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!
05-07-2021, 08:51 PM (This post was last modified: 05-09-2021, 10:42 AM by Court Official.)
CLUCK CLUCK
You thought it was a rumour.
You thought it couldn't be real.
You were wrong.
It comes from the jungle, probably. Who knows why - things like this merely seem to happen. It's probably Frey, let's be honest. Either way, it comes strutting its way through the foliage with enough pizazz to make the fucking ground shake, and when it pecks at the ground, it fucking means it.
Where is it going, you ask? Why - straight for Haulani. Because a 20ft chicken gets mighty hungry, and there's only so much to eat in the jungle. Maybe it'll just eat all the vegetation. Or, y'know, maybe it'll eat you.
Either way, we're in need of a hen-semble of heroes to kill it shoo it back whence it came. (Let's be real though you'll probably all kill it, you monsters).
Bok bok, bitches. Let's do this.
This Big Mother Clucker: 200/200
Welcome to the Key Quest. We hope it egg-ceeds your egg-spectations. This KQ is LEVEL-LOCKED. You may only enter if you are currently in Torchline and are Level 4 or below!
You have 48 hours to post your character arriving! So that nothing is missed, please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post, including any items that you're bringing with you.
REMEMBER: KQs are rewarding, but dangerous (EVEN RIDICULOUS CHICKEN ONES). They may cause death and/or permanent changes to your characters - join at your own risk!
Ray had to pause and rub her eyes. Repeatedly. Torchline was a weird place to live on a good day. Bizarre on a bad day. But this? This won. Taking in the massive chicken, Ray quickly placed the groceries she had just bought in an alley. Taking only the necessities, meaning her herbs and weapons, she doubled back.
"If you're not up for a fight, get you're things and get out of the way." She called to some of the more panicked citizens. Taking a deep breath, Ray noticed a few other people who weren't fleeing and headed over to them. "Are you guys also planning to help deal with that thing? Anyone have a semblance of a plan?" Ray eyed the chicken warily, wondering what the best method of dealing with such a nuisance was.
Ray was in the area when the chicken arrived and is staying to help. She placed her groceries in an alley and is bringing the following to the fight: Herbs for healing, some basic wound ointment, bandages, 3 throwing knives and 2 daggers.
r a y
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
—Albert Camus
Theo's first instinct was to run with the other people who didn't want to become human nuggets -- maybe even pickpocket some of the panicked crowd, because he never missed an opportunity -- but he tripped and went down hard, and by the time he managed to find his feet again, the giant chicken was too close. He didn't dare run without the cover of other people -- he felt sure that would only motivate the chicken to focus on his single figure, to chase and peck. Instead he pressed himself against the side of a building, trying to look small and still and inedible.
"Do you have a plan?" he called back to the woman who seemed willing to take charge -- and more power to her, because right now Theo's only idea was to take shelter and pray. And he'd never been on good terms with the gods.
"I heard somewhere that birds can't see you if you stand still," he added, helpfully, staying perfectly motionless himself.
Theo has a pocket knife. And his magic. Good luck, loser.
Theo
"Poker" by ND Strupler is licensed with CC BY 2.0.
Our resident sunshine boy has no such compunctions about giant fluffy animals. He’s drawn, of course, by the screaming and the pushing crowd of bodies. Old vigilante habits die hard.
But then he sees it. And immediately starts running eagerly towards it like a sugar-hyped child barreling down on brightly wrapped array of presents.
“Holy shit that’s a big chicken!” he whoops, arms spreading wide as if he can hug the giant feathery thing from a distance. The two who longer seem far more daunted by the prospect, but Harper thinks he might be in love. He wants to scale it, and would surely try if he wasn’t scared to pluck the poor thing’s feathers with his body weight. “She’s beautiful,” he croons, completely uncaring of the damage she’s - he’s? Where’s his fun red floppy bits? It’s hard to see with the sunlight and how high its head is - wreaking on the shore.
Turning to the other two, Harper spins his staff with a bright smile. “Anyone care for a game of chicken chase? She won’t wanna stay if we bother her into being unable to eat.” And then without further ado he goes running off towards the chicken, waving his arms and making the loudest chicken noises he can amidst boyishly excited whoops and hollers to try and draw the feathery monster’s attention, keeping far enough away to avoid any pecking if he can.
- - -
Harper runs toward the chicken making loud noises and spinning his staff, staying out of peck radius but trying to draw its attention.
Items:
Two-section staff | A bi-sectioned staff created from star-dust and meteorite. When a star on the side is pressed, it nullifies ascended upgrades within 1ft, for 1 post per thread.
Just how deep do you believe? Will you bite the hand that feeds?
He just wants to clean out the clinic. Wash the floors, fix the garden on the roof, restock the rooms. But no, instead, Theres screaming, and a ground shaking cacophony, and all Nate can do is fucking sigh before he steps out into the street, staring down at a giant chicken, of all things, and a handful of other people too stupid to run away.
Dumb as it is, this isn’t a situation Nate can walk away from. This has to be easier than trying to outrun a volcano, right?
Broom still in hand, he zips up his jacket and starts running towards the beast, getting in earshot of Harper just soon enough to hear chicken chase. ”That sounds like a bad idea!” He shouts, following after Harper anyway and reaching out with a magic he hasn’t used yet, a thin crackle of static running between the demigod and the other man. Pemota follows after a him, but lingers further back, smarter than her master when it came to approaching the chicken.
Nate arrives with Pemota and runs after Harper, reaching out with his damage sponge ability to link himself with the other man.
He has a broom aaaand:
Type: Dark
Fang Necklace | A necklace of sea panther teeth. These may be used once per thread to cause intimidation to nearby enemies. (Enemies will roll with disadvantage for that round).
Type: Dark
Everywhere Arrow | A sleek, obsidian arrow. Controlled by whistling, the arrow is moved and directed via a mental link with the user. Range of 15ft, works with Ascended only.
Type: Light
Feather Foot Charm | A charm which allows the user to float harmlessly to the ground from any height. One use only.
Damage Sponge | Nate creates an intrinsic link between himself and one other person, represented by a beam of ethereal lightning. Whilst linked, damage taken by the recipient is halved and shared with Nate for one post, for a distance of up to 15ft. The ability has a two post cooldown, and when cast, will remain active until damage is sustained.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic
Will you chew until it bleeds? Can you get up off your knees?
She doesn't have fun red floppy bits, thank you very much. And she quite likes the game of chicken chase, as represented by a bit of corn whooping and trilling and running about nearby.
What the cluck, Harper. We hope you're ready, because what happens next will be poultry in motion. (Heh, heh, heh).
Focused entirely on the staff-spinning treat, this Big Mother Clucker absolutely tries for a game of kiss-chase, though it's much more like run and peck. Ever been pecked at by a 20ft chicken, Harper? What a truly eggs-clusive club you're about to join.
Luckily, it seems that a demigod is on hand to help. The ginormous beak clips Harper's shoulder, and pop goes the damage bond! Nate and Harper will both feel a bit of bruising pressure to their right shoulder blade, but it's a bit of nothing, really.
You have 48 hours to post your response! So that nothing is missed, please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post, including any items that you're bringing with you.
Harper nearly falls on his ass with the force of - her, definitely a her now - the peck, but aside from a huffed exhale of impact (ouch that’s gonna bruise) all it really does is make him laugh. As he turns his head to the voice that yells after him, Harper sees Nate racing down the beach, unaware of what the man had just done to help smooth some of his own stupidity away. Harper obediently backs further away from the hen, trying to make a plan on the fly. Luckily that’s his strongest trait, and as his eyes fall on the deserted open air carts and merchant stalls, he comes to one, hairbrained as it may prove to be.
“Hey Nate! Think chickens like mantas?” Gesturing towards the shore (and hoping to keep the one man he knows as a deterrent to her rampage), he meanwhile backpedals towards the stalls. Rice and grain are way too small for Her Majesty - even apples probably, and Harper doesn’t want to give her a taste for meat right now. What else do chickens eat that’s bigger? It’s been ages since Harper lived with them as a kid, but bloody imagery doesn’t sleep - chickens destroying goopy watermelon was good traumatic material. Thanking the summer season and good timing (and apologizing rather insincerely to the stall owner) Harper grabs a crate of watermelons and smashes one open with the butt of his staff, tossing it and a crimson spray towards the giant chicken. “Come on Princess! Watermelon!” Turning his gaze to the other two standing by, he frantically waves them over to try and get them to help; watermelons are heavy bastards after all. “Maybe we can lead her to Apopo! No humans there anymore, and she can scratch under the ash for the vegetation?” It had once been a fertile paradise after all.
- - -
Harper steals a poor merchant’s watermelons, cracks one open and tries to lure Miss Cluck his way. He suggests Nate look for mantas to feed her/to cut off her path, and tries to get Ray and Theo to help with the watermelon-luring.
Items:
Two-section staff | A bi-sectioned staff created from star-dust and meteorite. When a star on the side is pressed, it nullifies ascended upgrades within 1ft, for 1 post per thread.
Ray had half a moment of debate. The chicken seemed... unaggressive. Destructive and deadly, yes. But it didn't seem malicious. And for that, Ray was hesitant to use a weapon against the creature. After all, if this level of danger was from a happy chicken, who knows how horrific an angry one would be.
But then Harper starts up with the watermelons and she springs into action. Racing over, she starts cutting the melon into (giant chicken) bite -sized pieced. "Think a trail of food leading away from the city might work?"
Ray waves her hands at the chicken once she's cut up some of the food. "Here you go! We have some watermellon snacks for you!"
Ray helps with luring the chicken with watermellon. She suggests using this method to make a path and lead the chicken away from the city.
Inventory: Herbs for healing, some basic wound ointment, bandages, 3 throwing knives and 2 daggers
r a y
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
—Albert Camus
Just how deep do you believe? Will you bite the hand that feeds?
”Fuck!” Nate shouts as the electric bond pops, bringing with it a pressure against his shoulder. It doesn’t hurt, but, yknow. Fuck. At this point a little part of him wants to kill the giant stupid thing just to be spiteful, but as long as Harper has a hand on the situation, sure.
A hand comes up to rub at his face as his steps slow, letting distance behold between himself and Harper as he glances towards the beach. ”Lets find out Twinkle toes.” Theres no small amount of roughness in his voice as he runs down towards the beach, looking for a cloud manga, or a hel, or something. Anything he can grab with an extended reach and some surprise, anything that’ll flap around and be attention grabbing.
Nate runs to the beach and tries to use his fancy arms to grab some kind of fauna to get the chickens attention
Magic: Finger in Everything | Nate possesses the ability to create two extra arms in the same style as the Voice’s holograms. The arms share Nate's strength stat and can be summoned/dismissed at will. They are able to reach a radius of 10ft.
Type: Dark | Rank: Basic
Will you chew until it bleeds? Can you get up off your knees?
"Or we could ... run around and get its attention," Theo muttered, watching the others dance about in an attempt to divert the giant chicken. He sighed. As much as he would prefer to just hide, he suspected the others would be rather annoyed by his failure to help out. So he'd just have to make sure to stay out of beak range.
The trail of food plan seemed the best and most obvious to him -- he wasn't sure what Nate was looking for along the shore -- so Theo went ahead and raided the fruit vendor's stall -- not without slipping a snack into his pocket for later, of course, because that was the type of person he was. He grabbed one watermelon in his hands and another with his telekinesis. Then he stabbed one of the watermelons with his pocket knife, breaking it open so the chicken could see the ominously red flesh inside. That watermelon Theo tossed a little further along than the one Harper had thrown; the other he held onto, unsure where they wanted this trail to lead.
Theo grabs two more watermelons (one via telekinesis). He cuts one open with his pocket knife and throws it a little further from the chicken than Harper's watermelon; the other one he hangs onto for now.
Base Telekinesis: Can move small objects in a 5ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic
Theo
"Poker" by ND Strupler is licensed with CC BY 2.0.
