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!
Working in tandem with Nikolai, she demigod finds that the work goes quickly and easily and they’re soon moving right along. However, as she lifts another heavy piece, the faintest sound catches her attention and she pauses, shooting the younger Ascended a glance. “Do you hear that?” Her eyes narrow and she frowns ever so slightly before exiting to deposit her load, but when she returns, Wessex climbs up a little further, dodging debris, so she can listen closely and scan the area for whatever might be making that sound.
Unfortunately, she’s too far away to help Darkeye and her concentration is elsewhere at the moment.
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Wessex hears the sound and moves further up the stairs, using her INT and try to figure out what's up there.
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
Nikolai pauses as the sound reaches him as well, "I do." He glances at Wessex before eyeing the stairs. Up by Wessex, Darkeye is too far back for him to help as well. Instead, he silently activates his energy shard upgrade, blade forming in one hand.
Armed and ready to throw his blade at the first sign of danger he calls out to the others in a hushed whisper. "There's something up ahead." Hopefully they'll take that as a sign to fall silent and draw their weapons. Or maybe to come up with some other plan. Having said his piece, Nikolai focuses all of his attention up ahead and waits for Wessex to give an order or idea.
~
Nikolai prepares his energy shard upgrade so he can throw it at anything that emerges. He whispers a warning to the others behind hm that something is up ahead.
Type: Offensive | Level: Basic
Energy Shard | Through an upgrade in the wrist, the user can propel knife-shaped bursts of energy, up to 10ft
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
Down and out, and out of luck, we're spinning but the needle's stuck
Maea heard the groan and crack as stone began to falter, and turned just in time to see Darkeye drop from where he was standing. "Watch out!" Startled, she activated her teleportation and popped -
- over to where she hoped the ground would still be solid, and threw out a hand in the hopes of catching the stout man, before he could fall into the dark pit below. The lights in her hand fizzled out as her concentration was broken, but that didn't matter right now; her hands were needed elsewhere, anyway.
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Maea teleports over to where Darkeye was, hoping that the ground doesn't give out under her too, and attempts to catch him!
Type: Other | Level: Basic
Binary Teleportation Upgrade | Can teleport up to 30ft OR to an adjacent board. Requires a 2 post cool-down between uses.
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
Maea
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Darkeye still sees how the ground breaks away under him and tries to lay his wooden spear crosswise so that it does not fall. He still wants to warn the others but Maea rushes him to help. The noises outside were also no coincidence all at the same time. This is a trap the beings who have prepared this are not normal hunters. Spiders came into his head. But he had to get out of here first. He tried to grab Maea's hand. His feet tried to find a surface. He knew the panic was useless. Wessex and Nikolai would take care of the attackers, but the question was if they could be under the ceiling, would they be under the floor?
Darkeye tried to lay his wooden spear across to have a surface to hold on to. Then he tried to grab Maea's hand.
Isla's keen hearing does pick up on the sound of chittering from overhead, but as she turns to look over her shoulder, Wessex and Nikolai are already on the case. Which is a fairly good thing, given what happens to Darkeye next. Swearing under her breath, Isla is also quick to act. "Try not to move too much!" she advises, worried that the floor will give away further if they start to shift their weight.
Hugging the walls of the stucture where things look much more stable, Isla inches over to where Maea and Darkeye are (hopefully) rescuing the latter. She holds out her spade to them to give either one something to hold onto, without her needing to inch out onto uneven ground. Things are never easy.
Chaele quickly tucks away her herb box as the question goes unanswered. She instead turns her attention to the commotion rising within the spire itself, the promise of a quiet day of labor proving as futile as peace in Caido. She cannot tell exactly what is happening, but the sounds of outcries prompt her to abandon her chosen task with a sigh. She kicks some dirt hastily into the kiln to prevent the mortar from overwarming, then rushes into the darkness within the Spire’s walls.
