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!
10-16-2021, 10:37 PM (This post was last modified: 10-28-2021, 06:41 PM by Ray.)
Ray
Never underestimate The lengths to which
Ray sat at the edge of one of the springs, eyeing her surroundings. The herbalist was nervous but also excited. This was the last part of her quest and if all went according to plan, she'd have one of Rae's Lilies by the end of the day. Her bag was perched on a rock beside her, safely away from the warm water.
Ray wasn't sure who would arrive. She'd spread it more via word of mouth, a bit wary of simply posting it on the board. The herbalist didn't want someone she didn't trust coming along and stealing the flower. It was what had solidified her choice to only tell those she trusted or those who had helped her retrieve the other items. Speaking of which, the bags of peppermint bark and snow moss were safely tucked beside her.
This is a PQ to acquire one of Rae's Lillies! It counts as a rare flora sighting!!
Paige hadn't made herself known yet and she wasn't going to. Not until she was sure it was absolutely safe to do so. Instead she stayed curled up tight in the main compartment of her pack. The Attuned had heard Ray talking about her little quest to her Auntie Maeve and she wanted nothing more than to help her out. It was her first ever real quest. She was one step closer to being a full fledged adventurer. Carefully shifting herself to poke her head out of the bag, Paige took a little look around, whiskers twitching as she took a few sniffs.
She could smell the water and the moss and the peppermint bark. All of it mixing into something strangely enticing. As Ray took a moment to look around, Paige did too, having never been this far away from Torchline before.
Paige has stowed away in Ray's bag! She takes a moment to look around as they wait for the rest to arrive.
Love you to the moon and to Saturn Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long
The springs felt incredible on his aching muscles and joints. How long had it been since he slept in a proper bed or even in a building? Who knows. He's lost count of the days. All he knows is there better not be gore crows this time. Last time he'd been here, one had gotten him in the face. What kind of bullshit is that?
He sinks further into the water, eyes fluttering shut for a moment. He's not sure how much time passes before hears something, or rather, someone. Locke pushes himself up in the water, spotting a young woman a few springs away from him. Interesting. Something about her is familiar but he can't place it. He pushes himself out of the water and dries himself off with his shirt. It's not very clean but he can sort that out later.
"You're a long way from anywhere." He says as he makes his way towards her, walking slowly. "Whatcha doin?" To the point, he is.
Ray startles when she feels her bag move, glancing down and freezing. "Paige?" Sure enough, it's the small Attuned that's snuck aboard. The herbalist shakes her head with a sigh, about to launch into a lecture when a vaguely familiar voice speaks out.
Ray glances at the man, trying to place where she knows him from. "Oh! The jaguar from the forest. Nice to see you again." The herbalist glances at the two other Attuned present and gives a small shrug. They are here and no one else seems to be arriving, so might as well get to it. "I'm actually finishing up a quest and I could use some extra hands, or claws."
Standing up, she pulls Paige out of her bag and places her on the ground. "Alright, So the goal for today is actually to trigger the growth and then harvest one of Rae's Lilies. It's a rare flower with healing properties. First things first, let's all try and find a plot of earth around the springs and each dig a hole for planting. I figure if we make an attempt, hopefully one of us will succeed."
Having given out her instructions, Ray goes and searches for a plot of land in the springs to dig her hole.
Seeing Paige makes him flinch slightly. Well, she can tell Maeve he's still alive he supposes. And at this point, he hasn't been gone for an entire season for no reason. Plus, she's a child. It'll be fine. He gives Ray a half-wave, "Name's Locke, by the way. Ray, right? Maeve's mentioned you." Just briefly. But he's got a hole to dig! So he's going to go do that and get away from people who will potentially yell at him.
He makes his way between two of the pools and finds some soft earth. Yeah, this looks good he thinks. He starts to dig, he doesn't have much gardening experience but he's picked some up over his time with Maeve.
And I don't have the right To ask where you go at night
Paige quickly scurries from the bag, shifting back into herself with a sheepish grin even as mischief sparkles in her eyes, "Hi." She chirps in response to her name, giggling at the obvious surprise on her features. Hopefully she wasn't too upset with her for stowing away. Paige had simply wanted to help. That was all.
Paige follows after Locke, shifting quickly whenever he finds a good spot, putting her little claws to use digging out the hole. The girl doesn't stop until it's deep enough for a plant to go inside of.
Paige shifts and helps dig!
Love you to the moon and to Saturn Passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long
11-14-2021, 12:15 AM (This post was last modified: 11-14-2021, 12:15 AM by Ray.)
Ray
Never underestimate The lengths to which
Ray nods at Locke, "Nice to meet you." She easily identifies him as Edmund's father but stays silent on the matter. Paige gets a small grin from the herbalist and a quick wink. Ray's not mad, just surprised and glad that the child is ok.
Then it's time to start digging a whole in the ground. How hard can it be? Apparently it's not as easy as it sounds though that might be because the ground is more stone then dirt. The underground rivers of hot water that feed the springs are also not to be ignored. But Locke does just that. You'd think that when the stone around the hole began to heat up, that he'd stop. But no. Locke digs too deep end ends up setting off a spray of hot water straight into his face. But hey, at least he dug a hole.
Paige however apparently excels at digging through dirt and stone. Might be because her shift is made for this. Regardless, the youngest Attuned successfully digs a decent sized hole that's now ready to host a plant. Ray has less luck. She manages to dig a usable hole but also drops a stone on her foot. There will definetly be a bruise there tomorrow.
