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!
The ROUS disappear down the tunnel. Should Sunjata follow, he will find at the very end, what appears to be a tombstone. The ROUS sit on top of a pile of newly turned-over earth.
Scraping away the goo is smart, if only Samuel took notice and followed Wessex 's clear. Words begin to appear beneath, and as they do, the Wraith's eyes will flash blue as she reads. Samuel on the other hand, will find his fingers have begun to burn and sting as if suddenly covered in acid. His sensors will tell him that prolonged exposure to the slime will result in the skin falling away from his bones.
Bringing up the rear, Peter will see only Wessex's eyes flash as she reads words that are illegible to him, Sam burn his fingers, and Sunjata disappear down to the dead-end at the end of the tunnel.
Welcome to the Key Quest to find the Prince.
Remember to include a summary at the bottom of your post with all action taken. If weapons/upgrades/abilities/items/shifts/etc are used, please include their desc. from your profile at the bottom of your post as well.
REMEMBER: KQs are rewarding but dangerous. They may cause death and/or permanent changes to your characters.
Your randomly assigned posting order is: Sunjata, Wessex, Samuel, Peter.
Sunjata: 300/300 HP
Wessex: 480/480 HP
Samuel: 230/250 HP
Peter: 72/72 HP
now take what i offer, straight up the nose, down the throat
it's a bearable bruise on your conscious
The distance isn’t that far away from the group, and so far there’s been no hidden dragon aside from himself (ha), but the Flood finds he pauses as they stop to read the wording. Perhaps he can at least scout ahead, so Sunjata continues, reaching the end, spying the rOUS and the tombstone with the fresh tilled earth.
Shifting back, he peers at the direction of the rest of his group. “I found a grave.” He calls down the tunnel. “It looks fresh.” Of course he doesn’t start digging, instead waiting for the rest of the group to arrive at the end of the tunnel once they’re done burning hands and reading words through the slime. “I’m going to shift, so don’t be surprised!” He tacks on again, compelling the rOUS to disappear into the cracks of the tunnel again as man shifts to Pegasus, wings tucked in tight as he peers at the grave and waits, staring at the grave as if it might unearth its secrets
Sunjata goes to the end of the tunnel and compels the rOUS away from the grave. He shifts to his Pegasus shift and waits.
I’d like to use his INT 1 perk to see if he can figure anything out about the grave!
(Beastmaster) can compel any sentient animals not marked with a ☆ for assistance (6 large, 12 medium, 20 small)
but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer?
i am the way and the life in the best looking truth
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.
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
The slime comes off easily enough with the handcuffs, and Wessex makes sure to steer clear of touching it. Pausing to read it, she is taken slightly aback and then repeats the words aloud, hopefully loud enough for Sunjata to hear at the grave he’s found at the back of the tunnel. “It says, ‘My beloved Tallulah. I hope one day we will be together again. Until that day comes, know that you are in my thoughts and my heart always. Your beloved Prince.’” Huh-ing in the back of her throat, she looks at Sam and asks. “I thought the Prince was some kind of… weird, unfortunate thing.”
And if that grave is fresh, then... things seem a bit ominous. But there’s also an opening. Turning to Sam and Pet, she shrugs. “Maybe we can use Tallulah in some way to get the Prince out.”
---------------
Wessex reads the words aloud so everyone can hear.
Sam turned his head at the word 'grave', wanting to ask more, but then the burn of the slime on his fingers became apparent. "Ah!" He snatched his hand back, no pain but then sensation of his skin becoming loose more than enough to put him off touching the walls again.
Thankfully Wessex was able to read it out; a little embarrassed, Sam put the spectacles back in his pocket and listened. It certainly wasn't what he was expecting to hear and all he could do was shrug at Wessex's question - he had too, but maybe there had been days where the Prince was more capable of romance. Or hell, maybe someone was into the slimy farting greaseball thing.
"...Well...that sounds like a memorial, so one would assume Tallulah is..." He looked down the cave, to where Sunjata said the grave lay. "I don't want to desecrate anyones remains, especially not anyone special to the Prince. Let's go look at the grave." That said, he walked to the end of the path.
---
Sam assumes Tallulah is buried in the grave and goes to check it out.
