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!
Victory and blood (or fluid, as the case may be) have Isla's jaws parting and a roar of triumph that surprises no one more than the gentle medic. She is only buoyed further by being able to dodge out of the way of the creature, and it causes her to be perhaps a little bit reckless.
So it is that she croons something that could be construed as an instruction for Adam to hold on tight (but honestly, who knows when one's mouth is filled with razor blades), and ploughs forward again.
This time it's claws instead of stingers, outstretched and thirsty for more savagery in a drive-by attack that Isla hopes will leave the monster reeling and its wing useless. It has taken to the skies - now it will need to pay for it. Regardless of whether or not she hits, and possibly gives Adam a chance to hit as well, Isla is away again, getting out of Nate's line of fire.
Isla goes in for another attack with her claws, aiming for a drive-by attack on the monster's wing. Then she gets the hell out of the way.
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
sooner or later, we all have to wake and try forgetting everything
A blender in a lightning storm, disguised as a blessing I'm sure
In stark comparison to Isla’s roar of triumph, there is a great rumbling growl of frustration leaving Nate. It had seemed so much more effective to fight this thing on the ground, had seemed like he could do so much more damage.
And just like that, an idea comes to him, Nate beating his wings to get above the monster once again before diving down to strike at it. Lightning crackles between his jaws, shit out at the monster, though it’s more of a distraction, a smoke screen to hide how vicious claws and heavy jaws close around one of the monsters wings, trying to rip it free from the mechanical body, or at the very least mangle it beyond use. There would be nothing more satisfying at this point than watching the bulbous body smash against the ground.
Nate breathes lightning at the monster once Isla is clear, and gets close enough to try and rip off one of its wings
Dragon ability | Can breathe lightning (mastered lightning damage)
Adam watched the sword fly away into the night with a crushing disappointment in himself and the loss of what would have been a wonderful redemptive moment. That time dead really had ruined his impulses and reactions, it seemed. At least Isla hit and he got to watch her tail rip into the monster's wing, which was satisfying; he still hoped they could actually beat this thing, despite it all.
(It did, at this point, as he looked over to Nate and Kiada, dawn on Adam that Edwyn was actually missing, but he didn't have the time to look for him right now).
Isla went in with her claws and he obeyed her command to hold on tight for the plunge, at the last moment drawing a dagger from his boot and aiming to reach around her neck, sinking it into whatever soft underbelly of the monster he could get to - desperate, but what else was he to do now?
--
Adam, when Isla goes in with her claws, leans to try and stab the monster under it's shell with a dagger.
So collect your courage and collect your horse
And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse
shed every skin that doesn't fit even if they call you cold-blooded
unhinge your jaw —
She watches with bated breath as the lightning goes wide. And if she were attuned, she might have been able to feel the frustration leaking off of Nate. But she isn’t, so she holds on tight again once her throwing knife clatters against its metal side, leaving what Kiada only hopes is a scratch only to have been able to do something.
But Isla and the rest of them are also doing work to the monster and despite Kiada’s complete uselessness when it comes to this flying beast, she lowers her body against Nate’s back. “C’mon Nate, you’ve got this.” She calls to the dragon beneath her, hoping that even if she can’t offer much else in the way of attacks, she can offer some sort of verbal support as he lowers atop the creature and an idea hits her. She tries to help Nate push the beast down, gripping onto the spine of the dragon. She activates her bipedal upgrade, hoping that the air that usually ups her speed, might work to push the creature downward and impact it’s trajectory.
Kiada keeps her armor upgrade in place and when Nate goes to attack, she activates her bipedal upgrade to hopefully use the air from it to give the beast some turbulence.
Type: Light
Bipedal Air Upgrade | Air shoots from her feet allowing her to move with bursts of speed.
Type: Grey
Bionic Armor Upgrade | Lightweight but hard armour extends from her spine, wrapping around her upper body in a defensive sheet of armour.
— go for the throat
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Descending like some angry cat, Isla rakes her claws against the metallic carapace of the creature. Sparks fly and fluid dribbles from the monster. Adam however, should have switched tactics and thrown the dagger and then stabbed with the sword. Given Isla's size, Adam simply can't reach. But he looks cool?
Nate 's lightning strikes its mark this time around, casting the monster in a halo of blue electricity as circuits within the creature begins to melt. It however is able to evade the dragon's claws as Nate reaches to try and tear off a wing. Not unlike Adam, Kiada looks very cool riding the dragon, however her bipedal upgrade, while cleverly used, is not strong enough for what she attempts.
