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!
07-31-2021, 11:30 PM (This post was last modified: 07-31-2021, 11:31 PM by Arialla.)
Arialla
The path of lights led Arialla true -- if getting closer to the source of the howling was indeed a good thing. She looked up at the tower for a moment, observing its age, its state, and its height. Well, the best way to find out what was at the top would be to look. And fortunately, she didn't have to climb.
"I'm going to go see what's up there," she said in the general direction of Ronin and Seren. Then she took her eagle form and took flight, intending to spiral up to the top of the tower. She wouldn't land there, not yet; she wanted a good look at whatever was making that noise before she got anywhere near it.
Arialla uses her eagle form to fly up and take a look at the top of the tower.
For better or for worse, the lights lead them to the source of the howling. And Ronin ruffles his fingers through his hair as he emerges in time to see his daughter cup her hands and let out a mournful cry in response, to see an eagle take flight up and up and up. The Huntsman bites at the inside of his cheek; perhaps the years have made him cynical, but he cannot help but to suspect a trap in all of this.
"I'll scout out the place," he decides, and with a curl of a finger upwards, he summons down a nimbus to hop aboard. In silence - apart from the howling, evidently - Ronin soars upwards to circle the tower, to try and spy whether the danger resides at the top, or on the ground where his daughter waits.
soft spoken with a broken jaw we step outside, but not to brawl
Well this isn't ideal. On the contrary, this is fucking stupid. Jack finds his footsteps slowing, and then utterly frozen in the muck as it comes for him, sucking him down into the filth. This is why the captain sticks to the sea, and he manages to prevent himself from wasting energy by struggling. Instead, Jack reaches in deep, conjures his magic, and manipulates the water away from the mud that it might be easier to walk.
Whether he's successful is another matter entirely, but as he pulls the moisture from the dirt, he fights to free one foot, then the other, continuing along his way through the path of roots and stones. It's albeit at a much slower pace, but who knows? Maybe that will be enough. Or maybe whatever is howling will come for them, and snatch them away to the swamp's dark places.
Jack uses Upgraded Water Manipulation to drag the moisture from the dirt to firm up the earth, before trying to continue to walk.
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
A small group of them choose the bottom roots and stones path and it seems like it’s a more perilous choice than he’d anticipated. Soon, Falke’s feet and cane (brought out to keep himself steady, naturally) are well stuck in the grips of the swamp. No matter how hard he struggles, the Fixer can’t seem to rip himself out.
So the Stormbreak-born man stops struggling and turns to those he knows will help them, his faith in their Gods and his own god-given gift burning brightly. “Ludo,” he calls to the soul-ushering herald, lifting his arms in platitude. “We still have much to do before we enter Mort’s Realm. Please take us from this mud and put us on the right path.”
----------
Falke tries to channel Ludo and asks that it puts the roots and stones group on the right path.
Stars move slowly in a silvery night
Far away on the other side
As was often the case in the swamp, the hidden foundations of the path were lacking. Feeling her feet begin to sink, seeing the others around her beginning to slide into the same fate, Mildew called on those which had always been her companions: the creatures of the Feverlands. The birds that knew the branches well, the squirmy bugs and worms that lived in the mud.
Tell me where to stand. Where to find support. She asked them, keeping herself calm (after 500 years of experience in this place, this was not the first time she had been sinking in mud) as they gave her instructions, advice. Following the knowledge she had accumulated from them, Mildew would begin to use the correct roots and footholds to lift herself out of the mud and once again onto sure footing.
-
Mildew asks creatures in the surrounding area of the swamp to tell her where to step and grab to regain her footing.
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
Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own
Ooooh, such clever little souls on the roots and stones path.
But the herald of souls is cleverer than all of you, and thanks to Falke, it's here to help! Help, right? That's what you wanted, yeah? Cool. Cool.
"Up you go!" Ludo's voice is childlike and amused, and Falke, Jack and Mildew will find themselves all sucked up and out of the mud, trundled along the pathway until a great big tower is in view, and they're all unceremoniously dropped on their butts.
Except Falke, obviously. He'd been the one who channelled the god, so he gets set on his feet again, and a pat on the head by an invisible force.
"Gosh, that's an awful howling, isn't it? Well, bye!"
A number of things become self-evident as the other three adventurers arrive at the tower.
One - whilst the howling is human, it's not the thing that's in the tower.
Two - it really doesn't like being howled back at, Seren.
And so with the rest of the group arriving and with an eagle on the wing and a demigod on a cloud, there's very little to stop the thing - a black, ragged nothing of a creature, with wicked sharp claws and a mass of black hair that obscures its face - from launching itself out of the tower and directly towards Seren.
Gravity is on its side, to begin with, and it has no intention of stopping until it lands directly on the young woman.
What it plans to do from there...? Well, I'm sure you can guess.
Well, that was perhaps not her brightest idea ever. While she had meant nothing bad about it, her intentions accounted for nothing as a dark mass launched down towards her from the tower.
With a startled yelp Seren instinctively let off a Gravity Pulse aimed at herself. She tried to jump as high as she could, meaning to dodge the attack and leave herself hovering high above ground - preferably without the creature clinging to her.
Seren uses Gravity Pulse on herself to try and dodge the attack by leaping into the air and hover as high as she can.
