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 information on dragons was actually pretty dang cool. He didn’t know that dragons existed in so many variations, nor that colors would be such a big part of it. It was nice to know that the one they saw seemed to be the largest. Things wouldn’t be too bad, hopefully, in the future. A small part of him wanted to know more about these smaller green dragons. Perhaps they could make a good companion. Oliver was going to ask for more information on these dragons once Jigano had finished before everything went wrong.
There was a crack under his feet and all he could do was give a wide eyed look towards his group before his body fell through the ground, crashing into the ground with a loud thud. The softest of groans left his lips as his eyes shut due to the pain, wincing in response. The pain was just...everywhere. He couldn’t pinpoint one specific location.
The voice of Jigano was faint, but he hoped that the man would come to help him and thank goodness he did. Slowly opening up his eyes, he was greeted with the familiar sight of the white haired man. Either he climbed really fast or he flew down, but Oliver would assume the latter. ”Go for it.” His voice came out quiet and pained, just ready for this pain to leave. Whatever it took to fix his body was fine. ”Are the other two okay?” Kai seemed fine since he was asking questions, but Oliver would wait to answer anything.
Oliver whispers so he doesn’t cause any problems. He also lays still so that Jigano can do his work. He asks Jigano if the twins are okay, choosing to wait to respond to Kai’s questions.
It's a good thing you've brought the bard along, Oliver. Setting the ankle and repairing the shoulder are well within the Sage's magical repertoire and soon you're right as rain.
Behind Oia and Kai, the sprite suddenly appears again. Arms flailing and doing multiple circles in the air, she beckons them over the side of the cliff, pointing to something fair below.
(Once Oliver/Jigano are out of the pit, an easy fly up hopefully) Do you follow the sprite off the side of the mountain, or continue down the path?
You, careful where you're stepping, peer over into the hole as well. You don't exactly trust Oliver to be the most observant, but if there's a cavern down there you certainly want to know about it. Nodding along at Kai's suggestions, you turn as you see the sprite appear again.
"Meraki?" You call out, puzzled, as you don't see the spriggan immediately. Quickly though he appears, flying in duplicate loops to the sprite. "They went up for a while." You say to Kai, pointing at the cliff face. "I think they were having a race." Meraki is young and you don't exactly know how to interpret his mental imagery yet, but you think that's the gist of it.
As the two winged creatures disappear over the side, you glance wide-eyed at Kai. "Now would be a good time to be able to fly." You note, and then glance towards the path. "Should we go?"
Meraki goes with the Sprite. She asks if Kai wants to follow the path.
because when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing
So Jigano can fly, too. This makes the whole giant episode somewhat more confusing, but you write it off as another one of those impractical human choices that you don't fully understand, glancing at Oia with a shrug.
The return of the sprite and Meraki is way more interesting, anyway. You grin at the idea of the two creatures racing, glancing between them: "Didja see anythin' interestin'? Where d'ya want us to go now?" This last one is directed more at the sprite, who seems to oblige your question by... disappearing off a cliff.
Very carefully you peer over the edge, but you probably cannot follow safely without wings, and you'd like to survive to document this trip. "We should ask Dama about flying," you reply to your sister, turning somewhat reluctantly to follow her down the path. "D'ya think they'll fly after 'em?" you ask, clearly meaning Jigano and Oliver. "I hope they do 'cus it'll give us more information, but they seem reluctant to explore very much so far."
Kaimana follows Oia down the path, and sort of suggests Jigano and Oliver follow the sprite.
Jigano was just glad that Oliver's injuries healed as they should, unlike Amalia's. "They're fine," he reassured the young man as he worked. A little tussled and bruised from that tumble we all took when the dragon left, if they're like me, but nothing to worry about." Or at least, he hoped they'd tell him if it was. He went with what he knew at the moment, though, and that was putting Oliver together enough that they could get back up and rejoin their little group.
He had to piece together what had happened while they were in the pit; Kai's vague commentary seemed to indicate that the sprite had changed direction and gone... down?
"If you want to fly to follow it, I can take at least one of you, I think?" he offered, tilting his head in invitation at Oia'i'o. "If you use the rope to fashion a simple harness to hang onto." He moved to a section of the trail that looked sturdy, and far enough away from the others that he couldn't accidentally knock anyone off the side as his size changed, then shifted to dragon form and crouched to allow Oia to use the rope to make something to hang onto, if she wished to take him up on his offer.
