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!
09-19-2022, 03:42 PM (This post was last modified: 10-18-2022, 01:25 AM by Noah.)
Noah
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
When Noah stalked, hunted, and killed a frost giant before it had also been with the direction of Frey. Once more the hunter set his sights on the Fangs to bring home the remnants of one of the massive, dangerous beasts that dwelled among ice and rock. This time, however, rather than Wessex lending him a hand, Noah moved in tandem with Deimos and Talyson — one an ally and one, arguably, his best friend.
”When I found one before it was up near that ledge,” Noah said, pointing up with a gloved hand to the east, some several hundred yards above them. ”It took a lot of energy and firepower to bring it down,” he said, crouching some behind a large, ice covered bolder, ”We may need some bait to help draw one in, or a clear target for their opportunistic ways to draw on.”
Noah looked from each of the men with him, eyebrows raising as he waited for their input and ideas.
—-
Write your character arriving with Noah, what they’ve brought, and their idea for luring a frost giant!
—-
This is a regional quest PQ of hunting frost giants! Be warned, frost giants are dangerous creatures.
With both Noah and Deimos around, Tal didn't really need to crouch. He could just hide behind one of the bigger men if he really needed to, but at the moment he was kneeling on the ground rolling a bit of the snow between his hands with a thoughtful look as he tested its consistency and stickiness. Boreal floated high overhead, a pale winged form in a pale Longheat sky, keeping a weather eye out to make sure they weren't ambushed while they solidified their plans.
"Weeeellll..." He grimaced and brushed the snow off on his leg, rubbing his palm over the thick, tightly woven cloth as if he could wipe away the sweat making his palms slick inside his mittens. "Look. I know you guys punch way above my weight class. If you're gonna hit 'em with magic 'n god stuff, I prob'ly can't add much." He drew in a deep breath, looking up at the mountain path and swallowed hard before giving a sharp nod to steel himself.
"But I can be bait with the best of 'em." He flashed Deimos a sickly grin. "Not bein' stupid about it this time, I promise. But if I can sneak up there safely I can strap on my skis and come back down makin' plenty of noise t'lure 'em out. An' not even a frost giant'll catch me once I'm pointin' downhill with my skis on. Can bring 'em right down into whatever trap you two want t'set for 'em."
And if he ended up bringing down more than one, maybe they could all just run like hail and try again tomorrow.
As the guildmaster of the Monster Hunters, Deimos wasn’t unfamiliar with the notion of frost giants. He’d seen their pictures mapped out in diagrams from more experienced partakers and hunters in those regards – for he’d never bore witness to one himself. But considering how many other monolithic creatures he’d battled in recent years, the semblance of just another day marked and notched its way down his spine.
And perhaps only worry and trepidation for his comrades.
His head tilted towards the Fangs, nestling themselves in and amongst the icy crag. A speculative narrowing of his eyes wandered, eternally bound to watching for anything, before circumventing his attention back to Noah and Talyson alike, crouching behind a matching boulder, bag shifting on his shoulder.
The offer behind his teeth had to wait its turn, for the courier offered himself up as bait. He must’ve predicted the Warden’s flattened, unimpressed gaze – because the Sword would rarely offer up another individual as a lure (unless it was someone like Sunjata). “Or I can compel some creatures the giant might prefer,” he offered towards Noah; a safer alternative to throwing the messenger out into the brinks of danger.
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
Noah had known of Talyson's personality causing him to be reckless at times, but he was hoping that the man's most recent involvement in the goings-on in Caido had tempered that. It didn't seem that was the case, however.
Noah listened to his idea respectfully, though he couldn't help but imagining a frost giant picking its teeth with the courier's skis. When Deimos piped in, Noah turned his attention to the warden and latched onto that idea. "When I hunted one before I used an ursur to draw its attention. They compete for food a lot, so if the frost giant thinks the ursur has something it wants, it could work again."
He looked back and forth quickly between the men, letting Deimos have the space to decide what he wanted to do. "Either way, we should press on." Noah lifted himself then, moving ahead and back on a trail up the mountain. The weather seemed to worsen as they ascended, even though it was summertime. Pulling his hood up, Noah gestured for the men to keep moving on. After they arrived at the ledge Noah had picked out before, he pulled his hood down and his brows furrowed. "No sign of a frost giant here. I'm open to suggestions for which way to scout next."
Deimos can decide what/if he summons a creature to help draw the frost giant(s). Without sign of the frost giants on the first ledge, where should the group go?