Magic: Gravity Pulse | Can increase or decrease gravity within 15ft of her body. When used on herself she can jump higher/take larger bouncier steps/hover 10ft off the ground /etc, or root herself or something/someone else in place (Must have a str of +15 to move her/the item). Not effective against large structures like houses.
Type: Grey | Rank: Upgraded
Battle born they send us Covered in our noble blood
✰ Starlight (Passive) | Starfilled night billow around her like a veil as she moves. It is more noticeable in daytime and when she make sudden movements.
The thing launches itself from the tower directly towards his daughter, and Ronin (naturally) does not react in a particularly logical way. "Seren!" He barely hears the way he growls her name, but the girl is already on the move. Her magic is impressive and he'll tell her that after this, when they aren't trying to keep a clawed monster from slicing off her face. For now, though, Ronin launches himself off his nimbus that he might drop directly on top of the thing.
And should he be successful, it won't be with magic but with brute strength that he attempts to throw it back towards the tower. He's not thinking clearly enough to be clever and try to throw it back in through the window it jumped from, so against the steep walls will have to be enough.
Ronin jumps off his nimbus and tries to land on the creature! If he succeeds, he'll try to throw it at the tower wall.
soft spoken with a broken jaw we step outside, but not to brawl
Flailing to remain upright as he's dropped onto his ass, there's little Jack can really do about the whole mud situation, and he doesn't really have time to comprehend Ludo deciding to help them out either. Because like it or not, Jack has still grown up in fucking Torchline, and he knows a channelling when he feels one. Too bad there's not a moment to lose before something is fucking screaming out of the tower and towards some bitch.
He recognises the old (old) Governor's squeeze, too, Jack deciding that he's absolutely not going to get in the way of whatever fuckery is happening here. And so, drawing his air magic up and around him, he prepares to shield against anything that might be thrown his way.
Jack selfishly constructs an air shield using his magic, just in case anything nasty comes for him.
Air manipulation: Can create and control the air. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
full speed ahead 'til i'm dead
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
For as long as he can, Falke simply takes some time to delight in the successful channeling of the herald and then in its pat on his head. Like a child. Or a pet. Chuckling briefly to himself, the Fixer follows it up with a loudly whispered ”Thank you!” to Ludo before the howling and the hurling of things grabs his attention.
And, well, he knows Ronin and Seren are likely more than capable of handling that thing. Whatever it is. A banshee of some sort? There’s little he could do to help, so the best thing is not to get in the way. Which means… there’s still something to be investigated. Falke tries to edge himself sideways towards the mysterious tower, attempting to keep an eye on the attacking thing and the tower, all at once.
-----------------
Falke edges sideways towards the Tower, trying to keep an eye on the thing attacking Seren and the Tower. If he gets close enough, he'll look for a way to enter.
Stars move slowly in a silvery night
Far away on the other side
The creatures of the swamp barely had time to respond before Ludo was snatching them up out of the mud; Mildew hadn't seen the God in many, many years and her face lit up with a bright smile, even as she was dumped on her ass on the other side. Climbing up with no apparent offense at the unceremonious drop off, she waved Ludo goodbye then turned to look at the tower.
A creature leapt down from the top of the tower towards the young girl with them and well, it was a terrible shame, but there was little Mildew could do about it.
Following Falke's lead, she used the distraction to step carefully around the attack and towards the tower, hoping to see if the entrance was open.
--
Mildew follows quietly after Falke and tries to see if the tower entrance is open.
Will you come to talk with me this night?
But she couldn't find how to push through
When the creature jumped out of the tower, Arialla's flight automatically dipped towards Seren; her instinct was to defend another, even a stranger. But Ronin seemed to have that covered, actually, and Arialla realized that trying to get within talon's reach of the creature would only put her in his way -- and in harm's way. The eagle's hollow bones were more fragile than one might think, after all.
So Arialla rose in flight again, circling and examining the tower. She'd like to get a better look at the top or perhaps peer into the place from which the creature had come. She kept an eye on the situation below, however, ready to make a swift dive if Seren and Ronin seemed overwhelmed.
Arialla leaves the creature to Ronin and uses her eagle's sight to examine the tower, especially the top of the tower and the place from which the creature came.
Arialla
Freedom. Flight. Grace. Keen-sight.
"Golden Eagle - Mongolia" by carfull...from Wyoming is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Well aren't you all just keen beans? Except you Jack, but y'know, self-preservation is lucky in itself.
Between Seren and Ronin the creature really doesn't stand a chance. Almost like the pair are father and daughter or something, their teamwork is impeccable. Seren sets up with the dodge, Ronin closes in with the... whatever the fuck he's doing. Either way, it's with a dull whump and a wheeze that the creature breaks against the tower where it's thrown.
Which leaves our three budding adventurers. It's a close one, but ultimately Falke comes upon the discovery first. A gleaming, shining stone within the tower wall which seems to hum with some hidden power.
And when it's pressed?
A vast and blinding glow - a blessed reprieve - and finally, silence.
When the light fades, the tower will be gone. The howling will be gone, too. And where the world was once dark with night, now the sunrise peeps in through the trees in the swamp. Was it some ghost you have excorcised? An illusion, perhaps?
Unknown - but one thing's for sure - one of you will leave the Feverlands feeling significantly luckier.
~FIN
Congratulations Falke for winning the drop and for gaining +3 luck!
