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!
In the end the companions won the race down the Leap and into the Undergrove, well ahead of the humans, while Tal came in a grumpy and disgruntled last place after running into the affectionate embrace of an entire nest of sentient vines that had been far too friendly and unwilling to let him go at first.
He panted down into the cool, almost clammy underground forest with a red-faced glower and rubbed the back of his neck fiercely as they headed towards the deeper parts of the eerily illuminated grove. "Right, so. Since you won this round, guess that means you get to be 'it'," he grumbled, not without a gleam of mischief in his pale eyes as he bumped against Sah's side as if on accident and then took off with a sudden turn of speed into one of the tunnels that didn't have any offerings in front of it at the moment, dodging away from any immediate retaliation the other man might try to pull as the hunt got underway in earnest.
Tal's quick getaway allowed him to successfully dodge the elbow Sah sent at his ribs in retaliation. But the Abandoned was right at the courier's heels. "Careful not to trip on your own feet, Errand Boy!" And thus, the verbal spar continued as the race got underway.
Digging his heels in, the Abandoned got in close, just close enough to reach for the back of Tal's shirt. If he successfully grabbed him, he'd toss the courier back and race ahead, leaving him to be 'it.' If not, then the chase continued. And that was something that he didn't' mind. The Abandoned was a natural born predator and hunter. Chasing and tag were games he'd been playing since before he could speak.
"It's your own big feet you should worry about, Jester," Tal called over his shoulder, scampering through the Peepholes with his Goggles to help him see through the dark and shadows. He was unfamiliar with the terrain, however, and his overconfidence was, as usual, his undoing.
While he was glancing over his shoulder to see how close Sah was getting, he did indeed stumble over one of the offerings left by... well, who knew? All that mattered was that the neatly-stacked pile of bones went flying as Tal stumbled and swore.
He felt Sah's hand close on his shirt and tug, slowing him down further as the hunter passed him and continued deeper into the depths. With a growl of protest, Tal regained his balance and stretched out his legs, letting Sah clear the path this time. With all of the twists and turns and holes to watch out for they couldn't stretch their legs on the straightaways, and that let the courier regain his lost ground as he tried to cut a corner short and come around the inside, attempting to knock his shoulder into Sah again and bump the other man off balance to retake the lead. "Try not to sprain an ankle," he added with a fierce grin.
Sah rolled his eyes at the comment before shooting back with a smirk, "Thanks for the compliment!" He'd heard a rumor that big feet meant ah...big assets. No doubt that wasn't Talyson's intention, but Sah would still give him shit about it.
His smirk widened when he successfully grabbed Tal and pushed himself into the lead. But soon the courier had caught up and the sudden shoulder nudge came at the most unfortunate time. Sah had been sidestepping an offering when the nudge came, and he was pushed off balance. The Abandoned stumbled a few steps but managed to regain his footing. In that time, Tal rushed ahead.
Gritting his teeth, Sah raced after him, taking long strides to catch up. When he got within range, he attempted to return the favor and knock Tal off with a hip check.
Tal's nose wrinkled in confusion, trying to figure out how his words could have been taken as a compliment (not making the 'big assets connection), and maybe that distraction helped contribute to his trip and Sah's successful grab at him. The courier didn't let it get him down, however! He made up the distance and cut right over the top of the offerings this time while Sah fumbled the step.
The problem with neither of them being able to stretch their legs on a straightaway was that Tal was slowed as much as his countryman. Another twist in the tunnels slowed him down in turn and Sah caught up in spite of the courier's best efforts to keep up his speed. He almost dodged the hip check, but chancy footing in the dark spoiled his side-step.
Still, it was only a grazing blow and though the hunter regained the lead Tal wasn't nearly as far behind this time. It was his turn to reach out and try to grab Sah's shirt to pull the other man back - and land him on his ass if he was lucky - so Tal could continue careening through the underground holes with a breathless laugh.
It might have been the odd shadows, twists and turns, but Tal's grab was only partially successful. He managed to get a grip on Sah's shirt and give it a slight tug, but it only moved the hunter back a few feet with a slight stumble. The Abandoned easily regained his footing and continued the chase.
As they came into a slight opening of the tunnel, leading to a larger cavern, Sah twisted. He attempted to diagonally cross over Tal's path to cut him off and slow him down. He'd then continue racing into the next tunnel. The Abandoned honestly wasn't sure where this tunnel led to, but it was beginning to dip downward and deeper into the earth.
