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!
07-30-2021, 08:17 PM (This post was last modified: 04-04-2022, 04:42 PM by Odd.)
Aurelia
(Group 1)
Aurelia and Ray's combined efforts to calm the unicorn start to work, especially as the other one comes up to see what's wrong. No longer kicking and thrashing, the unicorn seems to submit to its captors. It's certainly not happy about this by any means but, at least Aurelia can safely say no harm will come to these creatures.
Raza keeping her distance was probably a safer alternative. Both she and Ray receive nods from Aurelia, "Alright! Well done, you two. Let's go find the others and see if they've had as much luck."
And, as Aurelia turns her horse to walk across the hills, her unicorn falls into step behind it. Raza and Ray will find that theirs seem a bit eager to follow Aurelia's.
(Group 2)
While Theo's silence is about as charming as a tree stump, it's also about as intimidating. He certainly isn't impeding any progress, and at least someone's ready with the ropes just in case.
Although, the colts are very intrigued by Harper's offering of food - and Adam's hand. The middle one takes one solid sniff of the grass, and then bows his head to begin eating it out of Harper's palm. The one beside him peeks its nose up to try and get some for himself.
The one closest to Adam, in an attempt to copy his brothers, takes a nice little bite of the ascended's fingers. To both of their surprises, probably. The colt suddenly swings its head back and whinnies very loudly.
This whinny catches the attention of the group of approaching riders. As Aurelia and Co. come over the rise, the mare attached to her saddle belts out a call of her own. And, without further ado, the colts leave the men in a rush of hooves, galloping across the grasses to rejoin their herd.
Aurelia eyes them as they flock to her unicorn, hoping they won't bolt because of the presence of humans. She steers her horse towards Harper and the others, coming to a halt when she's just a few feet away, surrounded by unicorns of varying personalities and all that.
"I think this is their.. mother, or at least.. the leader of the herd," she remarks to the group, "I think the rest will follow her. We're gonna bet on that, anyway. But we should get them moving, get under the cover of trees," she looks out towards the treeline, leading them back towards Torchline, "I want the herd in the middle. I'll lead with this one, and two of you bring up the rear. Ray and Harper, I want you on either sides. Raza, I want you to scout ahead to clear the path, alright? Stay within earshot."
And once the formation is formed, with all of the unicorns 'corralled' between the riders, Aurelia will wait for Raza to get a head start before she starts moving everyone after her.
****
The deeper into the Feverlands they get, the more Aurelia feels her rope strain and slack as the unicorn she's leading hesitates, hesitates... hesitates... The rest of the herd seem to be getting restless, as well, but they dutifully follow the lead mare anyways. It perhaps helps that there are riders on either sides of them, keeping them grouped together. "I've got a bad feeling," Aurelia says suddenly, voice hush but loud enough to be heard in the ghostly silence around them, "stay alert."
Not long after Aurelia's warning they will hear a peculiar sound from somewhere nearby. It's rough, like something scraping against tree bark. The source of it can't be pinpointed, though, and suddenly the horses {and unicorns} will all unanimously spook as three giant rats scramble out of the mud toward them.
Aurelia, not unused to situations like this, immediately tries to reign in her horse and calls out, "Keep the herd calm!" Then, with a quick, reflexive use of her magic, she sends a small wave of flames towards the rats.
The crew have 2 options:
Some need to calm the unicorns
Some need to fend off the rats
Have fun with this one, peeps. You can choose to start your responses from the time they reach the swamp/get attacked, if that's easier.
What is clear is what is gold You're only human after all
07-31-2021, 12:14 AM (This post was last modified: 07-31-2021, 12:14 AM by Theo.)
Theo might not have any animal-wrangling skills, but he was, of course, a coward. More charitably, one might note that he had no martial skills and didn't even carry a weapon. Any illusion he made to try to scare off the rats would only spook the unicorns as well.
So instead of facing the rats, Theo turned to the unicorns, putting his horse behind the herd -- so that they couldn't flee, he told himself, not just so that everyone else was between him and their attackers. Then he reached for his illusion magic, trying to conjure something that the unicorns might find soothing: the scent of apples and fresh grass filled the air around Theo and his horse.
Theo puts himself behind the herd and uses Basic Illusion to conjure the smells of apples and fresh grass!
Theo
"Poker" by ND Strupler is licensed with CC BY 2.0.
As they make their way to the swamp, Ray is relieved that the unicorn mare does seem to be the herd's leader. Having the others inclined to follow her just makes the going smoother. But of course their luck doesn't hold. As the herd grows more and more restless, the Attuned keeps her eyes on their surroundings. Shifted panther eyes spot movement in the shadows a heartbeat before the rats make their appearance.
