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!
Her slight smile dims as the news comes from the men, far less promising than her own. While not unexpected, and thankfully not yet dire, they must act on it quickly not just for the sake of the stability of the wall itself, but to even consider mounting anything upon them.
Talyson speaks up first, which puts Evie in an interesting position. She assumes he’d rather eat the wet cement before working alongside her, but then she’s essentially making the decision for Noah as well. Sighing internally, Evie decides avoiding souring Talyson’s mood early on is more important, and follows Deimos to the section of wall he’d mentioned.
Earthen enchantments and telekinesis alike come to the fore as she begins weakening the edges for removal of the stone, which she can’t fully carry with her magic given its current strength, but it lightens the load a little. Anything to preserve some energy.
- - -
Evie helps Deimos remove the weakened portion with her magic.
Noah had no qualms with helping Talyson. When Deimos gave instructions and the others moved, Noah flagged over some extra hands to help the two native Halovians mix up the cement. In truth, Noah was not a craftsman, but he was far better at working with wood than he was with any sort of masonry. Watching for a moment, the hunter took notes from what the courier was doing.
Alongside the younger man, Noah took to his own couldron while the helping hands brought the right tools and supplies over for them. Hoisting a bag of the dry mix, Noah poured some in before briefly lifting his eyes to Talyson. Then, he handed the bag off and let an eager beaver teenager mix the concoction for them. "Is this right?" He asked, gesturing to their mix with his voice targeted for the accepted.
---
Noah helps mix cement.
i'd fashioned my own cross been crushed by its weight there's no stronger message than dirt in your face
life shivers, melts, moves on the pain says I have come for you
If only they could always have this amount of success – between Evie and Deimos’ magic, the stones came crumbling down, efficiently, easily, and smoothly, leaving no room for error. The proportions of the wall that could eventually be salvaged were piled off to the side, perhaps for a cart to take into the Citadel on another round. On a mischievous whim the Sword granted the Evergreen a bump with his hip and a sidelong grin, content with their progress, before attention was granted towards the others.
Talyson and Noah were both tried and true successors at mixing cement. Amidst all the workers and the Sentinel and courier’s abilities, the bricks were laid, drying out by the time the other portions of rock had been dissipated. Turning back towards the rest of the team, Deimos glanced along the wares, nodding at the way they were maneuvering along. “All right. We can start placing them.”
--
Very nice rolls means we can move on! Utilize the NPCs, yourselves, and anything you want to use for abilities to put the cement bricks along the wall!
Tal flashed Noah a shy grin. Although some of his awe of the demigod had faded thanks to Delia and Ronin, he still looked up to the older hunter as a hero. He peered into the cauldron and watched the consistency as the teenager stirred it before giving a relieved nod. "Yeah! S'perfect!"
And thanks to the dice, it was.
It was a relief to have things go so well and Tal wiped sweat off his brow as Deimos laid out the next line of tasks. Seemed simple enough. He piled a couple dozen bricks in his Bag of Holding and carried them over to a far section of the wall, so he could work back towards the others. With a frown of concentration he placed each one with intense exactitude. Because of this, his work was slower than the others, but he seemed determined to make sure each brick was in perfect alignment before he moved on to the next.
Tal starts at the far end and goes the slow and steady route, making sure each brick is exactly placed before moving on to the next in his line.
The ease with which they work together is not unexpected, but the success is a welcome surprise. With how old the walls are, Evie had feared they would discover deeper, more serious issues early on, or run into some other inconvenience. Such was the fate of projects like these sometimes. But no, their luck and skill holds alike, and Evie meets Deimos’ bump with a chased return of her own, smile warm as she looks up at him.
They are awarded only that brief moment to share before they must tackle the next portion. With cement and stone both being byproducts of earth, Evie uses her magic to help lift the blocks into place and then once more to even out the spread of cement beneath them, encouraging full adhesion.
- - -
Evie uses her earth magic to lift the blocks and encourage the cement beneath each one to spread smoothly beneath them for full adhesion.
