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!
The light was incredibly helpful, and Isla blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust before smiling between Roana and Edy. "Thanks," she said, nodding in agreement with the former captain. While the creature-maybe-baby still wailed and cried out for them and Elyna sped off in search for it, Isla paid close attention to the dusty wards and the beds behind the curtains. "Ah," she said, sounding impressed after the fourth or fifth try, stepping into a cubicle where a crate of dusty but otherwise untouched supplies was sitting on the bed.
"Perfect," she murmured, stepping out of the cubicle to find that the group had progressed enough to see the bloody door and the sudden, sudden silence. Isla blinked, her grip on the crate increasing. "Someone might be hurt," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. How would they approach opening the door?
Looking at Ely, Edy licked at her teeth for a moment before huffing slightly. "I mean...I can make quick work of that door knob to get inside but .... Pretty sure things that cry like a baby don't also claw at doors and then scuttle away. So...." Looking towards her former co-guard, the teenager shrug. "Consider me firmly on team that's-not-a-baby."
That didn't mean they should leave whatever it was, but it certainly eliminated any possibility in Edy's mind that the thing behind the door was anything but some sort of horrific monster.
Here all she'd wanted to do was score brownie points with the pretty doctor, and instead she was going to fight a hellish baby-monster thing.
Well, a bloody door was certainly not what Roana had expected they would find, and the sudden silence was incredibly eerie. This seemed like the start to every scary campfire story she had ever heard. Blue-eyes slid over to look at Edrei as she spoke. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She said. “A baby would have been much more pleasant than violent monster.” It seemed they were all just staring at the door though. That wasn’t going to get them anywhere.
“Let’s see how sneaky this…thing…thinks it is.” She muttered, squaring off herself in front of the door. Roana was smarter than to touch it with her person, not knowing the strength of what was inside. “Islae prepared to take those supplies and run if this looks bad.” She said. The supplies were necessary for the people, they couldn’t risk losing them; but they also couldn’t risk letting some monster hanging around either. With that clear, she struck the door with the flat side of the end of her claymore, so it would make a loud banging noise inside the room, but not compromise the door. Should it be attacked, the ex-captain was more than prepared to counter-strike and defend.
11-20-2018, 09:43 PM (This post was last modified: 11-20-2018, 09:50 PM by Elyna.)
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So much for letting the nigh-indestructible Elyna take the lead: Roana seemed to think she had a better chance of fighting off this monster imitating a baby than Elyna, so Elyna was going to let her risk her much more fragile self. No matter that Elyna found the bloodstains or the location of the cries first; no matter that she’d explicitly told them to let her scout ahead and take the lead; no matter that Elyna thought that warning the thing behind the door was a dumb idea and they should’ve just rushed forward and taken it by surprise. If it was friendly, they’d straighten it out. If it was hostile, however, they’d just announced their presence. While it was entirely possible it would’ve known about them anyway, now it definitely did.
Too late for that—though she’d be having a word with the ex-captain about tactics later—so Elyna just took her glaive off her back and stood to one side, ready to lunge ahead and skewer anything that tried to attacked them. It had luckily come through the trip with her, since she took it with her everywhere. Placing her body between Isla (the most fragile member of their party), Elyna shot a glance to Edrei. ”It might not even be locked.” Elyna didn’t even bother whispering; Roana’s strike against the door had already alerted everything in the infirmary that they were there. ”If nothing springs through, let me open it.” After all, Elyna could take more than a few hits, way more than Edrei and Isla. Roana, loathe as Elyna was to admit it, was the better fighter, and also probably better suited towards protecting their more fragile teammates.
In fact, if something didn't come out soon, Elyna was going to throw caution to the wind and go in. She was getting tired of waiting, and of this cat and mouse. She was a predator, and wouldn't be intimidated by something that sounded like a baby.
11-20-2018, 09:59 PM (This post was last modified: 11-20-2018, 10:12 PM by Random Event.)
Its heartbeat was so loud the walls might as well have been shaking.
It stared ahead with wide golden eyes as the door was violently shaken by Roana's blow. Its breath came in hot spurts, its feet feeling every vibration in the room.
They would come in now, it knew that instinctively.
And it waited.
As Ely finally opened the door, spilling meagre amounts of light into the space, a ball of greyish fur scuttled back against the far corner of the room. With tufts of fur on its ears making them look comically large, the bobcat kitten stared with frightened eyes at the three large humans blocking its only entrance.
Opening its mouth the kitten gave a mewling cry that sounded just like a human child, a characteristic its species was known for. With no tail to curl around itself, the kitten scrunched its body in on itself, adorably large paws scrapping against the floor.
Looking around, the group might notice the body of what was likely the parent of this young kitten, dead and eviscerated in the corner. There were also two humans dead: one clearly from the bobcat, the other's injuries were too innumerable to say for sure. Seeing this the group might deduce that the cat and the humans had been locked in this room. The reasons unknown.
You've found a regular companion! If you would like to try and earn the creature's trust (thereby 'winning' the companion, you have 3 days to post to try and do so! Be creative in your responses. If you would not like to try to win the creature, feel free to continue exploring!)
