through the portal. However, Wessex had tried to sneak past and failed. ”Wessex get back!” His voice came out more concerned than as an order. While he might have his disagreements with the queen, he didn’t want her or the snake to die. So he tried to raise an ice wall between the Ascended and the snake. It was the only thing he could think to do to protect her from another attack while not directly attacking the creature itself.
At the same time, he remembered Jigano’s words about the creature’s mind being addled. So, using his newly discovered ability, the Launceleyn sent a bolt of healing magic—it sped out of him in a sky-blue glow—towards the being, in the hopes that it would show that his intentions were not hostile and that it would clear the creature’s mind and allow them to actually negotiate for passage. Again, even now, he was hoping that they could come to a peaceful resolution to the situation.
Loren suggests Wessex retreat and tries to put up an ice wall to protect her from another attack. He also uses his remote healing to try and heal the snake.
Jigano said it was safe, but the snake looked anything but welcoming to any of them. Unable to understand quite what was going on but able to pick up that he and Loren should definitely not cross, he pressed his back up against the door, sure that he didn't have a chance in hell of beating the creature in hand-to-snake-body combat.
Loren did...something magical, but watching it Adam could tell it wasn't offensive, at least. Thinking perhaps they were meant to be being nice for the moment, he prepared a shot in case things got nasty but did not yet fire it, aiming for one of the snake's eyes. As much as he had wanted an epic battle, he had always preferred to not harm if he could, so he was willing to wait and see if the kind approach worked.
At his feet, Coffee bared his teeth, threatening anything that would dare attack his master with a mighty tiny dragon bite.
---
Adam steps as far back to the door as he can, then aims for the snakes eye, but holds his shot for the moment.Coffee prepares to bite the snake if it comes close to attack Adam.
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
This is why she’s chosen not to step down earlier - because without her, the Ascended would be second-class citizens, she would be restricted (again) in her own home. And after growing up in a cage like the barrier, hell would have to freeze over before she willingly lets a couple of Outlanders keep her there longer than necessary.
Wessex reflexively shoots out two biopulses towards the snake as its jaws come near her. Loren’s warning is all well and good, but she really has nowhere ‘back’ to go, having stayed against the wall of the room the entire time. She notes him trying to shoot an ice wall between herself and the snake and quickly (albeit begrudgingly) retreats to the group. Maybe the snake will boop its own snoot against the ice and in its confusion, hurt itself, pokemon style.
-----------------
Wessex shoots two biopulses towards the snake then retreats to rejoin the group at the door.
Ah yes, there was the disaster he had predicted. It appeared that Wessex hadn't intended to let him try to negotiate in good faith after all, instead using him as a diversion to try and sneak around the snake when it hadn't even been half a minute into the attempt to reason with it. Luckily Loren had a cool head on his shoulders and responded with admirable quick thinking - and nonlethal force. Hopefully he could buy the Launceleyn a drink later, but for now he stepped forward hands raised soothingly as he offered the snake some healing of his own.
"Peace, old one. We mean no harm. Please speak with us."
Did he think it would work? Probably not, now that Wessex had provoked the guardian, but since she had deliberately sabotaged his attempts to reach a peaceful accord his last shreds of loyalty to the crown were fast fading.
Jigano heals the snake and asks for another attempt at peaceful negotiation now that Wessex is back away from the portal again.
Healing magic falls upon the creature with or without its consent. Strength returns to its body, as it hisses against the ice wall keeping it from Wessex. Whatever strength was placed back into it was quickly taken by the ascended's bio pulses. With a hiss of fury as its body twitches and its mind rattles in its skull, the queen is easily able to make it back towards the group before the great guardian is able to track her movements once more. Coiling back on itself it rounds the way it came, away from the ice wall, eyes intently focused on Wessex.
No harm? The snake hissed back. There was a gun raised towards it, not that it knew what a gun was, but the aggressive nature of Adam's stance was not lost on the clever creature. Wessex had attacked it, Loren had prevented it from defending itself against her, and still there was an ascended in the portal room.
No harm indeed. NO ascended. The guardian added, its mental voice ringing with an obvious finality.
No more holding your turns! Do things or you might find that there are unexplainable (i.e., the admin is getting irritated with you) consequences!
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.
Fuck this. The rest of them could squabble sort it out amongst themselves. As far as Loren was concerned, he was being a team player while everyone else was dicking amongst themselves; he’d cleared most of the rubble, shored up the walls when it seemed the building would collapse around them, and had done everything he could to prevent a murder. But he was done dealing with this bullshit. Enough was enough.
They had two goals: secure the path and find out if the portal was operational. They’d only partially succeeded in the first one and they were getting really close to failing at the second one. Presumably the offer that anyone but Ascended could pass through the portal still stood. Only one way for Loren to find out.
”Why don’t we find out if the portal actually works before we fight over what to do about the snake.” Or fight the snake. Glancing at the rest of them, he gave them his most calm look and tone. ”Wessex can’t pass without fighting, Jigano needs to stay here to communicate with the snake, and Adam, sorry, I’ve got more of a chance of surviving if there is something hostile on the other side.” All good reasons.
Frankly, though, the summoner didn’t need permission from any of them. And he certainly wasn’t going to ask for their forgiveness when he hadn’t done anything wrong. So he turned, and with Astra at his side, walked towards the portal. He paused just before he hit then light. ”If I don’t come back from this, tell my family that I love them and that I’m sorry I had to go away again.” Then he took the final steps into the column. Time to see if the snake was telling the truth.
And time to see whether this insanity was worth it, or if he was just another dumb Launceleyn walking through a portal to only the gods knew where.
Loren and Astra attempt to walk through the portal.
