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!
03-17-2020, 10:01 PM (This post was last modified: 03-17-2020, 10:06 PM by Wessex.)
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Feeling Maea’s telekinesis work, Wessex smiles and continues to focus until all the birds are gone.
The Wraith does not concern herself with whatever it is Delphia is doing (as far as she’s concerned, the girl is useless, a waste of space on the boat, and she won’t babysit either). But as Ronin leaps into action and calls the others on the ship to join him, she hesitates. Turning to the crew, Wessex says “Go around the whales, there’s no point you all engaging them too.” No point in all of them dying, which the sailors can hopefully appreciate.
Surmising that, like any animal, the Whale is vulnerable at its neck/head joint and it probably can’t wrench her off as easily, given its size and lack of dexterity, Wessex decides the area just at the base of Whale #3’s skull is the area she’s going to aim for. Unsheathing her talons beforehand, she waits till Ronin throws his axe before teleporting to the whale, attempting to sit herself on the spine directly behind its head (wrapping her legs around its vertebrae to hold on), then shoving one set of talons into the base of its skull
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Wessex tells the ship to go around the whales, then follows Ronin. After he throws the axe, she teleports to try and land on whale #3's spine, just behind the head, and then shove her talons into the base of its skull.
Maea had expected a storm of objections to her suggestion, and was honestly surprised to hear none. Even more so when Wessex actually came to help, and this anomaly was overwhelming enough that she didn't even question how the woman had acquired the same kind of magic - and level of skill with it - as Maea had. It could be a conversation for a later time. It was very satisfying to carry out the plan without a hitch, and under different circumstances she would have let herself celebrate, perhaps even gloat a bit over doing something right for once. But this was only the beginning, as Ronin's shout suggested before he too departed. Soon followed by Wessex, after the woman gave orders to the sailors.
Maea found herself faced with three choices. Either she could stay on the ship with Delphia, go to aid Ronin and Wessex in their struggle with the Ghost Whale, or she could ignore the Dark Star and set off after Remi, to help with the wreck and the drowning sailors. There was only a moment to consider, and Maea made her decision quickly.
"Stay on the ship, and give a shout if you need any help," she said to Delphia. Then she headed for the railing, and made sure her Cloud Manta crystal was sitting properly against the throat before she leaped overboard and let the waters swallow her. Able to breathe easy under the water, unbothered by the cold, Maea used her water magic to propell her quickly towards Remi, he was faced with two whales and the drowning sailors all on his own. Those weren't odds she wished on anyone; so she casually disregarded Ronin's orders and went to help the alchemist anyway.
Once she deemed herself close enough for her magic to reach, Maea focused on the sailors that had fallen into the water. Remi was by one of them, she could see from her position beneath the waves - he was doing something, a tail-like appendage extending from him towards the drowning person, though she couldn't see what he was doing - but the other two were unaided. Maea sought to make a block of ice that would rise up beneath them, to give them something to hold on to.
She brought herself up to the surface not far from Remi, gasping as her lungs struggled with the transition from water to air. "Are they alive? What can I do?" she asked, slightly out of breath from exertion and pumping adrenaline.
---------
Maea leaves the ship and uses a Cloud Manta crystal to breathe under water as she makes her way towards Remi.
She tried to save Sailor #1 and #2 from drowning by making an ice block rise up beneath them, to keep them out of the water.
She then asks Remi if the sailor #3 is alive, and what she can do to help.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Delphia watched in silence as the souls rose and danced, gently tapping at Tishy's paws as the kitten tried to bat at them. Steely eyes went down to the water, gazing at the circling and attacking whales curiously. Such interesting creatures, a near perfect compliment to the star whales, held in perfect yet distinct harmony. But of course, she could not simply stare at them. The tug of souls preparing to depart their mortal cloaks tugged at her senses, and soon her eyes turned to the other ship.
Maea told her to stay aboard, but she had no intention of doing so. "Get ready, Tish." she said softly to her companion, who quickly hid herself beneath her shirt. Simultaneously, the two drifted into the spirit realm and fell to the sea. Unlike Maea, the water now presented to barrier to the duo and they could run unimpeded across it's surface until she too stood amongst the wreckage. Glancing over the sailors, her eyes fell to the third as she came to a halt near Remi. She didn't need to ask about is state, nor did she reenter the corporeal realm to ask. She would wait, and claim the soul when Remi finished his task.