A frown twists onto her painted face as her eyes adjust to the scene, the lack of electric illumination leaving only the light from the doorway to shine through. It doesn’t take much to deduce that the man is in trouble, however; as she is not incredibly strong, she crouches beside Maea and helps to steady her as she pulls Darkeye up.
—
Chaele enters the Spire and attempts to help Maea lift Darkeye out of the collapsed floor.
05-02-2022, 02:53 PM (This post was last modified: 05-02-2022, 02:53 PM by Serendipity.)
Whatever Chaele is doing to the mortar, it's incredibly effective (the rolls are insanely high), and as she leaves it to bubble away, it won't matter when she returns to check on it - it will be completely perfect regardless.
The same cannot quite be said for the combined efforts of Maea, Isla and Chaele to help out Darkeye. All together, the absolutely manage to heave the stout man to safety, but it's at the cost of a large part of the remaining walkway crumbling into the Spire basement. That's going to need some serious repair work. Better get to it, as well as continuing to clear out the rubble!
As for Wessex and Nikolai? The chittering noise makes itself known all too soon, and the pair will see a number of beady, greedy little eyes around the staircase. It's half a dozen ROUS, come to kill you see what's going on.
Welcome to the PQ+ to raise the defences of the HG! Your randomly chosen post order is:
After a moment of listening, the Wraith recognizes the sound and shakes her head. “ROUS’s,” she says to Nikolai. “More than one.” And sure enough, their glinting eyes reveal themselves on the stairs above the two of them. “Loki? Dinner time,” she calls out playfully to her companion, then looks to her brother as an all too eager grin spreads across her face.. “Shall we?” Between the two - no, three of them - they should be able to keep the ROUS’s from reaching the people below.
Loki, like any highly food motivated creature, comes winging in and from above, lets an energy blast loose towards the group. Wessex follows it up with her lasers, aiming to rake them across the rodents’ eyes and keep them pinned down.
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Wessex invites Nikolai to deal with the ROUS's with her and also calls Loki in to assist. Loki energy blasts the ROUS's from above while Wessex uses Angry Eyes and aims for their beady little peepers.
Magic: Angry Eyes | Can shoot laser beams from her eyes. Target must be within 60ft. Deals heat damage to soft surfaces, with a 50% chance to disorient characters if the light goes in their eyes (a dex roll on her part). Can also cut through medium objects, and heat large-sized objects.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
LOKI - Mythical - Dragon (Energy Blast)
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
Nikolai matches Wessex's grin, fangs glinting in the dim light. "We shall." These pests were daring to threaten their family, his family. The young Ascended would like nothing more than to tear them apart. Spending quality time with his favorite sibling at the same time? Even better. He vaguely wonders when he got so protectively possessive. Oh well. He'd worry about that later.
Nikolai flicks his wrist, activating his shards and in quick succession throws them at the ROUS. He hopes that between his training and the recent excursion to take out the land shark, that his skills have improved. At the very least, improved enough to kill a rodent or two.
~
Nikolai joins Wessex happily and attempts to hit the ROUS with his energy shards.
Type: Offensive | Level: Basic
Energy Shard | Through an upgrade in the wrist, the user can propel knife-shaped bursts of energy, up to 10ft
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
Down and out, and out of luck, we're spinning but the needle's stuck
With the combined effort of them all, Darkeye was spared a gruesome fall and Maea was glad to stagger back onto firmer ground. Only once she was sure they were no longer at risk of falling did she let go, and offered him a faint smile. "Watch your step." Turning to Isla and Chaele, she nodded her thanks to the two of them as well.
Flickering electrical discharge spread a blueish sheen over the room as she re-activated her upgrade. Maea surveyed the damage to the floor with a faint shudder - that had been a close call. "I think I'll focus on repairing this," she told the others, with only a brief glance over the shoulder to Wessex and the dark-haired young man. They could handle a few Rous, no doubt.