And I broke my promise on a very sharp rock
And I was possessed by something unfriendly
There's really nothing Pet can add to their current situation. No special eyes, no shifts left to his name. All he can do is follow along behind the group, peering under Wessex's arm as if he can somehow connect the words she's speaking with what's written under the slime. He can't, obviously, but it's something.
Not enough to keep him rooted to the spot though, as he wanders after Sunjata, some small amount of interest lifting scarred brows at the mention of shifting, and even more so at the form the attuned takes. "S'new." He mumbles quietly, reaching up to put a hand on Sunjata's shoulder, fingers twitching towards the soft wings that he really can't feel anymore. "Looks too new." He points out as Sam brings up the rear. Though, he doesn't know much about their timeline, if new makes sense or not. He still doesn't even know what they're looking for really.
Pet looks at the words on the wall, then follows Sunjata towards the grave he's got nothing cool im so sorry
And I was haunted by a demon in my sleep
And that’s how I learned to survive
Playing it slow and cautious I see. How very boring.
There are now three ROUS and a pegasus by the grave, joined shortly by Sam and Peter. Meanwhile, Wessex is reading words off a wall.
Welcome to the Key Quest to find the Prince.
Remember to include a summary at the bottom of your post with all action taken. If weapons/upgrades/abilities/items/shifts/etc are used, please include their desc. from your profile at the bottom of your post as well.
REMEMBER: KQs are rewarding but dangerous. They may cause death and/or permanent changes to your characters.
What the wall says only causes the Pegasus to continue staring at the grave, ears wavering in his uncertainty until Sam and Peter have joined him. Unlike Sam, Sunjata doesn’t particularly have any qualms about messing with a grave, not when it came to the idea it might hold more information. Indeed, he can see a slime trail leading from it as if in a recent escape, but it’s the tombstone that the rOUS continue to sit on that draws his attention.
Something about it seems off. His large head rises, tilting back to bump into Peter gently as if in agreement, before he’s stepping forward to the side of the grave, a sharp hoof lifted to the tombstone to try and pry it down, to see if it’s hiding anything within it or behind it (sorry rOUS). Perhaps the escape of the slime trail?
Pegasus!Jata tries to use his hooves to pry down the tombstone, seeing if there’s anything hidden behind it or maybe within it!
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.
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
Right. So not much is going on and no one knows who Tallulah is, so Wessex follows the gang back to the grave, where they’re all crowding around the dirt pit.
Pet is right, it does look too new.
More than a little loathe to start to dig up a grave (some things are still somewhat sacred), Wessex instead tries to figure out if this is truly the end of the tunnel or if there’s some other exit. There’s something about the slime trail they followed in and the plethora of slime here that doesn’t quite make sense to her.
"I guess we could dig up the grave if we have to..." she murmurs, making a face in the dark. "But that seems excessive."
-------------------
Wessex uses her INT to see if there’s anything about this end of the tunnel that they’re missing - aka is there another exit or something else under the slime because Astor is out of ideas.
They got close to the grave and Sunjata began to move it; Sam made a distasteful expression over at the Pegasus but said nothing. It wasn't like he had any better suggestions. Instead, he knelt down and leaned in as far as he could to the grave, using the spectacles if necessary, to see what was written on it. If this 'Tallulah' really did lay there or if they were disturbing the rest of some unrelated ghost.
He hoped what he read would give them some kind of insight, some breakthrough as to how to speak to the Prince to get him to see that he was trying to help. "It does seem excessive. It's...not the best foot to start off on, if this is related to the Prince we're trying to help out, is it?"
---
Sam uses his INT to lean in and look at the gravestone, using the spectacles if any of it needs translating.
And I broke my promise on a very sharp rock
And I was possessed by something unfriendly
Everyone else is concerned with the gravestone itself, with Tallulah, but not one of them seems to care about the grave itself. Fresh, new, in a forgotten tunnel of ooze. It sat awkwardly in Pet’s chest, his racing mind belied by the absolute stillness of his body.
The sanctity of a grave is not something Peter has ever had reason to consider an obstacle before now, a fact that does not change now. While the others fuss over the stone, Pet crouches low beside Sunjata, pressing the tip of his blade into the soft earth and letting it sink into it, slowly, quietly. If there is something there, he should be able to at least bump against it.
