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!
And I broke my promise on a very sharp rock
And I was possessed by something unfriendly
A door. Drawing back, Peter chews at his lip, very nearly wearing a hole through it with his worry. At least it was something useful, and not some vengeful spirit reaching back up for him.
He’s more than content to lean away and let Wessex stick her face in, wary of whatever the mechanism is. Though a thought does occur to him, one that has him shifting uncomfortably, his gaze thrown back down the slimy tunnel. “So if... we think it’s down there, what um... what covered the grave?”
While he airs his question, Pet shifts closer to Sunjata, a hand extending to gesture for the attuned’s, meaning to take advantage of the offer he’d made, as quickly and easily as possible. It’s a sensation much less intense than the bite between him and Adam, and that makes it that much easier to push through and ignore while others figure out the mechanism.
Pet point about that something would have had to cover up the door with dirt, and accepts the bite from Sunjata
And I was haunted by a demon in my sleep
And that’s how I learned to survive
There is a whirring sound from within the earth as Wessex 's fingers press down onto the pad, followed by a click and a short pulse of blue light. Then, easily enough, the hatch opens. It will be easy enough for the Queen to pry it open despite there still not being a handle. If she does, she will see a tunnel that leads down farther into the ruins than any other. There are no rungs or ladders here, just a 15ft or so drop down a cylindrical hole covered in slime. It is about 6ft wide, so with enough care, the group could jump down without touching the walls. Perhaps not without breaking an ankle, though.
Samuel will have to move a bit to read the inscription given that the tombstone has fallen, but it's easily enough done. (This isn't INT, it's just his glasses).
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
i lost all the air in my lungs to the screamin' i lost all the love in my heart to the demons
The only one that takes his offer is Peter, and the Flood’s head tilts toward his friend as the Ascended shifts closer, reaching for his hand. Sunjata offers it willingly, trying to still himself in a way that doesn’t make this more than it needs to be. And luckily for him? It works for the most part. The only notable difference is the sharp inhale of breath, the flush to the Attuned’s skin, and the way he shifts awkwardly from where he crouches. Luckily for Sunjata, though, Wessex opens the door and Sunjata’s peering down into the dark without much of a second thought.
“Shall we?” He rumbles through a low voice, swallowing against the reaction to the bite, before he abandons it all and shifts into his bat shift, and he flies down through the door into the space beneath, hovering to avoid touching any of the walls and a possible slime trail down the tunnel, looking for a safe place to land, hopefully on one of his group mates.
Sunjata tries to regain composure from Peter’s bite and when Wessex opens the door, he shifts to his bat shift and goes into the tunnel and hovers so he doesn’t touch any walls and any possible trailing slime to land on Peter’s shoulder when he comes through.
i lost all the things that i used to believe in i lost everything for no goddamn reason
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 door opens - and whether it’s by pressing her hand to it or saying the dead lover’s name, Wessex doesn’t know and it probably doesn’t matter. She pries it open and stares down into a tunnel that is also covered in slime. Yuck. Not the best environment to be going into ‘blind.’ Still, there’s nowhere to go but down, so the Wraith stands back for a minute and reaches for the coil of rope she’s brought with her.
“You can climb down if you want,” she offers to Sam and Pet, “If you don’t want to jump.” She should be able to hold them easily enough, she thinks, and ties one end around her waist (because there’s nothing else to tie it to) and then lowering the rest down into the tunnel. If they choose to utilize it, Wessex will do her best to hold them steady until they’re done. Tying the rope around the door's hinges, in case they come back this way and need to get out, she teleports herself down into an empty spot, ready to continue on.
--------------------
Wessex offers to lower Sam and Pet down into the tunnel with the length of rope she's brought. If they take her up on her offer, she'll make sure they're both safely down before tying the rope around the hinges of the door to keep it in place for when they return, and then teleporting herself into an empty space down below.
What he read on the Tombstone made Sam's brow furrow, but he couldn't tell that any of it was going to be particularly useful for their adventure; in fact, if he'd read this before they'd moved the grave, he would have told them absolutely not to. All he did was mumble under his breath 'Emyr...is that his name?' before stepping back.
The tunnel that had been revealed looked terrifyingly deep; he watched Sunjata fly down easily and momentarily regretted not taking him up on the shifts, but Wessex had a solution. Thankful, Sam took a portion of it in his hands and carefully, trying to touch as little of the slime on the edges as he could (he knew just what it could do now, after all) let himself be lowered down into the depths.
