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!
Storm clouds are more than just air, my sitting ducks. And it's a rather good visual for how molecules and cells and even smaller things work as well: the storm looks quite solid, but once you're in, you realize that there is a good amount of empty space in what initially appeared dense and thick.
That is until lightning strikes and nearly kills you.
Wessex and Deimos succeed in blowing a bit of the low-laying clouds away, but the magic has little effect other than that. Now some lightning magic...that would have come in handy.
As Bastien hops on his board, he is shrouded in a bubble of near-black. If he's trying to avoid making himself a target he's failed spectacularly, as a lightless sphere that hovers off the ground is quite the thing to see. Good thing Amalia is looking out for him.
As Amalia reaches out for the minds of the rabbits, she will feel a flurry of chaos in their small brains. There is very little sentience here, but what she does make out is nothing short of adrenaline-fueled joy. The rabbits are enjoying all of this. She does sense that it is pure instinct that they rely on to avoid the lightning.
The rabbits near Deimos and Wessex suddenly vanish, and a second later lightning sizzles from the skies. The Sword is able to throw himself back to avoid it. Loki's teeth on Wessex's arm signals that she should move as well, and with a quick use of her upgrade, the demigoddess avoids the lightning as well. Bastien is..both lucky, and not. Lightning strikes his darkened sphere, though thanks to Amalia's shielding the artist suffers no ill-effects, though the shielding does disappear rather early in this adventure. Amalia is able to dodge the lightning strike that shoots down shockingly close to her.
No harm done right? You all definitely want to keep going forward, right?
Ahead in the choke of the storms you see...
...strange equine shapes. Some appear to look just like Zuriel, others have spikes (horns?) radiating from their spines, tails that split into three, or strange tusks coming from their noses and mouths. They scream loudly, bucking (fleeing?). Lightning thrashes around them, striking their nimble bodies and bringing one to its knees.
Your randomly chosen order is: Deimos, Wessex, Bastien, Amalia. Please post within 48 hours of the person before you. And to ensure that nothing is missed, please include a summary of your actions at the bottom of your post, including the description of any magic/items/feats that are being utilized!
Well, that could’ve gone better. In terms of strikes and misses, they all appeared to be fine, but there’d been too many close calls. He sought for his voice to rumble over the careening storm, the wild chaos around them. “You let me know when you want to head back.” When it was too dangerous, too seething, too powerful, too lethal –
Because he wanted to stay. Because he wanted to prove that not everything he attempted was a monumental failure.
“I am going to make a lightning rod,” an announcement, a proclamation, and a warning. With any luck, and given his recent experience with the latter (and no Sunjata to pawn an assault upon), it could go either way. He didn’t want to risk any of them, while he sought out a way to circumvent the lightning. “Get out of its range.”
So he molded mastered Earth and Creation, sculpting it from a distance, no longer pooling the contorted fragments into his hands. He sought to create a looming towering structure a fair number of yards off, to allow it to stand and become a beacon, a distraction, while they hopefully forged on ahead. The horses were a distant thing to him now – the lightning a precedent.
Then he scrambled forwards, intending to snag and grab at Zuriel, at Amalia, at anyone who was near, so they had a higher chance of evasion from the potentially unwinding abyss.
--
Deimos attempts to create a massive lightning rod to attract the lightning, and away from the group, using Mastered Earth and Creation magic, a fair distance away from them. He attempts to grab at Zuriel and Amalia or anyone else nearby, scrambling forward to get out of its range.
Base Creation: When combined with Mastered Air, Mastered Earth, Mastered Water, and Mastered fire, can create 2 magical items per season (with admin approval). Without mastering the four elements, can create well-made complex machines, and an unlimited number of regular items per thread limited by endurance stat. Small items last their natural lifespan. Medium and large items degrade after a season. Complex machines (a telescope, music box, etc) must be created with the knowledge of the character (i.e., cannot create a machine you don't understand/wouldn't be able to build with relevant tools)
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
Earth Manipulation: Can create and control the earth. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls.