At a distance, the Ursur looks like nothing more than a snowdrift. Upon closer inspection, however, its thick white fur and huge tusks make it stand out as a once fearsome predator, now fallen and lifeless. There are no major visible injuries upon the creature - no blood at all to be seen - but this does not look natural.
He could live with Noah's lack of response to his offer, but when Deimos glossed over it too the courier visibly deflated. He just nodded glumly to the Warden's suggestion of summoned animals and resolved to keep his mouth shut going forward. It wasn't an easy thing, having a great deal of respect and admiration for the man who had become his best friend while at the same time realizing that as long as Deimos was around, his contributions were about as helpful as a piece of wet tissue paper.
Before he could wallow too much further, Boreal's mental alert brought his head up and he looked to the distance, eyes narrowing behind his Goggles as keen eyes peered at the lifeless ursur. "Huh. Yeah, if there were Giants around here they woulda scavenged that by now."
At which point he remembered his resolution to be quiet and let the adults do the talking, and Tal swallowed back the rest of what he'd been intending, waiting to see what Deimos would suggest.
He listened, aware that Talyson was likely bothered by the decision. But there were alternatives to recklessness, to throwing one’s self directly in the line of fire, that would keep them all safe. He could pout to himself – the Sword had already lectured him before on the same matters at hand. Talyson’s contributions didn’t have to be mired and rooted in danger, and then requiring rescue.
Following Noah and nodding along with each suggestion, his eyes only narrowed at the sign of the dead ursur – its unnatural demise an impending warning sign. Had they more time he would’ve investigated it further, but for now he’d consider it a boon. “Perhaps we can use it.”
Even if there was no sign – how far could the scents of others travel and traverse amongst the cold? Enough to entice? Uncertain but willing to try, he nodded once again. “Give me a moment to compel some,” possibly by the dead one, “and if that does not work, we can try something else.” Which still wouldn’t be tossing Talyson out into the Fangs’ dangers – unless he became irritating.
And with that, through the midst and silence, Deimos unfurled the Attuned proportions, calling forth for bear brethren to saunter forth, away from them, and out into the open.
--
Deimos tries to compel some ursur to lure a frost giant out.
Beastmaster | can compel any animal for assistance (6 large, 12 medium, or 20 small)
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
Noah stays mostly silent as the men decide what they will do. His jaw set as part of him stirred with a longing for the powers that Deimos was wielding -- in some ways be believed himself to be far more powerful as an attuned than he was as a demigod, but now was not the time to let that inner turmoil bubble up past the drain and to the surface. Grunts and groans and the huff, huff, huff from above them signified that Deimos was successful at his task (which, it was hard not to be with as much power as the Sword held).
Two yearling ursur rumbled and moved towards the dead body of their kin, though their intentions weren't quite ready to be told, as a loud creaking sound and the sudden shifting of snow beneath the men caught their attention. Noah was quick to jump from where he was to a safer spot, though upon landing he caught a patch of ice and slid nearly five yards down the mountain before a snow covered boulder stopped his descent (ouch).
Talyson, on the other hand, wasn't as quick to escape the small avalanche that pulled him down away from his comrades.
Deimos is able to summon two ursur who are drawn towards the body of the dead ursur. It is not the only thing that is drawn out, however, as the snow beneath Tal and Noah begins to shift and move. While Noah is (barely) able to steady himself, Tal is being pulled away by the small avalanche.
The young ursur might’ve been enough to bait the impending giant, but there were other multitudes to fend off and consider. The crackling of an avalanche was always something to be avoided, but in this case it scarcely seemed to matter. It was here. Bracing himself, the Sword remained upright, while calculations were quick and efficient – glancing at Noah, who’d be able to help himself (he figured, for now), and Talyson being swept away.
“Hang on,” he rumbled, a warning that he was going to try something, snagging at the threads and incantations of magic hovering about his soul – intending to utilize the Mastered Water and control, contort, the elements into ceasing their movement and dangerous notions. Or at least grant and give the courier a moment to evade and escape.
--
Deimos tries to control and stop the avalanche so Tal won’t be pulled away using his Mastered Water.
Boreal's mental warning came a breath behind Noah's but both were too late to help the courier. There was simply no time to react but he was a Halovian, born and bred, and as soon as the snow hit him he started swimming for the surface and as near as he could tell to sideways as he could manage in the confusion of tumbling snow and debris.
And then it just--
Stopped.
He was still swimming, but the snow was frozen around him and Tal didn't question his good luck. Pulling himself on top of the momentarily motionless white wave he booked it to the side and some deep-set boulders, which thankfully weren't too far away.