Once he was down, blinking a couple of times to adjust his Ascended eyes to the new level of darkness, he tapped his shoulder in case Sunjata was still looking for somewhere to set down. "Here."
--
Sam takes Wessex up on her offer and uses her rope to get down the tunnel, careful as he can be not to touch the slime on the sides. (then offers his shoulder for bat!Jata to perch on).
And I broke my promise on a very sharp rock
And I was possessed by something unfriendly
Sunjata flies down the newly opened pit, something Peter doesn't want to spend his newly acquired power on just yet. Not having to bite Sunjata again would be preferable. Luckily, Wessex has a solution in the form of a rope, Pet hastening his way down right on the heels of Sam, a single blade held out to press against the wall, keeping him steady. He doesn't know how deep the pit is, but Pet remains ready to just drop at a moment's notice, just in case.
At the bottom of the rope, Pet straightens, head whirling around to take stock of their surroundings. Both blades are held aloft, lowering only when Wessex blinks into existence. He waits impatiently for someone else to lead them somewhere, not wanting to stay in one place for too long.
Pet uses the rope to drop down and looks around at their surroundings when they reach the bottom of the grave
And I was haunted by a demon in my sleep
And that’s how I learned to survive
05-24-2021, 09:54 PM (This post was last modified: 05-24-2021, 10:00 PM by Court Official.)
key quest
See? Who said shifts needed to be big and bold to be useful.
Sunjata flutters down the tunnel like he was made for it (he was). Samuel and Peter are able to descend easily enough (see? This is why we bring things to KQs. Well done W), though where their shoes touch the slime, they begin to melt. Luckily, stomping their feet on the stone below will stop the worst of the corrosion. And then voila, Wessex appears neatly with the group, with the rope still dangling. (Hopefully it doesn't corrode and melt away).
The base of the tunnel opens up quite wide (pegasus-wide, but not dragon-wide), such that the group can walk comfortably. It's a good thing the ascended can't smell anything though, because the stench of sulphur is on everything. Ahead is the distant sound of rushing water. Down the pathway is a door with seemingly no mechanism to open it, save for a small opening at the bottom, roughly the size of a fist.
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 small shift comes in clutch when it comes to diving down smallish tunnels, and the Flood makes it with ease, waiting until the rest of them are below. He notices Sam as he pats his shoulder and the Attuned flits toward the bookmaker, perching on his shoulder as they get resituated. The smell alone is enough for the attuned to make rather unhappy squeaks from where he sits on Sam’s shoulder, a leathery wing rising to cover half his face.
He hears the water, another quiet squeak as if he’s telling Sam where he’s going, and he launches off the Ascended’s shoulder to fly down the tunnel, reaching out to see if there are any bats that might investigate the length of the water and where it comes from. And the Flood scouts, too, noticing the door, and he shifts back into himself in front of it and pulls a bandana out from his pocket to create a makeshift mask against the smell.
Sunjata perches on Sam until they’re all walking down the tunnel. He scouts ahead, compels some other bats to hopefully scout the water and see where it goes, and stops in front of the door, shifting back into himself, to pull a cloth from his pocket to make a makeshift mask.
(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.
05-24-2021, 11:13 PM (This post was last modified: 05-24-2021, 11:14 PM by Wessex.
Edit Reason: a word
)
Laser beams we're about to awesome all your dreams
A little pleased that the rope came in handy, Wessex takes up a place in the back of the group, eyeing the slime-covered walls as they walk with more than a little disdain. Even if she can’t smell it, it’s gross.
“Sam, did you get a look at what it said on the headstone?” she asks, following Sunjata towards the door. The distant sound of water draws her attention for a moment and she hesitates, wanting to keep moving forward. If the door is Ascended-activated, Sam and Peter are still there, maybe they can figure it out. “I’m gonna look ahead. Will let you know what I find.” Tapping her head to indicate that she'll relay it back mentally to the Sam and Peter, Wessex continues towards the water to see what she can find out about what lies ahead.
---------------
Wessex asks Sam what was on the tombstone and Sunjata if this door is like the others before heading on towards the rushing water to try and figure out anything about it using her INT.