- until you had blood glistening on your teeth
- until your suffering paled in comparison to their own
- until you learned to enjoy the sounds of screams
she tied you to her kitchen chair she broke your throne and she cut your hair
Wessex, too, wants to stay. She wants to see what lies at the heart of the storms - these strange creatures she can just barely make out - unicorns? More than that?
Stepping away from Deimos while he makes the thing he’s making, she fingers the crystal in her cloak, knowing Ru’s lightning magic is in there. An idea comes to her suddenly, though it’s not the one she first had. If they’re tall, and they need that thing to be taller then them - maybe they should be at ground level? Or below it? Putting Deimos at the edge of her magic radius, she faces towards the heart of the storm and begins to move the earth, trying to create a five and a half foot deep bowl with sloping sides, its radius stretching thirty feet away, in the opposite direction of the lightning rod.
“Good, Loki. Keep at it.” she says to the watch-dragon, then yells to the rest of the group, if she’s successful in her basin-digging, “Slide down here!”
---------------------
Loki keeps on keeping watch for Wessex, while Wessex uses Deimos’s Earth Manipulation to dig a 5.5 foot deep, 30 ft wide sloping basin for them to shelter in.
Magic: Magic Re-Resonance | When abandoned magic is cast within 10ft of Wessex, she can duplicate the ability at its upgraded level once.
Type: Grey | Rank: Upgraded
08-26-2020, 08:24 PM (This post was last modified: 08-26-2020, 10:14 PM by Bastien.)
BASTIEN
It was hard, in the midst of all the chaos surrounding them, to know what was the right thing to do: moments after he had deployed his sphere, Bastien wondered quite why he had done it; after all, a storm was not a foe 'aiming' for them in the true sense. Not knowing that Amalia had looked out for him, when the lightning struck he braced himself (though he wasn't sure what effect it would have on an Ascended) -- and then was quite bemused when little seemed to happen.
Deimos asked if they wanted to leave and he shook his head, turning off the sphere to bring himself back to visibility again but staying on the hoverboard to make any quick movements. As the lightning rod and pit were made he stayed back, knowing he didn't have much useful expertise here; as soon as Wessex made the ditch he rode over to it as quickly as he could, getting low.
Bastien would try to peek over the top, to look at the shadows of apparent horses: were they real? Did they seem to be a threat, or stuck in the storm the same as them?
--
Bastien gets into Wessex's ditch then looks closer at the horses.
Regional Ability:
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls
You always let me down so tenderly So live fast and die young and stay forever numb
She can sense it as the barrier breaks, its one use swallowed up protecting Bastien. "I can't protect you again," she calls, but the Ascended has already returned to the group.
She knows too little about lightning to comment on the rod, but she trusts Deimos' planning enough to go along. Though the sight of the distant horses does cause her to hesitate, her natural empathy reaching out for them as the lightning continues to surge. Mentally she again calls out, trying to see if they need help or if, like the rabbits, they're moving with the storm. She asks too what lies beyond, trying to determine if it's worth continuing or if they should go back.
She doesn't go out for the animals yet, instead retreating with the rest, but her body shifts into snow leopard form in preparation should she need to rush to their aid.
Amalia uses beastspeaker to see if the horses are hurt or if they're also part of the storm, and to ask what lies beyond. She shifts to snow leopard form and hunkers down.
Beast Speaker | Can speak to rare creatures/companions/regular animals. Requires permission to "speak" on behalf of someone's companion. Regular animals speak in varying levels of coherence.
During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops.nkers down with the others.
we drink the poison our mind pours for us and wonder why we feel so sick
08-27-2020, 03:44 PM (This post was last modified: 08-27-2020, 03:49 PM by Random Event.)
How far is 30ft? Well that all depends. It's far if you're a snail. It isn't that far if you're superheated air which has been focused into one specific spot, dissipating outwards at an incredible speed.
Deimos ' earthen pillar is struck almost instantly as it is erected. The lightning is happy to take the path of least resistance, but the energy from such a monumental storm is far more than the earthen spire can handle. Pure earth that Deimos has made is a poor conductor of electricity, and as such the electrical current cannot flow easily down as it might have done through water or metal. This causes it to heat. And heat. And heat, until the earth is all but solidified into stone, radiating temperatures that would cause significant burns to any close by.
And so it is we come to realize that 30ft is not that large. Wessex however has lowered the group down, which helps save them from the worst of the hot air. But at only 5.5ft deep all remain at least partially exposed (Bastien even more so, who is peeking out to try and investigate the shapes dancing (flailing?) in the storm).
Amalia is able to feel panic coming from the minds of the unicorns. Trapped! They call back to her. We were lost in the storm and can't find our way back! Lightning compounds around them, snarling and striking. They swiftly try to avoid it, but large as they are and with horns on their heads, it is clear that they have been and will continue to be struck by the lightning.
Deimos' lightning rod doesn't work quite as well as he might want, but for now it isn't providing a path for the lightning. It won't hold another round, however.
Your randomly chosen order is: Deimos, Wessex, Bastien, Amalia. Please post within 48 hours of the person before you. And to ensure that nothing is missed, please include a summary of your actions at the bottom of your post, including the description of any magic/items/feats that are being utilized!
Well, no one should’ve been surprised, given Deimos’ track record with lightning rods.
The singe of burns crawled and seared over his skin, and he grumbled under his breath, ignoring the pain in pursuit of negating the issue. Utilizing Mastered Air manipulation, he attempted to push the hot, molten air away, while striving to resume reforming the rod.
He’d somehow missed the vital portions of metal, either in his haste to assure no one was injured or to get the streaks of disaster away from them, so with a deep sigh, he plunged once more into his incantations. The beast intended to dig into the foundations of mastered Fire, Earth, and Creation, attempting to reinforce the structure with metal proportions, still from a distance, down in their makeshift hole.
He could hear Amalia through the Attuned bond too, the unicorns just as lost as the rest of them, and his eyes went to Zuriel, then to Wessex. “Can you start forming a tunnel using my Earth magic?” Maybe Amalia could too, given the enchantments already stored in her shield. Forwards, to continue on their journey, to get the animals back home and themselves into whatever laid beyond.
Meanwhile, Zuriel attempted to communicate with the rest of her kin, intending to persuade them to follow – wherever that happened to be.
--
Deimos attempts to use Mastered Air manipulation to push the hot air away.
He also attempts to restructure the lightning rod using Mastered Fire, Earth, and Creation magic to reinforce it with metal.
He asks Wessex to start making a tunnel forwards.
Zuriel tries to encourage the unicorns to come with them.
Fire Manipulation: Can create and control flames. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
Air manipulation: Can create and control the air. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Base Creation: When combined with Mastered Air, Mastered Earth, Mastered Water, and Mastered fire, can create 2 magical items per season (with admin approval). Without mastering the four elements, can create well-made complex machines, and an unlimited number of regular items per thread limited by endurance stat. Small items last their natural lifespan. Medium and large items degrade after a season. Complex machines (a telescope, music box, etc) must be created with the knowledge of the character (i.e., cannot create a machine you don't understand/wouldn't be able to build with relevant tools)
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
Earth Manipulation: Can create and control the earth. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls.
- until you had blood glistening on your teeth
- until your suffering paled in comparison to their own
- until you learned to enjoy the sounds of screams
she tied you to her kitchen chair she broke your throne and she cut your hair
Deimos and her seem to be on the same page regarding moving forward, so she agrees with a simple, “Yep,” and squats down at the edge of her magic radius, keeping herself low and (hopefully) out of whatever danger is still above them.
Seizing upon the Sword’s mastered Earth Manipulation, the Wraith focuses on a tunnel that would take them further into the storm. She tries to pack the earth up tightly and shore up the walls, tries to make it big enough for Deimos to stand upright and for two Zuriels, side by side. She pushes forward with it as far as she can go, trying to gauge the distance between them and the trapped unicorns and when she can create an opening on top.
Casting a glance to Amalia, she asks, “Can you take it all the way to them? I can’t move until Deimos does.” One of the downfalls of her re-resonance, that darn radius.
-----------------------
Wessex uses her Magic Re-Resonance with Deimos’s Earth Manipulation to create a tunnel to the unicorns and asks Amalia (if she hasn't already reached them) to continue to burrow towards them.
Magic: Magic Re-Resonance | When abandoned magic is cast within 10ft of Wessex, she can duplicate the ability at its upgraded level once.
Type: Grey | Rank: Upgraded
Well, he's glad he can't feel pain, but realising he was very, very hot indeed, Bastien admittedly had a moment of panic; dipping his head immediately down, he cannot quieten down the thoughts in his head that he probably should not have come on his, when he had young Azrael at home...deciding to just do whatever would keep him safest and able to go home for now, he tried to watch what Deimos and Wessex were doing.
"I apologise for my relative lack of ability." Bastien mumbled mostly to himself, following down into the tunnel as it was dug out; wishing he'd brought the light ring to illuminate the space for Amalia, so he could at least feel like he was doing something useful. "Amalia, can you see?" He asked, holding out a hand for her to grab and follow with if she could not.
---
Bastien goes down into the tunnel to follow it as it's being made and offers Ama his hand if she can't see in the dark.
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls.
You always let me down so tenderly So live fast and die young and stay forever numb
She can feel the distress of the unicorns pounding through her bond, making her ache for them more than she already does. We're coming to help you! We'll guide you out! Amalia calls. Jyoti, too, senses their pain, swimming low and close to the ground to try and reach them, calm them with starlight. Keep your heads down- your horns especially.
Shifting back to human form, Amalia once again extracts her shield. As much as she wants to leap forward through the storm and round up the creatures, but she needs to stay with her allies. Trusting Jyoti to guide her, she takes Bastien's hand and enters the tunnels, using Deimos' earth magic to try and carve the rest of the way to the equids.
Amalia tells the unicorns to keep their heads down. She uses the earth magic from her shield to finish Wessex's tunnel.
Jyoti swims close to the ground and tries to soothe the unicorns with stardust. She will guide Amalia in tunnel formation so it opens back up at the unicorns.
Earth Manipulation: Can create and control the earth. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls.
we drink the poison our mind pours for us and wonder why we feel so sick
It's a lot for Deimos 's mind to do: blowing away the hot air and trying to manipulate the world around him at the same time, but he manages. A spear of metal rises through the hardened stone allowing the lightning to breeze through. The air temperature is still oppressively hot, but at least you aren't being scalded anymore.
Wessex is able to increase the tunnel by about 20ft once she has dug them down a bit lower so that all can comfortably stand. As Amalia adds on the tunnel is increased another 30ft. Though as there is no attention given to ensuring that any structural integrity is maintained, the tunnel begins to collapse. (insert Deimos rolling not one, but TWO natural 100's). Deimos is about to be separated from the group by the collapse of the tunnel, but the Sword has grown up around mountains and rockfalls. He knows well the sound that rock makes just when it's about to burst, and he's more than prepared. With dexterity and magical stamina worthy of any god, the Sword shoots metal tendrils from his fingertips that sink into the tunnel as if creating a mesh all the way around. Not a feat he'll be able to readily reproduce (read: he can't make a metal tube for them all to walk through), you all have Deimos' quick thinking to thank.
Meanwhile on the surface, the unicorns still twist and turn with confusion. Farther away than perhaps you'd expected due to the storm giving you little context for distance, the unicorns were originally about 100ft from your original position, making them about 50ft away still. Joyti is fast, but not that fast, especially as she has to dodge lightning as she goes. Luckily she's evaded it so far.