The door busted open and Isla's eyes widened at the sight of blood and bodies, the doctor instantly rushing inside to check on the humans, though she certainly did notice the bobcat kitten in the corner. While it might have interested her in isolation, and gods while she did feel bad for the little thing, she wasn't the type to put it before potential casualties.
"All of this for a kitten," she murmured as she leant down beside each of the bodies, frowning as it became painfully clear that it was too late for them. "What happened here... Why were they locked in?" Shaking her head, she straightened up and smiled to the women.
"Thank you so much for all of your help," she said. "I feel like the rest of the infirmary will be disappointingly boring, apart from this apparent tragedy, but feel free to stay if you'd like to help."
She grabbed up a sheet to cover the bodies and reminded herself to investigate further as soon as she was able, before leaving them to finish her exploration and begin the arduous task of cleaning up.
This PQ is now concluded - thank you for your participation!
Isla does not wish to claim the bobcat kitten - please feel free to respond should you want to try and earn its trust!
Eagerly the teenager peered over the shoulders of Ely and Roana who had decided to take charge. As soon as the teenager spied the small kitten her eyes grew comically wide and all caution was thrown to the wind (it had been already, who are we kidding).
Pushing her way into the room, Edy glanced towards Isla and shrugged her shoulders in response. "Dunno. Maybe they fell asleep. " She offered with a wink. Good thing nothing like this had happened to the pair the last time they were together.
As for the kitten, Edy would try the bold approach as was her nature. Predators didn't follow instability, right? Squatting down, Edy made a happy purring noise in the back of her throat and tapped her fingers on the floor in a way she hoped would get the small creatures attention. "You're fiiiine." She cooed under her breath, a teethless smile on her face (not knowing a ton about animals, even Edy knew that showing her teeth was probably a bad move). Gently but confidently she'd begin to shuffle closer. Her goal was to try and get near the creature but not make a grab for it. Instead she hoped the her body position would be seen as comforting and protective given how the small creature was already trying to hide, and that it would come to her.
Elyna felt slightly vindicated: there definitely wasn’t a baby. Well, a baby person at least; she didn’t think that a kitten counted. Perhaps they’d been overly cautious in their approach here. After all, this poor creature couldn’t harm them. Indeed, it was trembling in what had to be fear and shock. However, she didn’t let her guard down—not that she ever did—beause there was still a mystery afoot.
After all something had forced these people to be stuck in here with the parent cat. Nodding at Isla's words—honestly, the infirmary was the last thing on Elyna’s mind—the warrior pursed her lips as she considered the scene. When she spoke, her voice was hard. ”I don’t know. But I’d very much like to find out.” Yet another mystery in this new world; Elyna was very much coming to hate them. Perhaps the naturals knew something. Of course, getting information from them was tough: they were a flighty and understandably paranoid lot. If she’d been stuck in this bubble her whole life, she might feel the same way. As it stood, she couldn’t wait until it was over.
Either way, she was definitely sticking around. ”Everyone stay alert. I still don’t like the fact that we stumbled upon this in a place that looked undisturbed and untouched by the years.” Wild animals were one thing, but she still didn’t like that part of this. While she didn’t know a lot about animals—she wasn’t an animal person, or a people person, or a living being person in general—even she knew this kit couldn’t have survived for too long on its own. That meant either these kills were fresh, or, more worrisomely, they’d been transported, preserved, or otherwise placed here for a purpose.
Even though she didn’t like animals (and had no real interest in a pet) even Elyna’s cold heart went out to the poor cat. She knew a little bit about being helpless. Despite not being a caring person, if pressed Elyna would admit that her heart went out to the orphan. Getting it to trust them after they’d barged in here would be difficult.
She thought back to that time she’d been asked to tame an unruly horse. Unfortunately she didn’t have any bribes for it, so she’d just have to use the other strategies she’d learned that day. Crouching down, she spoke in a low soothing voice to the other women. ”Let’s give it some space, yeah?” She shuffled out of the way of the doorway so that it wasn’t as overtly trapped. If it tried to bolt, she felt confident she could grab it on its way out (though that wouldn’t endear her to it). Turning to the kitten now, she remained still, hoping to coax it to her with her voice. ”Hush now, little one. You’re safe. We’ll take care of you.” They’d figure it out somehow: they could barely take care of themselves, but this felt right.
The kitten, unsure at first by the voices and the sudden chaos of movement and light, tried to scrunch further into itself, letting out another cry as Edrei drew closer, though its big eyes soon focused on the tapping noise of her fingernails against the stone. It blinked, whiskers twitching and tufted ears flicking at her voice and the trill in the back of her throat.
As Elyna moved out of the way of the door it did look as though it was going to make a break for it, padding around towards the opening, but it seemed to change its mind halfway.
Mrowing at the two women, it eventually crept up to Edrei, sniffing at her fingers and offering a small headbutt of greeting against her hand. That was that, then.
It looks like Edrei has succeeded in winning the kitten's trust! What a bold little creature it must be. Congratulations!