Noah did not have the same abilities as the others to lift, lay, and set brick and mortar with the mastery of sorcery, but he did have strength. A lot of it. He took that as the time to be everyone's go-fer in these moments. He moved wheelbarrows full of wet cement to those that needed them, pulled pallets of bricks in both his human form and his polar bear form. The snow that was on the ground in their workspace was quickly becoming slick from the traffic back and forth across it. Several times the hunter had to right himself back up after losing his footing beneath him, though thankfully he was balanced enough not to fall flat out. His muscles began to burn with the intensity at which he was working, but at the same time he felt invigorated to be working so hard to fortify their home and equip the walls for what was to come.
---
Noah is the go-fer and brings everyone their supplies as they need them!
i'd fashioned my own cross been crushed by its weight there's no stronger message than dirt in your face
Laying cement bricks into spaces shouldn’t have ensued complicated matters…and yet.
While Deimos and Noah’s crews and support remained efficient along their portion of the walls, Evie and Talyson had a much more difficult time. Despite the courier’s slow and steady pace, some bricks fell instantly, shattering upon the icy loam of the land, slowing the process down when they required replacement. Evie, for all her methodical efforts with earthen incantations, also faltered, ending up lopsided instead of straight.
The Sword struggled not to grimace from where he stood, but considering both Evergreen and messenger would have to redo their assembly, he called over to Noah for the next thing. “Would you mind helping me with the gate? We should be able to just replace the hinges.” Should being the key term, unless something else went awry. He raised his head momentarily towards everyone else, aiming to provide a little incentive as the sun neared its afternoon descent. “Once we complete this wall, we can be finished for the day.”
--
Talyson and Evie have encountered some problems with their portions of the wall and will need to redo!
Noah and Deimos can work on replacing the gate hinges.
No post order!
you're all bronze and bite all venom and fistfight
Ah, well. Her luck could not hold forever. Evie is a good sport about her off-center bricks; at least they remain intact and where they’re perched unlike some. Which she definitely doesn’t even dare to turn her eyes towards.
This time she uses her telekinesis alongside her hands to adjust the bricks themselves, and her earth magic to level and spread the cement. Hoping that the combination and use of her hands instead of solely magic will grant her better results. Going back to the first block and starting there so that the cement would not harden too quickly and require removal to be redone.
- - -
Evie uses her telekinesis and her hands to hold the blocks and her earth magic to level the cement this time, going back to the first uneven block to redo them.
Grumbled curses in language that he absolutely learned from his mother spat out of the courier at regular intervals as his bricks fell and shattered until he was left glaring at his section of reinforced wall. It didn't all have to be redone, at least, but enough of it needed fixing that it might as well have.
Boreal helpfully brought one fresh brick over in her mouth and set it at his feet before sitting down and crooning up at him hopefully. The courier sighed and scrubbed her head, setting the brick in place with a pat before heading back to the staging area to fill his Bag with another load of bricks. Carrying a pail of cement with him, he headed back to try again. Slow, steady, and this time with couple of empty burlap sacks laid down in front of where he was working to cushion any further fallen bricks.
His one consolation was that something had clearly gone wrong with Evie's side of things, too, so at least he wasn't the only lost cause on brick duty.
Hmph.
Tal gets more bricks and tries again, this time using some folded burlap sacks as cushions in case he drops any more bricks.
Noah's brute strength and determination came in handy at his last task. Bringing materials and tools, and even water when needed, seemed to be something he excelled at on this day. As time passed and frustrations grew for his compatriots, Noah kept his nose to the grindstone and worked like a horse. He felt the edges of fatigue gently brush against his muscles, but as Deimos called for his aid he still answered. Setting down the tools he had brought over to a group working near Evie, he grabbed a wedge and mallet from their pile. Then, Noah trotted over to where Deimos was.
