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!
Stars move slowly in a silvery night
Far away on the other side
Mildew paused outside her hut, stood delicately on a raised tree root and looking out over the bubbling mud and at the buzzing insects. Usually, they were her friends and companions, giving her invaluable advice about the swamp and company throughout her days, but now there was a distinctly hostile hum to the noises. "The swamp...the land does not want to give her up." She said softly, looking at the Klaws then to the group.
"But-- Directing her eyes back out to the trees, in a stern voice, Mildew continued: "The Mathair must make her own decisions, and she is free to leave if she wants to. It is not in the spirit of the Feverlands to keep people against their will." Freedom and wild nature did not imprison, did not control.
---
Mildew tells off the swamp a little bit.
Will you come to talk with me this night?
But she couldn't find how to push through
With none of the answers to their questions given, Ronin is left to glare moodily over his shoulder at the Klaws, falling to a halt only because Mildew does. Around them the swamp definitely doesn't seem to be rolling out the welcome wagon, and it's either his hackles rising or a quick thought for his husband behind him that ignites his dazzle. Either way, a soft glow starts to pulse from within the Star, illuminating the area around them.
"I don't want to use force," he murmurs, "but if that's what it comes to, I don't think we will have a choice..." It seems funny now, that they had been needled for bringing a party of four to take the Mathair home. Who knew that they would be fighting the swamp before they got anywhere near the Greatwood again.
Ronin starts to glow, and suggests they might need to use force.
The way up and the way down are one in the same I'm calling an audible late in the game
Wings unfurl from Remi's back as he eyes the fog silently ebbing toward them. "The last time I was here and saw fog like that, I was attacked by a rather large...fish." Even he frowns at his own phrasing, but without taking his eyes off of the white wall beginning to block them in, he can't see how his news was received. "I forget what it was called, but it tried to lure us deeper into the fog with images it thought we would gravitate to." As for what the Feverlands would or wouldn't do, Remi wasn't so sure.
Unlike his partner, Remi was fine using force against the swamp to procure the things he needed. "My priority is the Mathair, and returning her safely." The alchemist says to Mildew, unsure if his words are meant to be an apology or a warning. Both, in all likelihood.
If love is everything, love is pain Certain spirits are too bright to be tamed
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Apparently food for the Mathair didn’t matter when the swamp unfurled into something else. Alive and emblazoned, with a vibrant, almost threatening hum, and Deimos nearly sighed. He had half a notion to see if he could compel whatever animals and creatures lurked within – but then the fog rolled in, and Mildew seemed to have the majority of that covered.
Remi’s information about something lurking within the mist didn’t surprise him – not after years of being on Caido. Not after the sea panther. “I can try to lift the fog,” he offered – and maybe they’d have a chance to see what lurked underneath the sudden, murky abyss.
While Belial and Zuriel remained behind him, the Sword extended out his Air incantations, intending to peel away the layers of the ominous haze.
--
Deimos tries to use his Mastered Air to clear out the fog.
Air manipulation: Can create and control the air. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
As it happens the swamp is in the business of keeping close those it wishes never to leave. Where do you think all those bones that litter this land have come from? Lucky for the lot of you but unlucky for the creatures that are hiding in the fog, Deimos is able to stir up a wind that blows away enough of the fog to reveal what is inside: two lamplighters, disfigured and grown fat and strong thanks to the energy that they've been syphoning off from the Mathair. The lights that hang above their mouths pulses a dim blackish light that casts obscure shadows over their gaping mouths filled with crooked teeth.
Swimming through the air, Lamplighter 1 targets Deimos, noting that it was he who disturbed their cover. The Sword is far too quick though, and the blast of energy that is sent his way strikes a tree and sets it ablaze.
Stars move slowly in a silvery night
Far away on the other side
It had been a long time since Mildew had felt any fear for her home; she knew the Feverlands could be cruel, uninviting, but she had been there so long and felt so at peace with it's flaws and quirks that she had not thought it possible to be shocked by it anymore. Yet as Deimos lifted the fog and revealed the two Lamplighters, fat and twisted and with a distinctly hostile approach, she felt a spark of panic in her chest.