Rubbing her sore foot, Ray addressed the others once they're done. "Alright, next step." The herbalist removes the bags of snow moss and peppermint bark. "We need to use these to draw out the lilies. I'm not sure how so let's use three methods. One person will crumble up both the bark and the moss and place it in the hole. The second will place only the bark in the hole and line the outside with moss. The third will do the reverse. Choose a method and fill in your hole." Ray gives a small shrug, "Fingers crossed that something happens."
Time to use the snow moss and peppermint bark! Choose a method and then fill in your hole.
1. Crumble/tear both the moss and bark and bury both in the hole.
2. Crumble only the bark into the hole and then line the filled-in hole with moss.
3. Tear only the moss into the hole and then line the filled-in hole with the bark.
Paige shifted back into herself, scurrying over to Ray to collect the necessary materials, ”I’ll crumble both of them in the hole! I think that’ll work.” She said with a firm nod, taking the moss and bark back to her hole, breaking up the bark first into a bunch of little pieces. With much more control than might be expected, Paige got the bark into the hole and then very carefully tore up the moss next. She made sure that the bark was completely covered with moss before brushing the dirt back over the hole. The Attuned looked back at Ray, grinning and giving her a thumbs up.
”I think this one is good!”
Paige does the first option!
Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind They count me out time and time again
He jumps back when the spray hits him, starting to curse before remembering there's a small child who will copy what he says near him. He rubs his face with his arm, trying to sooth the not-quite burn. It passes within a few moments and he can get back to whatever he's supposed to be doing. Locke crouches down next to the little hole he dug, trying to listen to Ray and figure out how he ended up planting flowers in the springs. He takes a page from Paige (get it? Haha.) and begins to crumble the bark. "Don't know nothin' about flowers but I think the moss might work better if it's not crumbled." He has no proof of this but hey!
__
And Locke picks the second!
And I don't have the right To ask where you go at night
The trio get to work swiftly and Ray wonders just how in the world they'll even judge if this part works. Paige crumbles up her bark and moss thoroughly but nearly fills the entire hole with them. There's hardly any room for dirt to cover it and Ray's not sure if anything could actually grow from it. But hey, who knows?
Locke's method seems logical enough and he leaves plenty of room in the hole for dirt and growth. His ring of moss also looks pretty neat too. It vaguely looks like the start of a fairy ring almost.
Ray's method seems the most backwards but they have to try everything. Her moss lines the hole nicely and she leaves enough room in the hole as she covers it up. Her bark circle looks more like the start of a campfire but at least it's there.
All done Ray looks at the others. "I'll be honest. I have no idea if any of us were successful so let's just keep going. Time to water these things." She hands out cups and gestures towards teh springs. "Plenty of water but try not to burn yourselves."
Time to water it all! Grab a cup, collect some water from the springs, and water your spot. Try not to burn yourself though.
No post order.
He's pretty proud of his little flower.. hole. It looks like it'd fit a flower nicely. Maybe he's picked up more botanical knowledge than he thought. Ray tells him to water it so he does, standing up with a soft groan before filling up one of the little cups with water and handing it to Paige. She might be a micromonster but he doesn't want her to get burnt. At least if it's in the cup, she isn't reaching into the water.
He fills up his own cup before crouching down again and carefully pouring it over the hole. He tries to go slowly to keep it from flooding. After all, it needs time to soak up the water right? Yeah, that seems to make sense to him.
_____
Locke waters his..hole!
And I don't have the right To ask where you go at night
Paige climbs to her feet, about to skip towards the springs, but Locke beats her to it. Instead he fills up another cup, passing it to her and she almost says something, but instead she smiles up at him. "Thanks, Uncle Locke." The young Attuned chirps, taking the cup from him and turning back to her own spot. She looks down at it, pursing her lips, considering if she did this right at all. There is no turning back now, though!
The girl carefully pours the water on top, trying to remember all the things her Auntie Maeve has taught her about gardening, knowing that too much can drown the roots of whatever plant might grow there. Too little though and it will struggle, using its energy searching for water instead of growing properly.
Paige waters hers too!
Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind They count me out time and time again
It seems like a simple task, right? Grab a cup, fill it with water, pour the water on the dirt. But as most things in Caido, things don't go to plan. Locke successfully waters his plot of earth. The water seeps into the ground, being absorbed rapidly. Thankfully though it doesn't appear that he's over or under watered his.
Paige's careful measures pay off and her plot too seems to have been properly watered though perhaps a tiny bit overly so. Not enough to truly damage anything, however.
Ray though? This is where things go wrong. Leaning down to fill the cup, the earth beneath the Attuned's feet gives out and she plummets into the hot spring. "The fu...!" Popping up from the surface and spitting out water, the herbalist climbs out of the water grumpily. Soaked to the bone she walks over to her plot and squeezes the water from her hair onto her plot of land. There's a surprising amount of water there and her patch of soil is definitely overwatered now.
Still dripping wet, Ray tries to throw her soaked hair out of her face without much luck. "Well. Last step." Letting out a huff she grins exasperatedly. "Plants grow better when you talk to them. So go talk, sing, gossip, or something else with your plant."
Last part! Go talk to your hopefully growing plant!
No post order.
Paige had to contain her giggles when Ray fell into the water, clamping a hand down over her mouth as her blue eyes shown brightly with mirth. She got herself together after a moment to focus on watering her plant. Thankfully that went pretty well and now she had to talk to it. Not a challenge for her. The Attuned shifted to her belly, dropping her chin onto the tops of her forearms as she began to chatter away. "So, you'll never believe this, but my cousin Edmund and I are going to start our own guild! We're going to be an adventurer's guild. Yep. You heard me. We're going to explore all of Caido and find dragons and ride them and be friends with the gods. It's going to be great!"
Paige tells her plant about her (apparently very real) plans to start a guild with Edmund that she decided on just now.
Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind They count me out time and time again
