Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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As Varus swoops low, the blinded bird has no ability to hear the assassin coming over the wail of its own heartbeat. So it is that he's able to stab the creature, rendering it immobile for a round. It can't even scream out in pain. All it can do it is continue to exist, and be a literal ball of flames. Even encased in the skin of another, the fire licks at the manticore's paws, and...well, we all know what happens next.
Or maybe we don't: the manticore explodes as the fluid inside of its body is agitated by the fire.
Whether this will wipe the grin of Neron 's face is yet to be seen. He reaches out to yank more life away from the Sparkbird as Nikolai blasts the creature's paralyzed body.
Remember to include a summary at the bottom of your post with all action taken. If weapons/upgrades/abilities/items/shifts/etc are used, please include their desc. from your profile at the bottom of your post as well.
Your randomly assigned post order is Varus (death post), Neron, Nikolai
// I can see the halls and spaces that broke my soul And it still calls when everything's numb and I'm alone //
He rises back into the air, wings beating hard against the night, aiming for the Sparkbird as one last little nudge – attack it while it’s blinded, perhaps then he’d be safe. Only, the assassin doesn’t quite account for the flames and the sparks and the big soft mushy paws of the manticore shift as he dives closer, stabbing it, and fails in his attempt to rise back up.
There’s a moment when he lowers, paws hitting the flame of the Sparkbird, and before Varus knows it? Well… He doesn’t quite know anything any longer.
Unlike the last time he’d been in this kind of war, he doesn’t only lose his arm, shut down outside of the Grounds in the brush of Queen’s Gambit until he finally managed to wake up centuries later. This time, there is no waking up, no pieces to shut down and wait idly for any sense of life.
The manticore explodes, and any thoughts within him, attempts to send any last words – an I’m sorry, I love you, I had to try, I couldn’t just leave it - to the dragon nearby in the Attuned bond for his lover are gone in an instant as the manticore’s jaws part (like he’s about to speak), before there’s nothing left but smoking fluid and pieces of him strewn about the battlefield.
At least this time Varus got his wish, the ability to go out with a bang. Hopefully Nikolai and Neron make the tale so much more exciting than the sorrow it actually held.
Neron realises too late what is about to happen, and he can't even open his mouth to shout a warning before Varus is consumed by flames - and that's probably for the best, honestly, because making a sound will likely end in his demise, too. It still might.
Still, it's a grisly sight, and only the Launceleyn in him prevents him from turning away and wasting these next precious few seconds. Instead, ducking low as if he might be able to avoid the wisps of flaming manticore that rain down all around, the Hailstorm continues his assault on the Sparkbird.
Perhaps if he tries hard enough, he'll be able to suck the life right out of it. Wouldn't that be a peachy end to things.
Neron keeps up the assault with his Life Drain magic!
Life Drain : Can take life force from a living thing to temporarily make themselves stronger within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
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)
Nikolai can't help the slight noise of despair that leaves him as Varus goes up in flames. He lacks the self-control of Neron in that regard. But he doesn't hesitate to continue the fight, especially now that's he probably given away his position.
Channeling his fear and grief, the younger Ascended attempts to keep up their rhythm of damage. Taking a deep breath and making sure that he's still as far out of range as he can, Nikolai lets out one more burst of lightning. Maybe this time, he and Neron can do enough damage to fell the Sparkbird before it kills another member of their family, or them.
~
Dragon!Nikolai tries once more to hit the Sparkbird with his borrowed lightning while staying as far out of range as possible.
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)
Neron reaches out, and...well, some of the grass around the Sparkbird dies. We'll say his poor aim is because of all those tears of fluid he's shedding over Varus have made it hard to see. Nikolai too must be suffering the same fate, because he misses as well.
No longer paralyzed but blinded, the Sparkbird flaps its wings, aiming for the last place he'd seen the dragon (who, conveniently for the bird, hadn't moved). Though Nikolai was attempting to stay out of range, the Sparkbird's range is vast. Had the ascended had even 3 more HP or had rolled just 2 higher, he would have survived the wave of flame that reached out just far enough to boop the dragon's snoot...