Jigano changes to his dragon form and offers Oia a ride to follow the sprite down. He uses Item Shift to bring along his magic items.
The comforting touch of Jigano allows Oliver to relax and soon, the pain has alleviated from his body and he feels good as new. His eyes flutter and he offers Jigano a warm smile before nodding to him in thanks.Sitting back up, Oliver shifts into his bird form and flies on up to join the twins, but as he makes his way up, he sends a message over to Jigano, one that his fileld with appreciation and comfort, love even. Thank you... for everything. For joining him, for healing him, for helping them on their trip. Hopefully nothing else would go wrong. But seeing as this is a PQ+, of course more will go wrong!
Once up to the ground and on stable ground, Oliver shifts back into his human form and turns to the twins who seem more than ready to continue on the path. Jigano did offer an alternative, but Oliver wasn't entirely sure what to go with. So instead, he left it up to those around him. "I cant carry Kai, unfortunately, my shift is too small...but if we find another way to get him down there, we can follow the Sprite if that's what you three think is best." It all depended on what Jigano and the twins wanted to learn. Did they want to continue the path to see what else the mountains held? Or did they want to see why the Sprite wanted them to follow.
Facing the twins, Oliver tilted his head. "Do you know why the Sprite may be calling us? Do they typically have malicious intent? Or are they more....playful. Like they want to show us something exciting or pretty?" It was a genuine question and he seemed curious, hoping that the twins would feed his hunger for knowledge.
Oliver shifts into a bird and flies back up to join the rest! Unfortunately, his shift is too small to carry Kai. He offers the three to choose whether they follow the Sprite, if Kai can find a way down, or to follow the path.
He also asks the twins questions about Sprites! He wants to know if they're malicious or friendly and safe!
Kai on the carpet, Oia on a dragon, and a small bird floating nearby, the group descends. Down about 20ft or so there is a jagged scar taken out of the cliff. It is large enough for dragon!jigano to land, but not continue on through, though there is a definite tunnel.
It certainly appears constructed by something (that is, even the imperfections seem to show the marks of tooling and ingenious minds), but...not overly safe.
Out in the vast whiteness of the mists that swirl and circle this mountain range there is the ferocious roar of a dragon. The same one? A different one? It's hard to know, but it is coming closer.
Do you go into the tunnel, fly somewhere else, go back to the path.
Your mouth drops open as Jigano shifts. For a moment, you merely stare with wide blue eyes. The world drifts away and the danger seems so unimportant. Think of the things you could learn. "Can I study you?" You ask, fidgeting with the rope in your hands. It isn't clear if you mean now, or later, but it seems all that you're interested in.
That is until Kai starts flying as well and reality begins to trickle back in. Reaching out your arms, 物の哀れ leaps to you, and you scramble onto Jigano's back, using the rope as a poorly constructed harness. (Very poorly, let's be honest).
'Obviously." You say with a look towards Oliver, wondering why he felt the need to voice the obvious. "They can be fickle and hard to predict, but they are quite intelligent. If it wanted to trap us, it probably could have done so multiple ways by now." You reply with a casual shrug.
Trying to get a feel for what Meraki sees as you descend, you merely shake your head. "Meraki can't really see...it's all dark. But they went into the tunnel."
Oia says Meraki can't see much in the tunnel, but it's where the Sprite went.
because when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing
The carpet that someone entirely forgot about carries you down easily enough, though you, like your sister, are rather more entranced by the fact that Jigano gas become a dragon. "D'ya have a breath ability? How long can you sustain flight? Are you capable of being a hexaped even when taking other forms?" you ask over the rush of the cold air, a little disappointed that you are not the one on dragon back.
The tunnel looks like an obvious enough choice. The carpet comes to hover about two feet over the floor: "物の哀れ casts enough light to illuminate it, prob'ly. You an' him can ride with me." By you you clearly mean your twin, because the other two can already fly if need be, and because the space beside you is always for Oia, no matter where you are.
Kai rides the carpet into the tunnel. He suggests Aware and Oia ride ahead with him to light the way.
Oh, Jigano was a vain creature and always had been, and he practically glowed under Oia and Kai's interest. He nodded once at Oia's question and at some percentage of Kaimana's questions - it was hard to answer them all at once without being able to talk normally - but they would hopefully have time later. He hadn't tested how many riders he could carry, though, and while he felt comfortable taking Oia's or Kai's slight weight he wasn't sure about both at once. There would hopefully be time for studies and tests later where it wasn't so cold, but for now he focused on getting his one passenger safely down to the sprite's cave.