Reaching the bottom and stamping out any slime from his shoes (he didn't remember this being such a concern last time - had the Prince been purposefully spreading this stuff?), Sam looked out ahead of them, surprised to hear the water as he'd never come across any before in these caves. He took a couple of steps forwards then looked back to Wessex as she asked her question and nodded.
"Yes. It said it was the grave of someone called Emyr King. It said that he and Tallulah would meet again when the 'war was won'." He reported back, unsure quite what to make of the message, not thinking it much use right now and not seeing a reason to keep it secret. "I wonder if Emyr is the Prince's name."
After all, if a lover of his own had become such a hideous creature, he might too consider them basically dead, as horrible as it sounded.
Sunjata and Wessex both went ahead to check out the water; Sam stopped by the door, looking it over and noticing the gap at the bottom. Knowing better nowadays than to just shove his hand right in it, he instead got down as low as he could and looked into it, activating his forcefield on the way down to protect him in this vulnerable position.
--
Sam, learning his lesson from fingers lost in the past, leans down in front of the door to look into the fist-shaped hole rather than putting his hand in it (Uses INT to try and ascertain anything from what he sees). He activates his shield too just in case.
Type: Grey
Holographic Force field Upgrade | the user can project a spherical forcefield around them. Objects and matter can pass through it, but when organic matter does it will receive an electrical shock as long as contact is made
And I broke my promise on a very sharp rock
And I was possessed by something unfriendly
The bottom of the grave seemed just as dismal and empty as everything leading up to it had been. Peter wrinkles his nose as he stomps his boots, more a reflex than out of any real need, and casts his eyes around again. His mind works, but there’s nothing he can really add to the conversation, confusion swirling in his head. He thought they were looking for a prince, but they didn’t have his name already? Didn’t know what a Talullah was?
Sunjata and Wessex forge the path ahead, and as much as Pet might want to follow after them, he’s loathe to leave Sam alone for any reason. Two and two gives them better odds, so he assumes. So he follows Sam down the path, stopping at the door. “Maybe it’s just... open?” He suggests, not believing it himself, but still reaching out to push at the door.
Pet sticks with Sam and tries to just push the door open
And I was haunted by a demon in my sleep
And that’s how I learned to survive
The bats tug against Sunjata 's tether, but they comply just the same. Swarming down and breaking left and right, their voices grow faint as they continue to fly. It would seem that the water flows quite far to the right, though ends quite quickly to the left. Before they grow silent, each group points out (at nearly the same time) that there are two statues near the water.
Peter does the sensible thing (?) and pushes on the door. Precisely nothing happens.
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 flits down the tunnel, seeking out his fellow bats to try and explore further and faster than he could do on his own, and despite their attempts to tug away from him, they comply. His gaze focused on the longer half of the tunnel by the water, perking up at the mention of statues, but being relatively unable to speak in his attuned shift, all he can do is fly through the air to the right, the longer edge of the water, before releasing the bats and zeroing in on the statue he finds.
He shifts back into himself as he lands, he stares at the statue he finds, and tries to see if there’s anything about it that might work in combination with the door that Samuel and Peter have found. Hopefully Wessex has come down the tunnel far enough to hear Sunjata’s words as he turns to shout back to them. “There’s two statues! Trying to see if they correlate to anything!” And then he stares back at the statue, searching for anything of note.
Sunjata stops by the statue to the right and tells the group he’s found 2 statues. I’d like to use his INT on the statue to see if he finds anything that correlates to the headstone or writing on the walls!
INT 1
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
Down at the water, Wessex hums in her assessment of the ‘water’ which is not so purely water after all. Which means it’s iffy at best (at least for the Ascended) to use as an escape route unless they can do it quickly. The water’s pretty thick with slime, she sends back to Samuel and Peter. Might be a way out to the right… air seems fresher over there, but it’s a ways away. Tunnel’s long. Is the door another Ascended door? Are they close enough to be able to mentally speak back to her?
She’d thought Sunjata was back at the door, but he suddenly reappears in her vicinity, briefly startling her and then heads to the right. “Two statues?” she repeats, and then looks around, but can’t see anything. “Where's the other one? Seems like there may be a way out down that way, but I’m not sure.”
Instead, she dips two fingers into the water to see how much damage the slime-water will do to her.
-------------
Wessex dips a couple of fingers into the water to see what kind of damage it will do to them when slime is watered down.
