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!
It may not be a surprise to the others that Isla is more interested in the mud that coats her large paws than discussions about where they ought to go, and she lifts her head to scent the air as the wind rustles by to tug at Juniper. Ears that perked up previously flatten down again to hear the commotion in the opposite direction, and despite the way the beast in her wants to respond to the challenge, she reins it in to listen to Juniper.
I feel as though splitting up will probably get us in trouble, she admits to Remi, sniffing at the ground and slowly beginning to pad in the direction that Juniper is going. Let's see where this goes. Who knows, we might be in luck for a bit. That would be a nice surprise, wouldn't it?
Isla suggests they stick together, and makes to follow Juniper.
passing by, you light up my darkest skies you take only seconds to draw me in
There are worse plans than following voices that only one of them could hear. It could be that the Mathair spoke a language only known to the fae, which had some credence after all. It could also be...literally anything else.
"We're with you." Remi whispers as Juniper follows the voice.
Trying to be as mindful as possible as they navigate this strange terrain, it's only as they move deeper into the marsh that the going becomes properly difficult. There's a bright light in the distance that seems to bob and weave among the trees. "Like the wil 'o wisps from the Greatwood, only so much bigger." Remi all but mutters to himself, his wings tucked tight against his back lest they catch on the brambles around them.
Juniper will feel the tug of the presence sporadically now. Ahead there is a dark marsh. To the left is a grove of trees where the light pulses. Which way will she lead?
As for Isla? Large as she is in this new body, going will be difficult and slow for her. The balance between keeping up with her much more agile companions will come at the cost of being less stealthy.
i only knew how to hold on tight & pray for love enough to last all night
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Juniper glanced between the dark marsh and the grove, uncertain. If the pull was subsiding, could that mean that, despite trying to follow it, they were actually getting further from the Mathair? Or that the Mathair was getting weaker?
"I don't trust that light," she said quietly. "But I'd consider it more likely to find the Mathair in a grove than in a marsh. I'm ... not sure where I feel the pull now. I think we should try the grove, but I'm open to other suggestions."
She started towards the grove, but glanced back to make sure the others were following: if either of them objected, she'd stay with them, perhaps try another direction.
Juniper picks the grove, but she's willing to try something else if the others have a better idea.
Juniper
"art nouveau winged fairy" by e³°°° is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit here
So this stopped being fun at about the time when Isla's large bulk made things worse rather than better. Despite her best efforts she follows the group at a pace best described as a blunder, twigs snapping underfoot and branches getting snagged in her wings. All of this, of course, draws a low and warning growl from her throat, which could either scare off everything on their tail, or scare off everything including whatever Juniper is supposed to be following.
If only she had the sense of mind to care.
Grove, she agrees, sending a pulse of if you would be so kind to Remi to communicate that on. She can't see the going getting any easier if they move into the marshes, and at least with a grove the ground beneath them might stay steady.
passing by, you light up my darkest skies you take only seconds to draw me in
"Isla thinks the grove as well. Neither of us feel anything, either." It isn't a lie, and if anything it's a very fae-like way to phrase it. It's true Isla doesn't feel the call of the Mathair, and if Juniper believes it's because she's an attuned like Remi, so be it.
"Whatever you feel, it's either because you're a fae or it's calling to you directly." Not the most helpful thing Remi might have said—it certainly doesn't tell them where they should go or what to make of the Mathair's fading signal—but it's the only thing he's certain of right now.
Away from the marsh and into the grove they go. Indeed it's much harder for Isla now given how closely some of the trees grow, and she'll be forced to take wider paths than Remi and Juniper. In the distance is a mournful but beautiful cry that sweeps through the thick mists. More lights appear now, and around them the trees begin to appear towering and oaklike, not terribly different from those found in the Greatwood.
The smell of cinnamon and lilac seems to sprinkle from the leaves.
i only knew how to hold on tight & pray for love enough to last all night
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
03-11-2021, 05:52 PM (This post was last modified: 03-11-2021, 05:53 PM by Isla.)
Isla
Grove, Isla had said, and no sooner had she decided on it when the world closes in and her large form struggles even more to navigate the terrain. Growling under her breath (she thinks she is anyway), the manticore puts nose to the ground and her wings pin as close as she can get them. She moves away from Remi and Juniper that she might be able to forge a route through, though she's by no means immune to the call that rings through the forest, nor the scents that permeate the air.
This seems off, she remarks to Remi. This isn't how a marsh should smell. Quite what that means is beyond her, but one of her tufted ears flicks towards the duo as they proceed, able to hear them even if she can't join them. Do you think this might be her...?
passing by, you light up my darkest skies you take only seconds to draw me in
Juniper went still at the ringing call, at the rising scents, at the familiarity of the thick trees around her. Or was that just wistful thinking? The difference could be deadly.
"I think ... I hope we're going the right way," she said, trying to figure out where the call had come from. "Though this is exactly the environment I'd use if I wished to lure travelers to their doom, as well."
That was the problem, wasn't it? Anything trying to draw them towards it could be the Mathair -- or could be some fell entity of the wilds, pulling in prey.
"I think we have to keep going deeper into the grove," Juniper added. "We have no better leads. But we should be careful."
She made an effort to move towards the source of the cry, but she wasn't sure how well she'd pinpointed it -- so she also used the size of the trees as an indicator of direction. They would find the Mathair where the trees grew the largest, she felt, if they found her at all.
Juniper continues, trying to follow the call and/or looking for the largest trees.