Delphia and Tishy become spoop ghosts to easily travel across the water to the wreckage, and wait on standby to take the soul of sailor #3.
03-18-2020, 03:46 PM (This post was last modified: 03-18-2020, 03:49 PM by Odd.)
The drowning man affixes himself to Remi as only the truly lost and wounded can. His eyes begin to slip shut, pleased that rescue is on the way, deferring his strength into the arms of the manticore-turned-man come to save him. He hardly felt the splice of pain against him, and quickly the world fades to a calm black, and then to nothing at all. Delphia will be able to see his soul begin to hum above his body, wavering uncertainly there. Whale 1 devours Sailor 2, leaving him to drown within its rib cage, before eyeing Remi and the now-dead Sailor 3.
Ronin 's aim is true, as we've all come to expect. The axe wumps with a satisfying lack of echo into the skull of the whale, before dislodging and magically returning to the Dark Star's grip. The whale snarls if such a thing is possible from a mouth without any sinew or flesh, and it readies itself to lunge towards Ronin. It is about this time that Wessex appears on the whale's back—not something it expected at all—and as her claws strike deep into its skull, it begins to thrash wildly. Diving below the surface with an aim to force its attacker off or drown it (bad judgement on both accounts, whale), to begin to roll and twist beneath the waves to rid itself of Wessex. Heading towards a jet of coral, the whale will try and scrape the demi-goddess off of its neck.
All of this of course has drawn the attention of Whale 2. Seeing and sensing the jet of water Maea uses to propel herself, the great creature heads her off before she might lend her assistance to anyone else. And, of course, it swallows her whole. Down she goes, held within the great creature by bones and magical undead-flesh that keeps her within the prison of its body.
As Delphia makes her way across the water, invisible to all save for Sailor 3, and the ghost whales as it turns out, the man turns with stunned eyes towards her. What? He asks, clearly confused, his body bleeding in and out of focus as he fights to keep himself from bursting apart. His soul needs to be collected quickly, lest he be scattered here forever.
No posting order.
Whale 1: 100% HP
Whale 2: 100% HP
Whale 3: 32% HP
Sinking Sailor 1: 50%
Sinking Sailor 2: 60% - now drowning in the belly of Whale 1
Sinking Sailor 3: 0%
03-18-2020, 03:46 PM (This post was last modified: 03-18-2020, 03:47 PM by Remi.)
it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name
'Rest easy. Sweet dreams.' The alchemist murmurs with shocking sweetness against the limp body, unable to see the soul of the sailor gliding above him. There isn't time to delay, and so Remi swims away from Sailor 3, leaving him to slowly drift down into the sea. Swimming towards Sailor 1, still spluttering and swimming about with frantic screams about the ghost whales, Remi calls out to him. "Stay still! The more you move, the more they'll notice you." Wanting to take his own advice, the alchemist shifts to an octopus to better maneuver through the wreckage, hoping the sight of another sea creature won't draw the attention of the whales quite the same way that a man would.
If he's able to reach Sailor 1, he'll shift back into a man and extend his hands for support. A glance over his shoulder tells him that the boat isn't near enough. Not so near as the whales are. Turning back towards the man with a smile, Remi will try and draw him near, to end him just as he did with Sailor 3.
it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Delphia pays little attention to the chaos around her. If people died, they died. Such was the way of the world. Instead, she focused on the souls, which she knew were in danger of being lost in the wreckage. Even now, Sailor #3 was being pulled, confused by the suddenness of his own demise. She smiled at him warmly, prettily almost, knowing a lonely sailor might well be comforted by the sight of a pretty lady's smile. "Be at peace, it is time to go home to Mort. So special are you he sent his own daughter to fetch you and bring you to him." she said lovingly , words likely heard only by him. She reached out a hand, already using her powers to safely wrap up his soul to be sent to her father's realm.
Delphia tries to calm Sailor 3's soul and use her Spiritual Guide powers to collect and send him to Mort.