She wasn't a coward, but logically, she was not going to have anywhere near as much of a chance against the creatures as the three men here. They seemed powerful, having been preparing for this war and blessed by various Goddesses in some cases. Mildew, who had spent the last hundreds of years tending to trees and communicating with the earth, was not suited for this work.
Hoping to get out of the way before fighting began, she turned and ran towards her hut, hoping to get in. There were far more tools within than without, and she might be able to make something useful. From a crack of the open door, she called: "They usually wait until their pray falls dead naturally - they aren't born fighters. You should be fine, dears!" Not that she was going to help; Mildew shut the door.
--
Seeing the Lamplighters, Mildew dashes towards her hut to hide within (and maybe make an item, but right now she's just trying to gtfo).
Will you come to talk with me this night?
But she couldn't find how to push through
"Oh, well that is... Oh." Ronin blinks between the fog lifting, Mildew scurrying into her house, and Deimos and Remi at his back. Then his gaze is on the lamplighters, engorged with their stolen energy, and the Star pulls a face more aptly found on children made to eat their vegetables. "Wow," he says - of all the things he might feel in the situation, panic was not one of them.
"That isn't even a good light," he mutters, and around him three pinpoints of starlight arrange themselves in a halo. "Here, I'll show you one." And without further ado, he lets them loose towards the lamplighters.
Magic: Shooting Stars | The user may summon celestial energy as a projectile. Control is excellent, and multiple projectiles may be created at once. (In quests or other combat situations requiring dice rolling, only 3 stars may be created per post).
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
The way up and the way down are one in the same I'm calling an audible late in the game
"I was not born a fighter, either." Remi notes with a frown, not finding Mildew's argument reassuring. Though perhaps it wasn't meant to be.
Glancing toward Ronin as he conjures three balls of light that shoot away from him, the alchemist can't help the sly smile of mischief that slides across his lips. "Huh." He mumbles, straightening. Unlike Mildew, Remi feels a pulse of joy that he might be able to test out one of his new abilities with Ronin around to provide critique.
"So you just..." So saying, Remi waggles his fingers (not that Ronin had), and three points of light similarly appear around him. "..and then you just.." The balls of light fly toward the Lamplighter that Ronin had attacked.
Remi copies Ronin's ability!
Magic: Copycat | Remi can mimic the abilities from one fellow demigod (Old Gods only). In order to mimic the ability, Remi must have been damaged by it in a thread previously. Only one ability may be used per thread.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic
Magic: Shooting Stars | The user may summon celestial energy as a projectile. Control is excellent, and multiple projectiles may be created at once. (In quests or other combat situations requiring dice rolling, only 3 stars may be created per post).
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
If love is everything, love is pain Certain spirits are too bright to be tamed
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
The air listened and lifted – corresponding to his wake. And what did it all unveil? Some more monsters. At the very least these ones were new, disfigured, bloated, lights hanging above, likely meant to entice prey – the only revelation was their unique appearance.
Deimos wasn’t even remotely surprised, sighing as he dodged the initial attack. With Zuriel and Belial safely behind him, Mildew gone into the house, and Remi and Ronin starting the siege, there was really only the nuance of him doing the same.
Stepping forward to join the likes of brethren at arms, he summoned his magic once more. Opting for an old, familiar friend, he stirred the pervading essence of Life Drain from his soul – pulsing, entangling, intertwining, out into the ether, striving to hit the lamplighters.
--
Deimos tries to hit the lamplighters with his Mastered Life Drain.
Life Drain : Can take life force from a living thing to temporarily make themselves stronger within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
Stars streak away from Ronin, slamming into one of the Lamplighters and doing a truly ridiculous amount of damage. The creature hangs on by the hairs of its disgusting chin, so when Remi replicates the gesture, it's entirely overkill(ed).
Deimos' blast tugs at the creature, suddenly making it appear as though it's floundering in mid-air.