Waving for some of the volunteers NPC's to come have a look she began to discuss support beams and new flooring with them, and held the light as they began to work on repairing the floor. Occasionally lending her spare hand to pass tools or hold a beam, offering suggestions and moral support as they sweated in the dark.
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Maea re-activates her Electrical Touch to shed light over the area, and enlists some NPC's to help being repairs on the floor.
Type: Offensive | Level: Upgraded
Electrical Touch Upgrade | Can complete electrical circuits in the user's palm which release a current of electricity. This bolt can extend 10ft and be maintained with concentration. Can cause disorientation and muscle-malfunction.
Citizenship Ability
The world is new to you, and you to it. During PQ/PQ+/KQs/Drops, you roll with advantage on luck-based rolls and receive an extra name during drops. (In order to use this, make sure to note the ability at the bottom of each post)
Maea
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Darkeye thanks everyone with a nod of the head. For more was later time he had found the one loose stone rather involuntarily. He thought about how best to place it for now. Not to move too much. Not so much in one place? "Be careful where you step, maybe we tie ourselves together so that this does not happen again. Does anyone have a rope or something? Avoid these rocks here and be careful." He points to the place where he almost fell. He trusts Wessex and Nikolai to fix it, it was important that they took care of the ground now.
Darkeye thanks everyone who helped him. He suggests that they tie themselves together, if necessary with belts. He tries to look at the damage and maybe repair it temporarily.
Relieved to find all of them safe and uninjured, Isla retrieves her spade and nods to the others. "There is some rope," she tells Darkeye. "I'll go and fetch it. We'll have to be careful, though. If one of us falls, we could always run the risk of dragging the rest down." But those are the risks, she supposes, when dealing with a place like this.
So saying, Isla takes her spade and goes to fetch the rope from the supplies, tying it to her waist and offering the rest of the length out to Maea, Chaele and Darkeye. That done - and with a quick glance up to Nikolai and Wessex to make sure they're alright - she continues trying to clear the rubble.
Isla gets a rope so they might be able to tie themselves together, and then continues to clear the rubble.
The flaking paint that disguises Chaele’s face does little to hide the wince of displeasure at the thought of being tied to someone else. She shakes her head at Darkeye and Isla, her disagreement moreso an excuse than any manner of expertise. “Better to let the loose stones fall and start over with better supports.” She gestures to the volunteers that have begun to affix wooden beams beneath what is left of the floor, at Maea’s direction.
With a wary look upward at dragon that tosses winds around her, the shaman steps out of the Spire once more to check on her kiln. The mortar seems ready for use in cobbling the pieces of rubble together into a reconstruction of the floor, so she will offer it to the volunteers along with some advice on how to best fit the stones together.
Meanwhile she takes every opportunity she can to glimpse into the lightning-lit darkness of the basement, curious about the portal below.
—
Chaele refuses the rope and helps volunteers replace the broken floor with new stones.
Wessex and Loki are a seasoned team, so it might not be so surprising that the demigoddess and her dragon manage to snatch up three of the six meddlesome ROUS. Loki will be able to dispatch one of the rodents alone, and the other two will be available as barbecue, courtest of the Wraith's angriest of eyes.
Nikolai does not fare quite as well, regrettably - he doesn't manage to hit the trio of remaining rats, and one of them (a bold little bastard) is scuttling up his leg! Uh oh!
As for the others, your efforts start of a bit shaky. Perhaps the NPCs you've enlisted aren't quite as adept as you are (a reasonable assumption), or maybe the floor is more damaged than expected. But the going is slow, and all the perfect mortar in the world won't help.
Still, the rubble is clear and there's light enough to see by. Perhaps one of you can get some of the larger stones and continue to help repairs? There's also a lot of general cleaning to get on with (cobwebs abound, and there's a growing pile of ROUS bones...), but as always, be careful where you walk!
Welcome to the PQ+ to raise the defences of the HG! Your randomly chosen post order is:
