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!
i can't believe that you could just say that "the answers unlock this gate"
He turns the figure over and he’s long since passed, frowning lightly to reach for the female figure now — pulling at the figure to pull her over as well and see if she was also gone. Couldn’t hurt to be prepared just in case. But his gaze lifts to Loren at his approach, a hum of a thank you given to the summoner before his steel gaze scans the variety of tunnels they can take.
He glances over to Raza and Melita then, not knowing what the glyphs say, but focusing on which route they choose to follow, or leave like Loren suggested. Though they have made it this far, and a new boat sits just beside them. “Whichever way you two want to go, I’ll go.” Not his party to lead, just here to give back up.
Sunjata flips over the other figure and waits to see what Raza and Melita decide.
'cause if you knew his name, not a thing would change you'd still be wishing you were blessed
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Melita cannot read the glyphs, so her eyes drift towards Sunjata’s maneuvering of the figure, clearly dead from her outlook. She frowned, the possible gaining of any other information gone, and she didn’t have high hopes on the other figure either. So instead, she left the decision of where they’d go to Raza. “What do you think?” There were too many options – and with the tide rising, they might run out of some. She’d agree with whatever Raza came up with; trusting the Torchliner, she knew her way best around these thresholds anyway.
Thereafter, she went towards the boat, in case they required it, intending to grab and drag it over, since the last occupants clearly weren’t going to have need of it.
--
Melita allows Raza to decide where they’re going (and will agree). She then goes to take the boat so they can use it in case Raza opts for a watery tunnel.
I go from tunnel to tunnel and read the glyphs out loud, starting with the first on one side. “The glyphs are underwater here… This one says… ahh, something I can’t read but definitely peril. This one goes to Haulani… this one to the Miana Pool, this one to Kaiholo Port, and this one goes to the Governor’s old house. Guessin’ that one’s a hard no go.” It was probably destroyed with the lava flow.
Heading back to the fifth tunnel, the scorch marks make me wary, especially when I turn to the others and see the corpses’s faces. Talking out loud again, I explain my reasoning. “Between the scorch marks here and the corpses and similar ones next to the ‘it’s awake' warning, I’m guessing there’s something down there. This would be the easiest for make deals from, but...” Shaking my head as if to say I ain't a hero, I go back to the one that says Miana Pool. There’s some red down there which probably means more Lava, but that seems better than the unknown scorch monster.
The smugglers will just have to deal and send some hero-types in to clean the tunnels out more. I ain’t sacrificing myself. “Let’s go to the Miana Pool.”
-------------
The next figure Sunjata turns over is that of a woman. She, too, sports terrible burns, and it seems unlikely she could yet breathe- yet as he moves to let go the figure suddenly grips him tight, staring into his face with haunted, vivid eyes.
And then, before you have a chance to react, she is gone.
Loren's right: the tide is coming in. Already the path you came through is now too deep to comfortably walk back down. Soon the water will cover this small platform you stand on, and fill most of the tunnels to the point of impassibility. And so your options remain, as the summoner has laid them out: continue on and risk what lies ahead, or retreat before the rising water takes away that choice.
Loren cursed under his breath, already reaching for the woman, but it was too late. Instead, he just shifted to help Melita get the boat into the water, which was rising a bit too rapidly for his tastes. "Let's get out of here while we can, in the way we know we can. The tunnels will still be here later, and maybe the tide will take care of whatever monster did this." He didn't sound certain about that last part, but it wasn't his problem.
Jumping into the boat, he focused on his magic. He sent it out to the waters around them, hoping to use it to propel the boat back the way they came and keep it was from any tunnel walls this time.
Loren helps Melita with the boat and gets in. He uses his water magic to try and move it forward and keep it away from any walls.
look at how a single candle can both
defy and define the darkness
i can't believe that you could just say that "the answers unlock this gate"
There’s a moment when he turns the figure over and she moves, gasping for breath and latching onto his tattooed arm. There’s a moment when he stills, gaze narrowing on her as she looks up at him with those haunted eyes and utters words he’s not exactly excited to hear. Reminds him too much of the dragon in Halo, and he swallows hard as he pulls away once she’s gone — heading Loren’s words and doing his best to cover the unease through the attuned bond.
He turns to the boat then, unloading Flametongue into it and stepping in, making room for the rest of them and settling. “Well, we certainly explored.” He rumbles with a bit less mirth than usual, nodding to the group to get out of here.
Sunjata agrees with the retreat and hops in the boat to leave.
'cause if you knew his name, not a thing would change you'd still be wishing you were blessed
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Sunjata, without killing him <3
Sunjata speaks with an Australian accent and has a passive magic that makes him produce a subtle scent that matches exactly to whatever those around him most desire him to smell like.
Their options were sputtering out fast – what was once a probability now seemed hopelessly lost, and as much as she wanted to curse under her breath for the attempt at finding an option, at least they had some. With the lava flow ceased along these corridors, they could always return at another time, when the tides weren’t so rapidly changing, when the circumstances didn’t seem so dire (what was alive?), and they were better prepared for what lurked beneath. For now, they’d succeeded at dredging up different angles, and Melita figured that was the best they could do for the moment. “Let’s go,” hastened in a rush of agreement. No need to sacrifice themselves, or burn apart, like the others nearby (left behind; and she ground her teeth at those notions too).
With a nod towards the rest of her assembled crew, she grabbed hold of her remaining things, ensuring her weapons were still on her back, Fangorn in her arms, getting into the boat, oars shifting into the water, and preparing to traverse back the way they’d come.
--
Melita opts for retreat and gets into the boat, helping to steer and push it forward with the oars back down the way they’d come.
In complete agreement with everyone and knowing that this is a first good step (whatever lay beyond the new tunnel? I think all the way back to their first choice) and can hopefully be re-traced, I conclude with “Yep, let’s go,” I’m on Melita’s heels and as we hop in the boat, I tap the girl on the shoulder. “Can you shoot a fire arrow at them? Send them to Mort properly.” There’s no floating into the Ocean, but the sea will reclaim them as its own one way or another. Fire and water. We live and die by both out here.
On the off chance that things get shitty ahead, I dig into the back and fasten the Cloud Manta choker to my neck. Better safe than sorry.
-------------
Raza gets into the boat and asks Melita to burn the bodies with a fire arrow. She also puts her Cloud Manta choker on in case things get wonky.
The incoming water and Ludo's intervention means the tunnel has cooled significantly, making your escape far easier than your initial entrance. As you leave the caves you will hear a loud rumbling from deep within: a sign that something is alive in there, waiting to be disturbed.
Congratulations, the PQ is complete! As a result of this PQ you found the way into the main area of the cave system (hope you marked it on the way out) and know that something is awake deeper down. Until that's dealt with, the Fingers may not be the safest place for business to be conducted...