"I'm safe!" he called hoarsely - and quietly - upstream to Deimos and Noah, whichever one of them had momentarily halted the avalanche.
Tal tries to swim - and then scramble - to the side of the avalanche and the safety of some boulders off its path.
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
Noah prepared to use his magic to jump, and Talyson scrambled, but the snow ceased its advance. The magic that Deimos held was so powerful it only took an instant for the mountains to settle back to what they knew--memory snow pulling itself back to where it started before the mini-avalanche. Noah hiked himself back up to where Deimos was, offering Talyson a hand if he needed it.
While Deimos magic is strong and without much effort, it seems, the sorcerer can stop the avalanche, he isn't quite able to keep the hold on both of the ursur he brought out. One of the beasts, the larger of the two, shook its head and grunted. It turned its massive body and lumbered away from where it came as quickly as it could, grunting and calling out for the other one to follow it to no avail. Deimos' magic still held one ursur that stood near the body of the dead one, seemingly stuck in time. In the blink of an eye, there were two dead ursur. A boulder, clearly thrown from a higher point on the mountain, crushed the compelled ursur. Following the boulder, a groaning roar rolled towards them from the incoming fog.
---
Deimos was able to stop the avalanche with no problem. Tal's high dexterity paid off and with the aid of Deimos magic is able to get control of himself once more. Noah climbed back up to the One ursur ran away, but one stayed--only to be hit by a boulder that was clearly tossed from a higher point on the mountain.
“All right?” was a call to both after the effects of the avalanche – control honed over and under the ice, sacrificing one ursur’s ties and pulls for the sake of his brethren didn’t bother him in the least.
Nor the subsequent effects (though he might’ve grimaced inwardly) as the boulder smashed into the other. They’d been lured for the purpose of bait regardless; and now there were still two to behold for whatever would entice a frost giant to walk out of its lair.
Though the distant roar wasn’t a familiar one – predacious senses snaking their way down his spine. Growing rigid and unyielding, a preparation of either incantations or shifts, he turned to Noah and Talyson, offering up possibilities. “I can shield us, if that is what we want to do,” by measure of elements.
--
Deimos offers to shield the party in case it’s a giant coming.
Tal was too busy appreciating being alive and safe to realize what was happening to the ursur upslope. At first he thought the sound of another boulder striking snow and flesh was the last gasp of the avalanche and for a few more moments he existed in blissful obliviousness. "Yeah, thanks--" he started to respond to Deimos's query, but the subsequent roar was far more effective at getting his attention and cutting him off.
Then he realized that one (another?) of the tusked bears was dead. And probably why.
Wasting no more time, he hung low and trotted back up to where Deimos and Noah were, adjusting his Goggles as he went.
"Boreal's watchin' our backs," he added, with a swift tilt of his chin to indicate the pale dragon who was nearly invisible against the pale clouds high above. "Least til the fog gets too thick. So hopefully nothin' gets behind us without warnin'." He set himself beside Deimos and pulled his glaive out of his bag, squeezing the metal haft nervously.
"Y'mean like when we hunted the ursur?" Confusion and distraction of ice and snow and wind swirling around the great beast while Tal had snuck around and rammed a spear into it from behind and out of reach of those massive paws and goring tusks. Boreal keeps watch from above to make sure they aren't flanked, and Tal puts on his See-Right Goggles and pulls out his glaive.
Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic
See-Right Goggles: Reinforced goggles capable of seeing with perfect clarity regardless of conditions, up to 10ft. This includes magical darkness.
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
It seems the trio had ventured far enough up the mountain to find what they were looking for. Talyson will be able to see with ease and clarity because of the magic within his goggles that a frost giant was lumbering its way towards the dead pair of ursurs. With each step the massive beast made snow and ice tumble down towards the three men, threatening the prospect of another avalanche.
Noah pulled his bow from over his back and quickly pulled an arrow from his fire quiver as the giant grunted and groaned. "If you can shield us, perhaps I can get a hit on it. Their hide is tough -- but with an act of surprise that might be able to slice something." Noah said, gesturing to Tal's glaive. His eyes lifted to the dragon, "Fire might come in handy, too." Noah suggested, looking to Deimos then to signify he was talking about both the dragon and the warrior.
With that, Noah began creeping low towards where the giant was inspecting the dead bears.
---
A frost giant has appeared! Noah has offered to shoot it and is advancing towards it. What will you do?