Pet ignores the gravestone but pokes his arm blade into the grave itself, trying to see if there’s anything buried/how deep it is. He will stop short of actually touching the dirt with his skin though
And I was haunted by a demon in my sleep
And that’s how I learned to survive
Pegasus! Sunjata presses against the tombstone, and with only a little effort, it falls flat onto its back. Beneath appears to be a hinge, which conceals a door—a door that Peter will feel his blade scrape against.
Wessex and Samuel will have gleaned this much from their investigation as well, and to get things moving, should someone brush away the dirt, it will be clear enough that the trail of slime the group has been following thus far leads down and past this door. There does not seem to be a handle, though there is an indentation that Wessex will have seen before in and around the Spire. The sort that answers could be written up, but only by ascended hands. There doesn't appear to be any sort of phrase or code to solve though.
Welcome to the Key Quest to find the Prince.
Remember to include a summary at the bottom of your post with all action taken. If weapons/upgrades/abilities/items/shifts/etc are used, please include their desc. from your profile at the bottom of your post as well.
REMEMBER: KQs are rewarding but dangerous. They may cause death and/or permanent changes to your characters.
Your randomly assigned posting order is: Sunjata, Wessex, Samuel, Peter.
Sunjata: 300/300 HP
Wessex: 480/480 HP
Samuel: 230/250 HP
Peter: 72/72 HP
now take what i offer, straight up the nose, down the throat
it's a bearable bruise on your conscious
He expects the tombstone to take more effort to knock over. So when it falls it is with a slight flare of feathers, a snort from a black and white maw. There’s a door, hinges, and a ton of slime that Sunjata tries to avoid as best he can. So he shifts back into himself, because there’s no way he thinks a Pegasus would be useful in this instance, and he moves to crouch beside Peter, peering at the door curiously.
“No handle…” It’s an idle muttering, his gaze lifting to the rest of the group in case they had any ideas. But truthfully, he feels useless, evident in the slight flutter of his lip in a curl of disappointment. “So I imagine once it’s open, we’re going to go into it. If… Anyone needs a shift, now's probably the time.” Might as well get it over with while they figure out the door.
Sunjata shifts back into himself and is quite useless when it comes to the door, but offers the rest of his group his shifts! (SO SORRY HES USELESS RN) idk if it’s possible or not but full PP permission given to the rest of y’all if ya wanna take a bite!
but don't it feel good? don't you feel calmer?
i am the way and the life in the best looking truth
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.
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
When the door is revealed, Wessex immediately recognizes it as the type of doors she’s seen in a couple of places. Her attention goes to it, and she smiles thinly at Sunjata. “It’s an Ascended-only door. Let’s see if we can get it to open -” but without any clues, she is left guessing and looks up at Sam, Pet, and Sunjata.
“If something happens and it’s booby trapped or it looks bad, get yourselves out.”
Pressing her hand quickly to the indentation, she says aloud, half-question and half statement, “Tallulah” as if it were a password.
-----------------
Wessex tries to open the door by pressing her hand to the indentation and saying "Tallulah."
Well, it appeared his intuition had been wrong - rather than a curse booming out as they desecrated the grave, there was a reward in the form of a door, a new lead, underneath the fresh dirt. Trying not to feel too useless (a theme in this expedition, it seemed), Sam listened to Sunjata - shook his head at the offer, not wanting to think of the muddle of relationship crossovers there would be involved and not thinking this would be a particularly tough mission to undergo.
"Ascended only door? So Sunjata would be left behind?" He asked, troubled by that thought but supposing it made sense; The Prince was, one way or another, Ascended. As Wessex made a guess he walked over to the fallen gravestone and knelt next to it, looking for a clue in the words he had not yet gotten to read or translate. Spectacles fumbling in his fingers in case he needed them, he tried to read quickly so he could use what he'd learnt.
---
Sam reads the grave stone using INT to look for clues within it's words.
He uses the spectacles if required:
Type: Light
Broken Spectacles | These glasses can translate certain texts, however because of the damage they do not do so with any reliability. (OOC: Will translate one plot-related text per season)