Ray curses under her breath as the rats do emerge. She quickly works to reign in her horse and remain in formation. Given that Ray's fighting style is more towards her shifts or daggers, she figured that it'd be most beneficial for her to try and calm the herd. In a soothing tone that she generally reserved for child patients, she cooed at the unicorns and her own horse.
"Ssshhh lovelies. It's ok. We've got you. It's ok." Keeping her reassurances up, Ray works to keeping the herd together and moving forward.
Ray uses her child-soothing healer's voice to try and calm the herd and her own horse. At the same time she's working to keep them all in formation and moving forward.
this lighthouse I built to guide my feet has burned out and I forgot where I'm going
Happy to hand off her unicorn to someone else, Raza urges her horse ahead of the group and into what she imagines is the proper ‘scouting ahead’ distance. They seem to waste no time leaving Kings End behind. Her trident sits at her side, tied securely to the saddle and hopefully within easy reach should they encounter anything.
The swamp ain’t her most favorite place either, and the occasional hesitations and nervous whickers from her mount place the barkeep a little on-edge as well. She takes the trident from its holster and keeps it easily in one hand, the reins in her other (perhaps foolishly, for as we know, Raza ain’t a real rider). Still, there’s nothing ahead of them that makes her call a halt until three ROUS jump out at them. Her horse shies away and Raza yelps, losing the reins; nevertheless she tries to aim a zap of lightning from the weapon at the oversized beasts, even as it seems she might have no control over where she’s headed next.
--------------
Raza's horse shies at the ROUS's and she loses the reins, but tries to shoot a lightning bolt at the rats anyway.
Sea Panther Trident | A trident of gleaming black metal. The chief point is fashioned out of a pale, twisting horn, sharp as a razor, and may be detached as a dagger. The trident may deal additional Lightning damage once per thread.
Of course it was never going to be easy, but Harper is strangely grateful that their first obstacle is not something more dire. Squeezing one side of his mount to edge closer to Theo’s own, he throws the reins at the man. “Keep them gathered Theo, they’ll want to stay in a group even if they run!” Then he’s slipping his feet from the stirrups and transforming into his Gore Crow form, bloody eyes and dragonhide-piercing beak and talons gleaming as he dives in a spin towards the giant rats.
Doing his best to avoid the magical attacks from Raza and Aurelia, Harper lashes out with his claws against the backs of every rodent in reach, hoping the injuries will scare them off. Reserving his elephant form just in case they retaliate.
- - -
Harper throws the reins of his mount to Theo, advising him to keep the mounts and unicorns in a close herd in case they bolt. Then he shifts to his Gore Crow form and tries to avoid the magical attacks while using his hide-piercing talons to attack the ROUS’.
I am water - soft enough to offer life tough enough to drown it away
"Mother--agghh." Adam mumbled, careful not to yell as the horse bit his fingers (this was made easier by the lack of pain, but there was still a reflex to call out when seeing ones fingers trapped in a horse's mouth). Still, the creatures seemed content enough to go with them and he took up the back, walking along and thinking back to similar times, many years ago, when he'd been very young and his mother had stopped in towns with horses.
Of course, it was all going too smoothly. As the unicorns whinnied and reacted to the rats arrival, he stepped around them; others were doing enough to calm the herd, so he decided to deal with the rats. Whichever was not being handled, Adam would deal with in the most efficient way he had. Lightening his weight he jumped up, soaring a couple of feet into the air - then made himself as heavy as he could, hoping to squish the ROUS.
He did not consider, until he was in motion and couldn't stop, how gross it would be.
---
Adam jumps up and lands on one of the ROUs using his gravity change upgrade to make himself light then heavy in turn.
The illusion of apples and fresh grass paired with Ray's soothing voice work in tandem for a few moments. But the sound of lightning and fire, and the shift Harper makes are all too overwhelming for a herd of untrained, untamed unicorns. The colts push and shove so much that the surrounding unicorns all break out into a neighing, bucking panic. Theo gets so jostled in the saddle that he gets thrown off and lands on the ground with a heavy thud. With hooves stamping all around him, he'll need some help getting back on his feet.
Meanwhile, Aurelia's fire magic makes a fast and fierce appearance. One of the ROUS goes up in flames. That, paired with Raza's trident attack, is enough to char the rat to a soggy crisp. Aurelia flashes the other woman a keen look. In doing that, she realizes that the horse Raza is riding has taken off with her into the darkness.
Adam's leap is graceful, like a beautiful butterfly taking flight, and then he launches himself into a deadly.. belly flop. He lands on the ROUS like a pile of bricks, effectively frightening the rest of them off. When he gets up, he will be covered in grime and mud and... other mystery fluids. Wait a second, is that mud? Oh, gross.