Honestly, whatever was happening beyond the debris of the boat was lost on Ronin. With Wessex along for the ride (literally, thanks whale), it seemed the two of them were doing this particular round of hunting all by themselves. It suited him, and he flew a little lower that he might see the whale try to rid itself of the Ascended. Readying his axe again, the Dark Star summoned as well a couple of starbolts.
These he fired at the water, hoping to bring the whale back up. If it attempted to surface he would take another shot with his axe.
Ronin fires starbolts into the water to try and get the whale’s attention. If it comes towards the surface, he will once again throw his axe at its skull.
03-18-2020, 04:34 PM (This post was last modified: 03-18-2020, 05:08 PM by Wessex.)
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Yeefuckinhaw, pardners! It’s a regular rodeo out here today!
Wessex grins savagely as she elicits a response from the whale, holding on as tightly (like a fucking monkey clinging for its life to a tree waving in the wind) as she can when the beast begins to thrash. There’s no time to tell Ronin to stay away as the two of them dip down beneath the surface of the water, so she can only hope that her fellow demigod is outside a twenty foot radius, else he might be fish bait.
Alas, communication is not, and never will be, their particular forte.
Hopefully able to keep her eyes open in the salty water, the Wraith is aware of enough to make assumptions about where the whale is heading and that Ronin is still at the surface. Knowing what hes capable of, she decides to take a gamble.Something has to animate the creature, right? It isn’t mechanical. Letting loose a biopulse, which will hopefully stun it or stall the creature’s headlong rush towards the coral (as the pulse is stronger when she's right up against it), allowing Ronin’s starbolts to hit it, while she’s out of the way.
--------------------------
Wessex rides the whale underwater and delivers a biopulse to stun it so Ronin's starbolts can finish it off.
That didn't go as planned, now did it. In her hurry to help the drowning, and to reach Remi, Maea completely forgot to keep an eye on her suroundings, and the Ghost Whale was upon her before she even realized it was there. Classic rookie mistake. Good thing it wasn't the kind of whale that chewed its food, or she would have been a goner.
Being swallowed up was not exactly on her list of preferred experiences, but Maea had to admit it was interesting. As she had the Cloud Manta crystal she wasn't in immediate risk of drowning, but she couldn't really help anyone from in here either. It was eerie, seeing the bony ribcage and the rotting, undead tissue surround her, and even more so to see the drifting bodies of animals and people less fortunate than herself.
"This is a bit inconvenient," she muttered to herself in a streama of bubbles, and looked around. Searching for ideas, clues on what to do. Panic was strangely absent, with grim amusement ruling her senses. Now where had she heard of someone being swallowed whole, and what did they do next...?
Ah. Sunjata. The mud monster. That gave her an idea.
Maea made her way as close to the head of the whale as she could. Gathering up her magic, she tried to make thick spears of ice erupt from the water around her, aiming them towards the skull of the giant beast.
If she couldn't get out, perhaps killing it from within might work.
-----‐-----
Maea tries to spear the head of Whale #2 with ice from the inside.
Light is easy to love Show me your darkness
BASE INSPIRED BY ODD <3
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Oh, I'm dead? The sailor looks around, his head tilted to indicate his concern, before looking back to Delphia. My m'am will kill me for this. He half-chuckles, before reaching out for the demi-goddess. As he does, his soul swirls away, swallowed up into a warm wind only Delphia will be able to feel.
Whale 1 is extremely interested in the thrashing sailor and man-octopus-man, and thanks to a critical success on the part of the whale, it is easily able to swallow up both Remi and Sailor 1. Sailor 1 does indeed die, her spirit wavering uncertainly in the belly of the whale as both she and Remi are unceremoniously jostled down into the ribcage of the beast, where Sailor 2 is very nearly unconscious.
The sound of bone against coral is all the whale longs to hear, until light bursts around it. And not just any sort of light, but starlight. Something about that is maddening to this ghostly creature, making the urge to scrape Wessex off like some barnacle all the stronger. Her bio pulse, however, makes this impossible. Not as effective as it is on things with a respiratory system and such to disrupt, still it stuns the creature's movements leaving it floating a touch uselessly. Without oxygen inside of it, there is nothing to make the creature buoyant enough to rise to the surface where Ronin is waiting.