Despite having its counterpart so completely obliterated, the remaining lamplighter plans to fight tooth and fin to keep the Mathair close. Blindly (random dice roll) it lunges toward Deimos with its jaws held wide open. The Sword though is too fast—they're all too fast really, save for Mildew who has smartly hidden herself away—and the creature's jaws close around nothing at all.
Your randomly chosen order is: Mildew, Ronin, Remi, Deimos
Stars move slowly in a silvery night
Far away on the other side
Mildew watched from the window as the Lamplighters made their lunges - one of them was swiftly eliminated by Remi and Ronin, the life gone so quickly she could have missed it in a blink. Normally, the death of a creature in her swamp would rip at her heart, but these had turned against her and the will of the Gods; such things had to be quelled as soon as they could be.
It seemed that the three men had this well and truly handled, given how swiftly they'd taken out the first Lamplighter. Kneeling down by the window, she closed her eyes and called out to any beetles, flies, rats - small scurrying things that saw a lot in their short lives. Dears, are there any others angry about the Mathair's departure? Anyone else going to give us trouble after these two?
--
Mildew crouches down behind her window and tries to ask any small creatures nearby if there are any other angry animals in the swamp.
Magic: Messenger | Can speak to all animals (non-mythical) and receive and relay messages through them. Only Gods and Attuned can receive the messages from Mildew.
Type: Light | Rank: Basic
Will you come to talk with me this night?
But she couldn't find how to push through
"Sure, but I don't know if I look quite so silly when I do it," Ronin remarks to his husband, his tone teasing even as one of the lamplighters pretty much explodes under their combined forces, the other looking fairly worse for wear thanks to Deimos as well. Rolling his shoulders, another three starbolts appear around him, and he wastes no time in letting them lance towards the second lamplighter.
"Do you think they are the main force, or just the messengers?" he asks, peering over his shoulder back towards the house where their guide had disappeared. "Either she has given up, or she has gone to fetch the Mathair so we can make a quick exit," he tells the other two men, offering a light smile.
Ronin attacks Lamplighter 2 with his starbolts and makes smalltalk.
Magic: Shooting Stars | The user may summon celestial energy as a projectile. Control is excellent, and multiple projectiles may be created at once. (In quests or other combat situations requiring dice rolling, only 3 stars may be created per post).
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
The way up and the way down are one in the same I'm calling an audible late in the game
'Silly?' This was supposed to be a difficult encounter, but given that Deimos, Ronin and himself were making easy work of it, Remi has time for his indignation. "I did it exactly like you did. Maybe you just look silly as well. Have you ever watched yourself?" Bouncing his eyebrows in Ronin's direction as if daring the Star to admit that he hadn't (liar), or that he had (vain), Remi glances over his shoulder toward Mildew's hut as his husband attacks the second Lamplighter and presumably decimates it.
'Mildew? Thoughts?' He calls, his carefree confidence evident in his voice. "Is the Mathair..." Wincing at his utter lack of vocabulary here, Remi glances around the swamp with his brows furrowed. "..around? Or...?" Was she still a tree? What would she look like when she appeared?
If love is everything, love is pain Certain spirits are too bright to be tamed
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
One down, one to go. In between the nuances, the beast noted the other lamplighter coming towards him, but with another dodge, he still remained whole. Arching his brow at the small talk, he almost looked over his shoulder back towards Mildew’s hut, but figured the monster, since it’d already attempted to assault him once, required his attention. “Could this be the beginning?” He offered into the notions – if this was merely the start, would they be encountering things the entire time?
Regardless with the presumptions, the beast continued. Likely overkill with Ronin already attacking, Deimos figured another assault wouldn’t hurt, just a little insurance. He aimed another potent Mastered Life Drain towards the lamplighter, and then hopefully they could carry on with their mission.
--
Deimos uses Mastered Life Drain at the remaining lamplighter.
Life Drain : Can take life force from a living thing to temporarily make themselves stronger within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed
