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!
Somehow, one of the forge setups in the Art-isan's Guild had gotten damaged and moved around. Amun had walked into the main room to discover the chaos. Sighing, he'd shooed Zhanshi away through one of the many tunnels the landshark had formed in the building. Then the potter had headed towards the offending corner.
Grabbing a bucket of sand, he tossed it over the coals to douse whatever embers might be remaining. Turning, he headed towards the anvil, which had a huge dent in it from something or other. Grunting, he laid his hands on the warped surface. It rippled and flowed as he activated his upgrade and began to straighten itself out.
03-07-2022, 09:35 PM (This post was last modified: 03-07-2022, 09:38 PM by Darkeye.)
Blackeye
Not the strongest win the battle —
The sound of metal cracking and splintering was heard far enough to arouse Darkeye's curiosity. So he packed up his tools and weapons. Headed towards the crowd, that was forming in front of the Artists Guild. The last thing Bastien was involved in.
With a lot of concern, he went in the direction and knocked very hard on the door. With much concern, he then went in the direction and knocked very forcefully on the door. "Hey, is everything okay over there? Do you need help?" As the smell of hot sand and fire hit Darkeye's nose, he became even more nervous. He knocked on the door again.
Unaware of any commotion outside, Amun just continued his efforts to repair the anvil. However, when the vaguely familiar voice called out, the potter frowned. Zhanshi sent an image of a herd of animals circling prey and the Ascended groaned. Lifting his hands, he trotted towards the front doors.
Frowning to see Darkeye standing there, Amun peered past the man to eye the onlookers milling about behind the Accepted. "All's well folks, just need to do some repairs. Thanks for the concern." The potter gave a wave before stepping back into the room proper. Holding the door open he gave Darkeye a once over. "Were you just in the area or did you come to find me specifically?" The Ascended gestured for the other man to step inside the Art-isan's Guild if he wanted.
Darkeye wondered if he should kick down the door. He looked at other entrances and the people who seemed to have similar ideas. But when he heard footsteps, he calmed down a bit. But when he saw Amun opening the door, he smiled slightly. He bowed slightly to Amun and greeted him politely. "Kor greets you, I hope everything is all right with you?"
Darkeye liked the way Amun took care of the onlookers. "I have a hut not far away and then I heard this loud crash and I was very nervous, to be honest. Metal doesn't usually sound like that. May I ask what happened?" With quick steps Darkeye passed Amun and entered the artisans' guild. He let his gaze wander, hoping to discover the last of Bastien's work. As soon as the door slammed shut behind him and Amun turned around, he said, "Can I offer my help? Metal and forging are in my blood."
At the mention of this Kor, Amun tilted his head to one side. Blinking, he pointed over his shoulder. "Yeah, all good like I said. Just taking care of some damage." Moving to the side, he held the door open as he turned and indicated the forge in question. Apart from the anvil being dented, the furnace had taken a few hits as well, and some of the stones were loose, cracked, or missing altogether.
Shrugging at the other other man's question, the potter scratched under his chin. "No idea what caused the damage. My repairs sometimes make the metal move in odd ways, so that could've been it. I wasn't really paying attention to how loud it was."
Blinking at Darkeye's offer to help, the Ascended's lips parted slightly. "Uh...sure." The other man had already moved past Amun at that point, so he just trailed behind Darkeye. "I'm a potter not a smith so any help you're willing to give is welcome." With that the Ascended headed back to the anvil.
Darkeye walked purposefully to where the hot metal smell was coming from. "It sounded to me like your blast furnace burst and tried to destroy everything nearby. I'm glad nothing happened to you, Amun." Darkeye thought at first that it was another attack. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's take a look then. Could it be that you have more to learn with your gift?" Darkeye winked at him, hoping that Amun had understood the joke. He then simply walked past him.
"I'm a reasonably good blacksmith, I'll take a look, and then we'll know more." Darkeye had to look at the anvil, which seemed to have burst. The open one had also been damaged, but it seemed to be coming from the anvil. "It seems to have gotten too hot inside, so there's not much I can do except remove a new anvil. Unless you can fix it with your skills. Unfortunately, the blast furnace also got damaged, but that can be easily repaired." Was it Amun with his skills or was the Aboss faulty?
Amun arched an eyebrow at the mention of a blast furnace. Frowning, he glanced at their wall of furnaces, before looking back at Darkeye. "What's the difference between a blast furnace and a regular furnace?" The potter's brow furrowed and he hummed a low note as he tried to piece that together.
Arching an eyebrow at the other man's wink, the potter shrugged. "I've always got more to learn. Mostly I just put my hands on something and imagine how I want it to be." He let out a chuckle.
Nodding at Darkeye's assessment, the Ascended laid his hands on the anvil once again. Pressing his lips together, he activated his upgrade. The metal of the anvil began to creep together as he urged it back into its proper shape. "So are you a smith, then?" He glanced up from his work to give the other man a once over.
Darkeye now looked surprised but didn't want to be leaden or discreet. "The temperature you can reach." He tried to explain. A normal furnace is usually only coated with clay. A blast furnace usually has volcanic stones or iron in it to get the temperature higher and hold it longer. These are scraped off with stones. Needed for pottery or to melt iron depending on they can get hotter or colder."
He smiled at Amun and nodded. "So you were trying to fix something and it went bang? Did you lose control or was it something else? It could have been a faulty anvil."
Darkeye paid close attention to what Amun was doing. "I learned the craft but never became a master. From the world where I come from, this craft is in my blood and will always be passed on by my clan. I love to forge or do the stone carving." Darkeye pointed to the anvil. "You have received a very useful gift from Voice."
Nodding at the explanation, Amun eyed the furnaces along the wall. They were made of clay or normal rock, as far as he could tell, so wouldn't qualify for a blast furnace. "If I had extra iron lying around, do you think you could talk me through installing one?" He chewed on his lip for a moment as he examined the wall for the best spot for one.
Frowning at Darkeye's question and evaluation, the potter shrugged. "No idea. Came in here, saw the problem, tried to fix it. The banging or shrieking or whatever was probably a side effect of what I was doing but like I said I wasn't really paying attention to how loud it was." Hesitating, he added, "Ascended aren't as bothered by loud noises as others. Not as painful, deafening, or disorienting."
His lips twitched into a smile though it faded swiftly. "I agree. It's why I asked her for it. She does tend to provide her followers with very useful tools." Sighing, he gesturing at the broken anvil. "As you can tell, though, I tend to brute force my way through using it." Laying his hands on the anvil once more, he continued to repair the damage. It was slowly creeping together.
"I could try and explain to you how it needs to be set up." Darkeye pulled out a piece of paper and drew how a blast furnace was constructed. Tried to explain everything as best he could. Air supply was extremely important as well as the correct thickness of the iron or volcanic rock. The kiln would be fired from underneath or in the walls between. With coal, not wood.
"Excuse me I don't hear so well after all" Darkeye smiled."You don't have to convince me, but I'd appreciate it if you'd try not to make The Ascendant sound better. You did that last time. We are equal, not better or worse than each other. I have already been chosen once and I have ascended. But I know that I am still the same. I don't mean to attack you Amun, I'm just saying that there might be people who will be bothered if you talk to them like that." Darkeye tried to explain the whole thing diplomatically.
"Why is it so hard for you to laugh or show emotion. What's the deal with that." Darkeye looked at him, puzzled. "Why don't you accept a compliment and be happy about it? That was good work." Darkeye smiled at him and looked at the almost new anvil.
As Darkeye started to explain the specifics required to build a blast furnace, Amun's eyes widened. Lifting his hands from the anvil, he patted his pockets until he pulled out a piece of paper and some charcoal. Laying it on the mostly repaired anvil, he started scribbling the instructions on it. When he finished, he flipped it over and sketched out a quick diagram. "Okay, thank you. I think I understand. Something like this?" Holding up the diagram, he held it and the charcoal out for the other man to make adjustments.
Frowning, the potter shook his head. "I wasn't trying to say the Ascended were better or anything like that. I was simply trying to explain to you that I didn't know if I caused the noise that drew you here or not. I apologize for any misunderstanding." He let his breath out in a huff. "I'm not trying to recruit you to the Ascended or anything like that. Trust me. For all I care you can go become an Attuned. The old gods might not like me but from what I've seen of them they'd welcome you with open arms."
Staring at Darkeye, the Ascended arched an eyebrow. "Did you miss the part where someone I loved was murdered recently? It's not exactly sunshine and rainbows for me right now." Rubbing his forehead, he looked away from the other man. Putting his hands on the anvil once more, he finished fixing it with his upgrade before turning his attention to the furnace.
Darkeye looked at the drawing which didn't need much more improvement. "Yes, that looks good to me. That wall there looks good for it." Darkeye pointed to the same spot where Amun had already considered putting the blast furnace."But it will take up the whole wall and the room will get much warmer, but I think you can handle it." Darkeye nodded at Amun and patted him appreciatively on the shoulder. Darkeye measured the wall and made some calculations and showed them to Amun. "The approximate size."
"No, in order to remain truly neutral, I must not choose sides, and that's something I'd like to do. With all the consequences. Maybe I misunderstood something and I apologize for that. I serve Kor that is the only God I serve but you keep mentioning them what do you know about them. Have you met one?" Darkeye became very curious again and hoped to find out more about them.
Darkeye wondered, "You said you have fought in many wars, you must know this pain and it will become even more, you should be aware of that. But that doesn't mean you can't be happy. You can grieve, yes, but you can't lose yourself in grief. You have to live on for the deceased." The boy had not seen so many wars when he said something like that.
Taking down the calculations, Amun nodded at Darkeye's suggestions. Looking between the wall and the back rooms, the potter squared his shoulders. "This might take a while. And heat is only a problem if I get hot enough to explode." With that, he started making treks to the supply areas to bring out the necessary materials.
Between trips, he responded to the other man's questions and comments as best the potter could. "Who is Kor?" Setting down the chunk of iron he'd been carrying, he dusted off his hands. "I've met all of them, yes. Frey is...fine. I'm happy to leave them alone and they seem to feel the same about me. Ludo and Safrin are...a different story though." His eyes narrowed as he spoke of those last two gods.
"I will be happy. Just...not yet. The wounds are still too fresh." Spreading his hands, he shrugged and sighed.
Darkeye nodded, took a piece of chalk, and measured the area. He drew the points on the ground for orientation so that when they put the materials together it would be easy.
"Kor is the god I owe my ascension to. He chose me and made me what I am today. He is the god of war and peace. A coin with two sides." To tell more would go beyond the scope unless Amun asked again. Maybe one day Amun will understand his work. "It's good to know that Frey thinks so. What about Ludo or Safrin?"
"You don't have the time though. there's not much time left to be happy. The war is coming blad."