Your randomly chosen order is: Deimos, Wessex, Bastien, Amalia. Please post within 48 hours of the person before you. And to ensure that nothing is missed, please include a summary of your actions at the bottom of your post, including the description of any magic/items/feats that are being utilized!
By some amount of grace, fortune, and skill; they managed to contort and coil the fathoms to a certain extent. He swallowed against the apprehension that had risen in his throat, at the muscle memory that saved and exalted, and eased a breath as he fought along the world, the void, once more.
The Sword ventured forward, at the front of the group again, aiming to establish a working rhythm and pattern to the onslaughts reaching forth. With the lightning rod installed, he had little to worry on that front, and more upon the tunnel itself. Utilizing his earthen proportions, the monolith continued striving towards extending the tunnel, maneuvering rock and rubble and loam, while maintaining the established metal mesh (Creation and Fire and Earth, all working simultaneously), intending for the structure to hold out for as long as they required it.
Amalia would likely find some of the earthen wares branching off towards her shield again too, to store and use as needed.
Meanwhile, Zuriel could only glance up and towards her fellow brethren, whinnying, nickering, continuing to send out vocal encouragement, for them to reach, for them to try and get near the tunnel – for some part of safety and sanctuary.
--
Deimos tries to use a combination of Mastered Earth to continue their tunneling, as well as Mastered Fire, Earth, and Creation to make the metal meshing, and hold the tunnel’s structure up.
He gives Amalia more Mastered Earth for her shield.
Zuriel continues to call out to the unicorns.
Fire Manipulation: Can create and control flames. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
Base Creation: When combined with Mastered Air, Mastered Earth, Mastered Water, and Mastered fire, can create 2 magical items per season (with admin approval). Without mastering the four elements, can create well-made complex machines, and an unlimited number of regular items per thread limited by endurance stat. Small items last their natural lifespan. Medium and large items degrade after a season. Complex machines (a telescope, music box, etc) must be created with the knowledge of the character (i.e., cannot create a machine you don't understand/wouldn't be able to build with relevant tools)
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
Earth Manipulation: Can create and control the earth. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls.
- until you had blood glistening on your teeth
- until your suffering paled in comparison to their own
- until you learned to enjoy the sounds of screams
she tied you to her kitchen chair she broke your throne and she cut your hair
With Deimos behind them, shoring the walls up (a thing she’d been worried about, but unable to do herself - can she even try for more than one magic at once? It had never been done - but ah, perhaps now is not the time for that), Wessex moves forward as he does, continuing to use the Sword’s Earth manipulation. She tries to pack it tight enough so that he won’t have to do much work.
Loki lands on her shoulder, nervous about being underground, the faintest memories of being trapped as a hatchling bubbling up inside the still young companion. She digs her claws into the Wraith’s clothes and hen scrambles to press herself along the woman’s neck. Wessex tries to think soothing thoughts, continuing to work in silence.
---------------
Wessex uses Deimos’ Earth Manipulation to keep moving the tunnel forward.
Magic: Magic Re-Resonance | When abandoned magic is cast within 10ft of Wessex, she can duplicate the ability at its upgraded level once.
Type: Grey | Rank: Upgraded
Amalia took his hand and Bastien held it tight and steady, guiding her feeling like the one useful thing he could do in this situation. If anything, this quest so far had reminded him how lacking he was in preparation for danger as the rest of his companions, how his time spent locked away in the studio had not helped him when it came to adventuring around Caido. Not used to having to be looked after, it bothered him.
Impressed by Deimos' magic, he kept moving forward, hoping it would hold.
--
Bastien continues to walk down the tunnel, keeping hold of Ama's hand.
Sorry he's so useless here lmao
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls.
You always let me down so tenderly So live fast and die young and stay forever numb