Shifting back once Oia was safely down, he lifted his lantern and nodded to Kai's eager desire to go ahead. "I can bring up the rear and light our escape if we need to back out in a hurry." He studied the toolmarks on the wall as he spoke, trying to decide how large they were - if they were made by something human-sized, giant-sized, or Fae-sized.
Though at the dragon's roar he hurried forward into the tunnel, taking some solace in knowing that if he couldn't fit into it in dragon form, most other dragons probably couldn't either.
Jigano shifts back to human once Oia is down and lifts Ludo's Lantern to provide light for those in the back. He studies the tool marks to try and figure out if they're made by something bigger or smaller than humans, but hurriedly heads into the tunnel once the dragon roars.
Fluttering down, the woodpecker's wings carried him down along with the others who each seemed to have their own unique way of traveling. Part of him was a bit envious he didn't get to ride down like the twins or that he wasn't as big as Jigano, but it was fine. Landing, he flapped his wings to try and feel steady before shifting back into a human.
There didn't seem to be many options available to them. Fly back up to the path or go into the tunnel. Oliver took a step forward and tried to inspect the inner caverns before jumping at the distant roar of a dragon. With wide eyes, he followed after Jigano, staying very close to him."You two can lead, I'll shift into a cat...I think cats can see in the dark and the ears are much better than mine. That way, I can listen for things." If anything were to happen, he would instantly shift into a different animal, like his bird shift, to try and avoid falling to his doom.
Shifting down into his leopard form, Oliver tried to walk with a careful step, making sure to be very aware of what his limbs and paws were doing. As he journeyed, he tried to listen for anything down the cavern, as well, he looked around for anything out of the ordinary. With a tilt of his head up, he sniffed at the air, once again checking to see if anything shouted out to him.
Oliver shifts into his leopard form! He decides it would be best if he listened for stuff and looked for things, so he is using his intensified hearing and better eyesight to try and search for something. As well, he sniffs the air occasionally.
He be inspecting.
The tunnel that you're in requires Jigano to stoop ever so slightly, the walls nearly twice as wide as the height (strange, no?). The footing beneath you seems as if once it was levelled, intentionally so, though the tooling remnants that you do see don't remind you of anything you recognize.
Ahead the sprite dips and dances, swirling in place until—
—ThwAPP. An arrow pierces through its body, affixing it to the cavern wall. "Got it!" Someone cries. Voices at the end of the cavern given a muffled response, indicating that they're still a good few hundred feet away.
A man, monkish in appearance given the robes draped over his shoulders, weakly pulls the arrow from the body of the Sprite, having not caught sight of any of you yet.
You will always opt to be with Kai, given the choice. Even when there's not a choice, it's still usually what you choose. He is your home. Your safety. You clamber up (it's awkward, given that it's a carpet), but Aware remains on the ground after sniffing skeptically at the frayed edges of the carpet. You shrug, not caring one way or another, and wait for Kai to proceed. Aware trots forward, the light from his antlers casting a warm glow down the tunnel. "Imagine if this was constructed by a caterpillar that ate stone the way that standard caterpillars eat leaves and such. This hole could be its progression through the earth and after laying dormant, it causes avalanches when it finally emerges." Though it might seem strange to some given what they know about you, you love creating origin stories and myths. Kai is obviously far superior at it given his much broader imagination, but you like to play along when you can.
"And so when you see—" —ThWAPP. The words stop in your throat as you watch the life drain from the Sprite. You look to the hooded figure and then to Kai, mouthing a single word: cultist.
because when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing
You find Oia's theories delightful, listening with rapt attention as the carpet carries you both forward. "After lyin' dormant in its cocoon," you agree, nodding your head eagerly. You want to hear the rest of the story, to lie on this carpet and craft creation myths for hours, to forget about the other people who are very much less interesting (Jigano didn't answer even one of your questions)-
Instead, though, you watch an arrow cleanly strike the sprite, and your eyes grow wide and you mouth to Oia at the same time she mouths to you. Cultists.
Compelling the carpet to a halt, you turn back to Oliver and Jigano and mouth the same word to them. They can decide what they want to do about this - some people inherently dislike cultists, and some people don't mind. Personally you're always interested in learning about cults, especially if it isn't a cult of the shoot first educate later variety.
Kai tries to tell Oliver and Jigano about the cultists, and stops the carpet until they decide what to do