Aiming for Nate and Kiada this time, the dragon having done more damage, the creature against flutters its wings leaving a thicky trail of poisonous gas in its wake. Like Isla last time however, Nate is able to evade this cloud, keeping himself and Kiada free from injury.
Your randomly chosen initiative order is: Isla, Nate, Adam, Kiada You have 24 hours to respond, based on when the person before you posted.
Please keep your posts as concise and clear as possible. Remember, this is a KQ. You can spend words on introspection later. Keep things action-based, and refer to the KQ guide in the guidebook for information about our expectations.
If I don't specifically say how your character has evaded an attack, or where the damage is, feel free to add this flavour in yourself!
Isla can't really speak for Kiada and Adam (and later she'll reflect on the fact that someone is riding on her back - and no not like that, gods) but she and Nate are crushing it. Adrenaline roars through her, and she swears she can feel the wind in every single one of her feathers. No time to enjoy it too much yet, though - there's still a monster to kill.
Having peeled away to let Nate get his shot in, Isla circles back around for another drive-by. This one isn't quite as quick; she slows herself with a powerful beat of her wings, scorpion tail whipping out to attempt another sting, another injection of poison. This time she aims at the creatures other wing, hoping to take them both out.
And if Adam is able to get a stab in? Even better.
Isla goes in for another drive-by with her scorpion's stinger this time!
From Remi: Manticore Ability | The poison from his tail can cause paralysis (or kill with permission).
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
sooner or later, we all have to wake and try forgetting everything
A blender in a lightning storm, disguised as a blessing I'm sure
Now they’re getting somewhere, now they’re doing damage. Teeth and claws don’t quite meet their mark, but the lightning absolutely does, and he likes to imagine he can smell pets of the monster cooking from the inside out. He can’t, especially not as he dodges a cloud of nothing good and rises into position to strike again.
Another crackle rumbles between his jaws, cold blue light building up to another shock of electricity, loosed as soon as Isla is out of the way. Again, it’s followed by the bulk of his body, razor teeth and claws reaching for the monsters body instead of risking the recently poisoned wing.
Nate uses the lightning breath again and tries to damage the monsters torso with teeth and claws
Dragon ability | Can breathe lightning (mastered lightning damage)
Adam was growing pretty tired of missing or failing every shot he tried to make as his dagger came short of the monster, nothing happening again. This wasn't right. He was the hero, the cool dashing rogue, the guy people read the story for, and he was sucking at this.
It was time for rash actions that would look amazing if he pulled them off correctly. As Isla drew near, Adam waited for the flying beasts among them to be done with their attacks, then without warning leapt off of Isla's back, aiming to land feet-first onto the monster. Always wearing heavy boots and doubling his gravity as he made the jump, he hoped his doubled weight and sudden impact would knock the monster considerably.
If he missed, well. Luckily his gravity upgrade went the other way, and he could make himself light enough to float above the ground below, though he would still be rather put out about the whole thing.
---
Adam jumps from Isla's back and aims to land on the monster (after Isla and Nate's attacks). If he lands, he doubles his weight and stomps on it with both booted feet. If he misses, he makes himself lighter so he doesn't plummet to his death.
Using:
Type: Grey
Localized Gravity Field Alteration | Can alter the gravitational density of his body. This allows him to float 3ft off the ground or alternatively to suddenly seem as though he weighs twice as much. (Upgraded)
So collect your courage and collect your horse
And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse
shed every skin that doesn't fit even if they call you cold-blooded
unhinge your jaw —
One good thing happens, and that’s all because of Nate. Kiada remains useless but at least she hasn’t flung herself off the dragon’s back in the attempts of using her speed upgrade. So she buckles down, holding onto Nate tighter so he doesn’t lose her in this aerial battle. Her body covers smoothly along him, preparing herself for each dip and curve he takes. “Nice Nate!” She chimes as she continues to latch on.
Emotional support is better than nothing right?
Still, she watches in a bit of surprise at the way Adam goes full 110% (as if she hadn’t thought the same thing but the idea of falling to her death a second time didn’t seem that appealing), and she grits her teeth hoping he lands on the monster.
Kiada keeps her armor upgrade in place and offers emotional support LOL
Type: Grey
Bionic Armor Upgrade | Lightweight but hard armour extends from her spine, wrapping around her upper body in a defensive sheet of armour.