10-25-2022, 09:46 PM (This post was last modified: 10-25-2022, 10:42 PM by Talyson.)
Damn! Tal swore softly to himself but didn't break stride. He'd missed his mark - barely - but at least he wasn't any further behind this time. The narrow tunnel they were in made it impossible to pass Sah even if he'd had the speed for it, but the courier gritted his teeth and did his best to keep pace until an opportunity presented himself. Maybe the next time they had to jump over an offering or pit or--
The walls suddenly opened wide into the larger cavern and Tal was brought up short as Sah suddenly swerved in front of him. "Hey!" He yelped, having to short-step and lose momentum or risk a fall. But there was a pile of strangely carved wooden sticks that he almost ran into as he also swerved--
And he snagged one as he went past, flicking it towards Sah's feet with a friendly taunt: "Look out below!" If nothing else maybe he could distract him and be first into the new tunnel!
"Hey!" Sah called out in irritation when the stick hit his ankle with decent force. The slight blow made him slow down a little as he had to regain his balance. Tal meanwhile had the opportunity to race head, which he did so successfully. The courier was the first one into the new tunnel, but the Abandoned was right at his heels. It was still anyone's win at this point.
As soon as they entered the tunnel, Sah attempted to kick out Tal's knee, but only with minor force. Enough to make the reflex kick in and the knee to buckle, but not enough to actually harm the courier. If he succeeded, he'd race ahead. If Tal wanted to fight dirty, then Sah would give as good as he got.
"That's for stretchin' my shirt!" Tal called with a grin as he sprinted past. All was fair in races and war--
Oof. Maybe not going there yet.
He made it into the tunnel first, which was all that mattered. He had no idea where they were going, but he figured they could find their way back easy enough by looking for the piles of knocked-over offerings at the entrance of the tunnels they'd barrelled through. But since Sah was still running, Tal was still running, too. He didn't think too much beyond that, and there wasn't time for it, either. Though he knew the other man was coming up behind him and he tried to dodge the incoming kick, he wasn't willing to give up his stride to do so and got tagged again.
Oh... wait. This wasn't a race! Fuck, he'd completely forgotten that--
But his knee twinged and he slowed on reflex to avoid twisting it. "Hey, wait--!" he called, but Sah was already past him and going around a curve--
Into a small, round, dead-end cavern with a faint glow filtering down from a hole in its ceiling. The courier rounded the corner and fell against the wall, laughing so hard he could hardly speak the words. "Guess I... win again... Jester...!"
Sah rolled his eyes, "I'm pretty sure I entered the cavern before you, Errand Boy. I watched you smack your face into a wall. Nice one, by the way." His lips twitched, and the Outlander let out a chuckle, shaking his eyes at the mess that Tal was. "You look like you got run over by a cart."
Though the Abandoned probably didn't look much better. He was sweating too, with wind tousled hair and a wild adrenaline-filled grin. He walked over and slumped next to the courier, eyes going to the ceiling of the cavern. "Huh. We're pretty far down." The hole in the ceiling was far out of reach, far too far to climb to at least.
Sah grinned mischievously and crooned out as he glanced at Tal, "No one would find you if I left you down here." After a pause of silence, he snickered before playfully bumping his shoulder against Tal's, "Come on, Errand Boy. We should be getting back. I don't want to be navigating these tunnels after the sun comes down."
Walking over to the tunnel entrance, he glanced back at Tal with a raised brow, "You coming?"
"Oh sure, you reached it first," Tal agreed, still holding himself up with help from the wall that he'd leaned against when he'd started laughing, a few chortles still erupting between words. "But... Sah... you idiot..." He snickered and wiped a tear from his eye. "We weren't racing. We were playin' tag. An' I was still 'it' when you kicked me! So y'got so distracted wantin' t'be ahead of me that y'made yourself lose the game!"
He slid to the ground beside Sah when the hunter joined him and looked up at the hole, nose wrinkled. A curious roar echoed down the shaft and he started chuckling again as he nudged his companion lightly (not the dragon) in the ribs. "We're right underneath where we started!" Sure enough, Boreal and Lilly were far above in the Undergrove cavern it had all began in, likely wondering what their crazy humans were getting into now.
He just rolled his eyes at the teasing threat with a huffed: "They wouldn't find you, either!" before the pair rolled to their feet and began retracing their path. "Waaay ahead of you, Jester. As always," Tal grinned, even though they were now walking side-by-side.