..and cause it to explode.
Remember to include a summary at the bottom of your post with all action taken. If weapons/upgrades/abilities/items/shifts/etc are used, please include their desc. from your profile at the bottom of your post as well.
Your randomly assigned post order is Varus, Neron, Nikolai (death post)
There is a term for this sort of situation, Neron thinks. It's called everything goes to shit. He doesn't recall ever exchanging two words with Nikolai, but as the dragon overhead explodes, he feels perhaps a whisper of regret over that fact. Not much time for it though, because Sparky is still wreaking havoc and gods, it's either going to ruin the rest of his day or the rest of his life. Time to find out.
Reaching a final time for the ability stored within his systems courtesy of Sunjata, Neron conjures water. A lot of water, more than he is capable of doing by his own power. And he blasts it right at the Sparkbird, wondering if he can put it out, or perhaps wash it away.
Neron uses the last of the abilities gained in this thread from Sunjata: the last of us
He tries to blast the Sparkbird with all the water he can summon!
Magic: Making Waves | Can create and control water (a full swimming pool amount). Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Light | Rank: Upgraded
Type: Other | Level: Basic
Power Reservoir | This Ascended's upgrade is capable of storing up to 3 abilities as a result of biting one or more victims. (Abilities are still one-use only).
And just in case it's needed for the effectiveness of the ability...
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)
Nikolai had suspected once the bird had taken out Varus that he and Neron were soon to follow. And although he'd wanted to run, to go hug his mom and hide in her arms, he couldn't abandoned them.
And so, the young Ascended had stayed and as the fire reached him, all he could feel was guilt. He'd promised, he'd promised to be careful. But clearly it wasn't enough. His last thoughts were a combination of I'm sorry and I love you, but like Varus, there was no way to give Neuron the message to pass on to his mother.
Though given that he was going out, the other Ascended likely would as well. But there wasn't anything that he could do, because the world was going black and then there was....
Alright Neron, it's all you. Let's see if that Launceleyn luck can carry you through one more time.
As the ascended reaches into his reservoir, he aims, he fires, and....he hits! Steam erupts from the Sparkbird's body as a torrent of water descends upon it. Blinded, the Sparkbird can only do as it has done, fanning back its wings and thrusting a blast of fire forward that hits...
...NOTHING.
Remember to include a summary at the bottom of your post with all action taken. If weapons/upgrades/abilities/items/shifts/etc are used, please include their desc. from your profile at the bottom of your post as well.
Your randomly assigned post order is Varus, Neron, Nikolai (death post)
Neron isn't the type for fuck yeahs or woops, but as he manages to win out in the fight of fire versus water, the adrenaline in his veins is certainly taking over. He's dead, he's quite sure of it - perhaps he'd died a while ago and he just hasn't noticed. It's all making his fingers and lips rather numb if he's truthful; perhaps he ought to just spread his arms and let it all happen.
He doesn't do that, though.
Launceleyn blood is stubborn stuff, even when it's technically fluid now, and so the Hailstorm readies himself again on the sodden ground. A wink in the dark, a tiny silhouette against the raging storm, he reaches out with sinister, life draining magic, attempting to snatch the very last of the Sparkbird's lifeforce away from it.
And if he doesn't?
It was a good run.
Neron tries one more time with his Life Drain.
Life Drain : Can take life force from a living thing to temporarily make themselves stronger within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
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)
Somewhere Edy is laughing and spreading her arms to welcome Neron into wherever the ascended souls actually are.
Neron 's luck has finally reached its limit, it seems; his final attack misses, but the Sparkbird's doesn't. Neron's body rains down onto the grounds, joining Nikolai and Varus' in pieces too small for anyone to ever recognize or put together.
Blind though it is, with no one to stop it, the Sparkbird moves back towards the Sanctuary to finish what it had started.