Juniper
"art nouveau winged fairy" by e³°°° is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit here
No it didn't feel right, but as Juniper said, what else would they expect from the Mathair? No, it doesn't. Remi agrees silently with Isla, before nodding toward the Fae. "I think you're right. And if it isn't the Mathair ahead...at least we'll know." At least they'd know that there were things that glowed in this place. Things that made the world around them feel familiar and inviting.
But you all know it isn't the Mathair. It can't be this easy.
The illusion around the trio is absolutely seamless, reminding Remi and Juniper of any old afternoon stroll in the Greatwood. Perhaps that's why it's Isla whose senses are the most unsettled by the changes around them. But nevermind. You're already fully within the pull of the Lamplighters now. Sweet refrains that remind you of long-ago times sink into your brains. On your tongues are tastes you've nearly forgotten, but now that they're back, gods how could you have lived without them?
Just stay, your bones whisper. Don't look for a way out. Stay here in this place of memory and magic. Stay and lose yourself amidst the things you thought you'd once lost.
Around Remi and Juniper especially, the illusions tighten and try and ensnare. For Isla however, because of her intrinsically ascended nature, the veil will not be as seamless.
i only knew how to hold on tight & pray for love enough to last all night
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Juniper felt herself growing more and more at ease as the forest around her came to resemble her familiar home. Here, she knew what the dangers were and how to mitigate them; here, she didn't have to worry about searching for a lost god.
Wait. But she needed to search for the Mathair ... A little ding of attention went off in her head, but it didn't break the illusion. Surely the Mathair would be just around the corner. This looked so much like the Greatwood that Juniper firmly believed they would find the Mathair just around the next corner -- obviously she had made the swamp look like her home. Juniper's home, too; she could almost believe that they'd step through the trees into Sidhe Village. In fact, Juniper recognized that particular gnarled ash as one she used as a landmark in the Greatwood.
She frowned. "I've seen that tree before. Are we going in circles?"
Juniper has an inkling something is wrong, and suggests that they might be lost.
Juniper
"art nouveau winged fairy" by e³°°° is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit here
Ascended as she is, it doesn't take Isla long to sense something suspicious in the way the world warps and shifts around them. She's still prowling forward, pressed in on all sides by various woods and foliage, but as things get particularly strange, as she can only vaguely sense Remi and Juniper again, the manticore halts in her footsteps.
It crawls along her skin, like something oily and clogging, and eventually the urge to shake herself off becomes so great that she can't stand it. Rather than do just that, however, Isla lifts her head and roars into the undergrowth, like she might be able to frighten whatever has happened away.
Remi, I don't like this.
passing by, you light up my darkest skies you take only seconds to draw me in
"Lost? No, I don't think—" But he hadn't been thinking. He'd just been wandering, losing himself in the sunlight filtering through the trees and the familiar smells on the breeze.
Isla's roar, familiar a sound as it is, has the alchemist jumping; it's this surprising reaction as much as what his friend says next that has him hissing in a breath and regarding the world with suddenly skeptical eyes. Glancing over his shoulder, the path they'd been on is suddenly gone, blocked by a thick copse of trees that certainly was there moments ago.
There is a low song that filters through now, not unlike the noises whales make far below the surface of the ocean. It coils around the trio as the trees thicken and darken around them.
"We should go.." Remi whispers as if there might be something lurking just out of sight. Slowly his wings spread from his back, as he looks toward both Isla and Juniper with a casual nod. Fly.
i only knew how to hold on tight & pray for love enough to last all night
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
For a moment Juniper almost disagrees with Remi: at first she can't see why they'd leave, when they seem to be so close to finding the Mathair. Surely this Greatwood-like place must be the goddess's home away from home? But then she glances back to see the path blocked, then she hears the song, and she knows better.
Without question, she takes to the air, aiming for gaps in the branches above. From above the trees they should be able to get their bearings better, even if they're only innocently lost -- and Juniper knows now that they're not innocently lost. She can only hope that whatever fell influence they've fallen under will dissipate above the trees as well.
Juniper
"art nouveau winged fairy" by e³°°° is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit here
Isla doesn't need to be told twice. Fly, Remi tells them, and her wings are already spreading in anticipation to leap into the air. It will be more difficult for her than it will for either of them, and she doesn't look forward to the way the branches will very likely rake at the feathers. But there's nothing to it - suddenly the world around them seems just the way she had suspected it was all along; dark and treacherous, a place where they are being watched.
So with a powerful beat of wings, Isla rockets up into the air. The trees try to catch her, because of course they do, and her snarl hits the air next. It takes a lot not to panic and thrash against the branches, Isla instead forcing herself to spread her wings wide and beat down again, claws swiping at the errant branches.
passing by, you light up my darkest skies you take only seconds to draw me in
The lamplighters, seeing that their prey around about to try and escape the trap so elegantly set for them, rush forward. Or rather, they swim forward. Thick mists flourish around them as their gaping mouths snap in the wake of the trio.
Juniper's life spent in the Greatwood (aka her regional feat) saves her from the teeth that try and shred her wings. Remi's speed lets him avoid them with ease, and as for Isla? One of the creatures latches onto her tail, which proves painful for the ascended, but deadly for the Lamplighter. It grows rigid and crashes back down into the trees as the trio makes their escape.
Above the treetops, the alchemist hovers, watching the mists swirl ominously below. "That...was not what I was expecting." Shaking his head and eyeing the swamp with a new respect, he nods his head over his shoulder. "Come on. Lets get back to the Greatwood. I think...we'll need to be a bit more prepared if we're going to try this again."
Longest PQ ever. I'm so sorry. ilu <3
i only knew how to hold on tight & pray for love enough to last all night
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