For a multitude of reasons, the majority of which seem related to blind bad luck, this Big Mother Clucker does not seem particularly egg-cited by offerings of watermelon. Indeed, there are three shouting and running bits of corn tripping about themselves now, and rather than the laser focus of before, she instead turns her attention elsewhere. Rude, Miss Cluck. Very rude.
TLDR: Great idea Harper - just damned bad luck on the persuasion.
But Nate? Nate has found some hels to snag with his extra arms, and the flapping feathery things are reminiscent, in Miss Cluck's brain, of teensy tiny chicks. So off she trots, thundering through Haulani towards the shoreline, destroying several stalls and upending a cart filled with fish along the way.
Good luck, Nate. She's on her way.
This Big Mother Clucker: 200/200
POST ORDER:
1. Ray 26/26
2. Harper 71/72
3. Nate 69/70
4. Theo 22/22
You have 48 hours to post your response! So that nothing is missed, please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post, including any items that you're bringing with you.
05-14-2021, 11:29 PM (This post was last modified: 05-14-2021, 11:32 PM by Ray.)
A panther in the night, a fire burning bright.
Ray is honestly at a loss of what to do here. She's a healer, a broker, a logical person. Giant chickens are not logical. And using food didn't work, so now what? Trying to determine what caught the bird's attention, she follows after it, dodging fish and various objects. Following the chicken's line of sight she finally notices Nate with the hels. "Oh, baby chicks, huh?"
A terrible, stupid, reckless, just downright horrible plan comes to mind. Will it work? Possibly. Will it kill her if it does? Also possible. Looking at the destruction however, Ray bites her lip in contemplation. She has to try. Waiting for the loud crashes of breaking stalls to pause for a moment, Ray takes a deep breath and begins to follow the chicken. And channeling every moment she's ever heard a baby chicken chirp, let out a loud, and as accurate as possible "Cheep!"Yes chicken, I am simply a small and ugly chick following you. Please pay attention to me but don't squish me.
Ray is following in Nate's footsteps and pretending to be a chick. By following the chicken and chirping like a baby chick. If it works, on the next round she'll continue to do so to help lead it away from the city.
Herbs for healing, some basic wound ointment, bandages, 3 throwing knives and 2 daggers
r a y
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
—Albert Camus
Okay, well that plan hadn't worked, but the other had! He'll take what he can get honestly. The destruction is at least somewhat mild in comparison to what the hen could do if she was on an angry rampage, and Torchliners are used to monsoons wiping shit out so honestly he doesn't feel too bad.
The woman's imitation sparks a bright laugh out of him, but she has the right idea at least. Reaching inside himself for that new form Safrin had unlocked for him, Harper lets his body change and adapt until he is transformed into a crow at least twice the size of those he'd known in his former life. Winging towards Nate, he pulls on the crow's vocalizations as the Ascended does not have a bond to utilize; "Nest! Nest!" Swooping down towards the man to land in the sand, hoping to add his own feathery body as a temptation next to the Hel. It will take a moment for her to roost, and hopefully he can position Ray - and himself - beneath her wing instead of her giant body.
- - -
Harper transforms into his Gore Crow shift and flies towards Nate and the Hel to try and add his feathery-self to the roosting enticement. Plans on trying to sneak under her wing if she does.
Just how deep do you believe? Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Hels are better than nothing, even if they’re smaller than what Nate had been hoping for. Apparently the chicken didn’t care about that though, her thundering steps coming closer regardless, which is all the excuse Nate needs to start bolting down the beach. One hel is held out in front of him, flapping wildly, while the other is tucked under his arm like a football, holding it still in case he loses his first lure.
“What nest?” Nate roared back at whatever Harper had transformed into. He doesn’t stop running, desperate to stay out of pecking distance from the giant chicken, but his steps veer towards the jungle, Apopo still the destination as far as he knows.
Nate tucks one hel away and hold the other in front of him while running in the direction of the jungle/Apopo
Will you chew until it bleeds? Can you get up off your knees?