— go for the throat
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Getting a hang on this shift and what it can do, Isla is again successful. Her tail strikes against the monster, releasing more and more paralyzing agents into its fluid. Adam jumps, and this time his attack lands. Or at least, he lands. Airborne as the creature is, jumping onto it, even double his weight, perhaps isn't as effective as he might have thought it would be. Definitely cool though.
Nate might have finished the creature off had it not evaded his lightning blast. Maybe Kiada 's kind words weren't as encouraging as she thought (it isn't that of course, he just missed).
Unhappy about its new rider, the monster releases a noxious blast of chemicals all around its body. Adam will feel the air grow thick, his vision will blur, and his motor skills will be seriously fucked for the next round (aka he'll have disadvantage on everything).
Your randomly chosen initiative order is: Isla, Nate, Adam, Kiada You have 24 hours to respond, based on when the person before you posted.
Please keep your posts as concise and clear as possible. Remember, this is a KQ. You can spend words on introspection later. Keep things action-based, and refer to the KQ guide in the guidebook for information about our expectations.
If I don't specifically say how your character has evaded an attack, or where the damage is, feel free to add this flavour in yourself!
Isla snarls a note of discontent as Adam springs off her back to (somehow, and that is pretty cool) land on the monster, though it doesn't seem to serve him as well as he'd hoped. With her snarl dying down to something like a croon, Isla lunges forward again. The beast in her can sense that the prey is on its last legs, and she has no intention of letting it get away from its certain death.
So again she drops out of the sky - again her tail lances out - but this time she drops further, so she might hover some distance beneath the monster. You know - just in case Adam falls.
Isla dive-bombs with another tail attack, and this time she lets herself glide lower, prepared to catch Adam if he (inevitably) falls.
From Remi: Manticore Ability | The poison from his tail can cause paralysis (or kill with permission).
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
passing by, you light up my darkest skies you take only seconds to draw me in
A blender in a lightning storm, disguised as a blessing I'm sure
As cool as Adams manoeuvre is - and it is, very much so - Nate can’t help the rumble of irritated discontent that reverberates through his form, more than obvious to Kiada. Adam being there means he can’t shock the monster with lightning again, it means he has to be careful instead of angry and vengeful. He has to be a blade, instead of a blunt object.
That’s never been his forte.
But he tries, diving low to the monster and hovering, as much as he can, raking out with razor claws and sharp teeth, offering a chance both for Kiada to attack, and Adam to clamber onto him, if his fellow ascended so chooses. Hopefully, this is the final nail in the coffin, and the monsters baleful death follows.
Nate flies in close to attack the monster with teeth and claws, since he can’t breathe lightning at Adam, and give Kiada and Adam a chance to attack/escape
Letting out a laugh of victory as his feet connected with the back of the creature, Adam kept himself heavy and tried to focus on getting turned so he was facing the same way as it, planning to lean forward and plunge his daggers into it's eyes. It was difficult, what with the thing buzzing all over; then the chemicals suddenly everywhere grew a disgusted yell from him.
Shaking his head, he tried to determinedly carry on anyway, clamping his legs onto the monster and throwing his arms forward to try and hook his daggers in it's eyes, hoping that Isla and Nate would be able to hit the beast without getting him when it came to their moves. Yes, this was all very risky, but that was what made good stories, right?
---
Adam tries to stay on the monster and stab it in the eyes with his daggers.
Torchline: Torchline has taught you to survive her weather and her terrain. Once per PQ/PQ+/KQ/Drop, you can 'shrug off' half the damage from ONE non-lethal attack.
So collect your courage and collect your horse
And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse
shed every skin that doesn't fit even if they call you cold-blooded
unhinge your jaw —
She can’t do much else other than sit there and watch the fight go down. She sits there atop Nate’s back and watches Adam cling to this monster, she watches as Isla drifts alongside it, stabbing it with that scorpions tail. And Nate? Well, she’s distracted by the vibration that happens, the grumble of discontent with how Adam had landed.
It seems, however, that Nate drifts lower as well, lashing out with claws and teeth, she tries to reach out — forgoing any sort of attack on her part, to reach for Adam in the hopes of helping him clamor onto Nate’s back with her in case the monster goes down. “Adam, grab my hand!” She calls, one hand latched onto Nate, the other reaching out to hopefully latch onto Adam.
Kia keeps her armor upgrade in place and reaches out her hand to try and help Adam get off the monster should it start to go down while Nate’s close to it.
Type: Grey
Bionic Armor Upgrade | Lightweight but hard armour extends from her spine, wrapping around her upper body in a defensive sheet of armour.
— go for the throat
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