Feeling Maea moving inside of it, Whale 2 begins to thrash as well. Normally its meals die quite quickly from a lack of oxygen, but this one seems bent on—OW!—a shard of ice spikes upwards into the not-flesh of its skull. Given that it's magic that animates the creature there is no brain to skewer, but still, the whale seems hurt by this. And extremely annoyed. Twisting and snaking through the water, the whale tries to know Maea unconscious by ricocheting her against the bones of its body. It succeeds in knocking her about several times, meaning to continue this tactic until it feels her stop moving.
No posting order.
Whale 1: 100% HP
Whale 2: 90% HP
Whale 3: 10% HP
Sinking Sailor 1: 0% - Spirit in the belly of Whale 1
Sinking Sailor 2: 60% - now drowning in the belly of Whale 1
Sinking Sailor 3: 0% - Spirit taken by Delphia
it was me who wrote onto the wooden door your name
The woman settles and her world grows dark as poison overloads her system. Though...Remi hadn't expected his world to grow dark as well. Fuck sake. He thought towards Ronin as the whale swallowed them both whole. Using the (now) dead sailor as a sort of cushion (she wouldn't mind now, surely), the alchemist was gulped down into the belly of the whale. On the way down however he was thrust into some bone or another, nearly dislocating his shoulder and knocking the wind from his lungs. That hardly mattered though, at least until his body automatically tried to suck in a breath and found only saltwater flowing over his lips.
Forcing himself to remain as calm as he could (despite the unhelpful warble of panic flaring through his adrenal glands), Remi shifted into his octopus form that he might not drown as his captor intended. Why didn't I think to bring anything explosive? The alchemist asked rhetorically, having no idea whether or not Ronin was close enough to hear him.
Floating about within the whale, Remi took stock of his surroundings. Though the ribs seemed far enough apart to let him pass, anytime he neared ghostly undead flesh blocked his way. Pulling in a deep breath, Remi shifted again to become a manticore. He flailed unsteadily, wings beating to try and steady him in the water, and tried to repeatedly sting the whale from within, hoping that his poison might have some effect.
it'll last there longer than in this body i can stay
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
The whale didn't surface. In fact, the ghostly white of the bones he had been attempting to track didn't seem to be moving at all, and Ronin got the impression he had Wessex to thank for that. So, hoping that the Ascended might get the hell out of the way, the Dark Star conjured another bolt of light, aiming this one right down and into the water, hoping to hit the large creature's skull a second time.
Then, of course, his husband's voice echoed in his head, and he hissed out a curse. "You got swallowed up by a whale, didn't you," he muttered, and he was already changing course to sail away and investigate what had happened. He couldn't, of course, see Remi through the bones, and he watched the water carefully. "Where are you?" he asked, hoping his husband would take the hint to... y'know... do something flashy.
Ronin fires a starbolt at Whale 3, and then tries to find Remi!
03-18-2020, 06:58 PM (This post was last modified: 03-18-2020, 06:58 PM by Wessex.)
dont know where the lights are taking us but something in the night is dangerous
Utterly oblivious to everything else except the Whale that is now floating somewhat uselessly, Wessex's immediate response is to continue her attack, but there's someone she can't communicate with up above and - ugh. Fucking starbolts - both the bane and joy of her existence, depending on the situation. She pauses to see if any attack will come from above. If it does, and seems successful, the Wraith will teleport back to the ship. If it misses or is otherwise unsuccessful, Wessex will swim as fast as she can towards the whale and tries to latch herself onto the spine again, sliding her talons in amongst the vertebrae (or... you know, anywhere).
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Wessex does a second biopulse to hold the whale steady and to see if Ronin will attack. If his is successful, she teleports back to the ship. If his attack isn't, she stays to do a stabby-stab with her talons again.
"Only a mother can kill someone after they've already died." Delphia joked. But with his soul safely tucked away, her mind was drawn to the other two. Tishy poked her head up, shadows pulsing as she watched Whale two swim about. The demigoddess followed the kitten's gaze, able to see the pulse of the soul within. This would be a bit more tricky. She reached out a hand to better direct the pull of her magic, summoning the spirit to her from within the ghost whale. "Come to me, sweetling. Mort calls for you." she called to the soul of the dead Sailor #2.
Delphia uses her spirit guide magic to try and call the soul of the dead Sailor 2 out from the ghost whale.