"I've got these to pry the old ones off." He said, briefly showing what he had to Deimos before setting to work. He placed the corner of the wedge in the rusted, busted old hinges and struck the wider end with the mallet, hoping he put enough force in each swing for the old hardware to break off easily. Though, nothing it seemed was ever that easy in Halo.
i'd fashioned my own cross been crushed by its weight there's no stronger message than dirt in your face
The second tries were efficient for all; perhaps with a bit more care, Talyson and Evie’s efforts were rewarded with the bricks firmly, strongly, built this time, and despite Noah’s fatigue (a good thing they’d be completing the day on this task), the hinges were pried and replaced. Deimos demonstrated their prowess by swinging the gate back and forth, watching as it maneuvered under the pressure of their capabilities. “Good work today,” he mentioned, once they were all gathered again. “That will be sufficient. We can continue with the western portions tomorrow.”
And with that, they could all disperse – to food and drink, to rest and repose, until the subsequent morning.
--
The sun pressed in its glory amid the following day, and the Sword had already dragged over their tools and necessities, including food and water. It wouldn’t all be a rinse and repeat gesture, as they wouldn’t have to fully replace these portions (unless something went terribly awry). “Looks like we can do some patchwork here,” and one gloved hand pointed out the distinct lines and cracks. “We need two to move the snow,” which would make it easier for the subsequent tasks. “And two to mix cement again.” He smiled, intending to take whichever was left.
--
The northern wall has been finished! Now we’re working on the western parts!
We need two to help move snow, and two to mix. Deimos will take whichever role is left over. No post order!
you're all bronze and bite all venom and fistfight
The day’s work is done at the gate, but there is still more to do before Evie allows herself to retire. It’s a late night, admittedly, and she falls asleep at her desk that night. Forced to forego her normal run by time she wakes the next morning, the Evergreen is drawn and tired-eyed when she returns. Managing a small smile to those around, she hands Deimos a cup of coffee and touches her hand briefly to his wrist in silent greeting before surveying the tasks at hand.
Partially emboldened by the hot drink, Evie sets it aside where it won’t be disturbed and decides to help with the cement mixing this time around. With her earth magic she focuses on crushing and crumbling any of the bigger chunks, working them smaller and smaller so that the paste becomes fine and thick.
- - -
Evie helps mix cement, using her earth magic to break down clumps of stone to mix it fiber.
Stubbornness, pride, and a competitive nature were not his best qualities, but they could be harnessed to get a job done. It might have taken twice as long as he'd hoped, but Tal finally sat back on his haunches to survey his section of wall with a sharp nod of approval. It was done, and they could finally move on to the next section.
Boreal hopped up from where she'd been snoozing in a wheelbarrow to stretch and croon encouragement to the other humans as they gathered for farewells and went home to rest.
The next day came just as early as the previous one had and Tal stretched his muscles carefully, warming up while he waited for the day's assignments. He considered the piles of snow with a flicker of brewing mischief in his eyes as he looked over to his sleepy dragon companion, but in the end pragmatism won out over mayhem.
"I'll keep mixin'," he said, holding in the sigh with a manful effort as Evie made a start on the other cauldron. It was boring as hail, but he had the practice at it now and it seemed smarter not to change things up at this point in the project, however much he might want to. He headed over to start filling his own cauldron with snow to melt into water before adding in the powdered mix and stirring with the slow, steady rhythm he'd gotten used to. Tal takes one for the team and gets to mixing cement!
when the sky turns gray and everything is screaming
With the gates restored to usefulness, parts of the walls drying and hardening for protection, their day was done. Noah moved on to his own home and climbed into bed near Cordelia. His sleep seemed short, however, as the sun barely peaked over the far reaches of the tundra Noah was called out again. He moved back to the workplace in his bear shift, knowing the massive body and wondrous coat would keep him warm in the chilly morning.
Given their tasks, the bear watched as Tal and Evie set to mixing cement with other Halovian citizens. Noah turned his massive head towards Deimos and with a nod, set to moving snow. Noah used his massive paws to dig expertly, this body much more equipped to move snow than his human form armed with a shovel ever would be.
---
Bear!Noah digs and moves snow.
i will reach inside just to find my heart is beating