As for Harper, even though he timed his attack well enough that he doesn't get injured by his own comrades, he misses - sorely - and ends up stuck in the muck. Even if he shifts back into himself, he'll undoubtedly need some help getting out.
"Ray- here, take her," Aurelia quickly hands over the lead unicorn's rope to Ray, "she'll calm the herd. Where's Theo?" Aurelia's eyes squint through the shadows on the ground, trying to pinpoint where the young man is. In searching, she spots Harper getting sucked deeper into the mud and calls out, "Adam! Help Harper! I have to go and get Raza-"
At which point, she turns her horse on a dime and gallops off in the direction she'd last seen Raza. It doesn't take long for her to catch up, what with her horse being a lot more guided than Raza's is at this point. And when she does, she'll reach out to grab hold of the lost reins to pull Raza's mount to a steady halt.
"Whoa, boy!" No sweat, right? Once the horse settles, Aurelia's gaze is quick to try and assess Raza, "You okay, Raz'?"
Sorry for the delay, you guys are doing great! Just one more round for this split and then we get our finale thread! :)
Ray's been given the lead unicorn to calm the herd, but Theo might need some help getting up off the ground.
Harper's stuck in the mud and needs Adam's help.
Aurelia is catching Raza and her runaway steed.
Side note: it's entirely up to the player if their character has gotten injured in all the ruckus.
What is clear is what is gold You're only human after all
Technically, it all went to plan. He came down heavy on the creature, crushing it as intended - just not with his boots. With his body, gaining several layers of...something in the process. There was a moment spent whining and trying to rub down his clothes, but all it seemed to be doing was spreading whatever had clung to him further. It did take a moment for Adam to notice Harper's distress, dirty as he was.
"Oh. Uuhhh--" Reaching down to grab Harpers hand (assuming he took it - he'd be stupid not to), Adam would float, pulling up and away from the mud as hard as he could, two feet or so in the air. "You gotta do some work too. Grab the edge and push and we'll get you out."
--
Adam grabs Harper's hand and pulls, and tells harper to push.
Seeing the chaos unfold, Ray feels lucky to have focused on the unicorns and her own horse. She'd been able to avoid injury as a result. Alert as she is, the herbalist takes the lead unicorn from Aurelia without hesitation, "Got it." Ray then begins to run soothing hands down the mare's flank, shushing her till the unicorn hopefully calms.
Her goal is to calm the lead mare in the hopes that she'll then calm her own herd. They're more inclined to listen to their leader then Ray after all. If this is successful, Ray will then turn and offer a hand to Theo.
Ray takes the lead unicorn and attempts to calm her. This way the lead unicorn will hopefully calm her own herd down. If this is successful, Ray will then turn and try to help Theo up.
"Oh, shit," Theo got out as he fell from the saddle, and then he had to focus on dodging the unicorns' hooves as they came down around him, with uncertain success. Looking for the nearest edge of the herd, he did his best to roll out from under the group of horses, realizing that he wouldn't be able to get to his feet among them -- and that he risked being trampled if he stayed where he was.
He reached for Ray's hand, hoping to pull himself to his feet. But his greatest goal was simply to stay out from under the unicorns' hooves.
Theo tries to roll out from under the unicorn herd. He'll take Ray's hand and pull himself up if he can, but if not, he'll stay on the ground and just try to stay out of the herd's trampling zone.
Theo
"Poker" by ND Strupler is licensed with CC BY 2.0.
this lighthouse I built to guide my feet has burned out and I forgot where I'm going
At some point, she’d given up on tryin’ to claw the reins back and just focused on not fallin’ off - or waiting till her horse slowed down - or somethin’ that didn’t need her thighs to be in a vice grip and clutchin’ at the mane for dear life. While also managing to not drop her trident into the black, fetid depths of the swamp.
It’s one of the most difficult balancing acts she’s had to do in a long time.
Luckily for Raza, Aurelia seems to come out of nowhere and manages to get her mount back under control. The Torcher exhales audibly and straightens up a little from her crouched position. “Fuckin’ hell.” It’s all that she can say for a moment while she puts her head back on straight, but when she does seem to settle back into herself, she reaches out for the Fireheart’s forearm. “Thanks. I’m okay. But next time you need somethin’ done with horses, maybe make me your last choice, yeah?”
Kindly said, there’s a kernel of truth in there. Raza is along for the ride cause they’re out here, but she ain’t havin’ much fun. Turning back towards the rest of the group, she’ll follow the Fireheart’s lead and speed back. “Y’may need Harper or someone to get me off my horse tonight. M’thighs might be stuck in this position forever…”
