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 tracks were clear. Rea's finger was the target. But time was pressing and the tide was coming faster and faster. If the maniac who took the children here had really brought them to the caves, they would all die if they did not hurry. So he looked for the next best entrance. He took out his torch and quickly lit it with one of his flints before entering one of the caves. "Watch out for the tide, if you don't want to fall victim to it, search the caves. But try not to fall into the trap yourself. The others will take boats and see if they can find anything on the shore," he said calmly, ready for whatever might happen.
Darkeye looks for the entrance of a cave and tries to find the children.
Danta warns the others about the darkness inside the tunnels, without which they never would have realized it on their own. They owe him their gratitude.
Meanwhile, Darkeye sees endless twisting tunnels. His torch only reaches a small distance into the darkness. With no markers to guide him by, he is left with nothing but random tunnels to try, going off in every direction.
But Esmerelda does hear something. Distance cries, echoing through the tunnels. While any sounds above the water are impossible to track due to the echoes bouncing the sound in every direction, underwater the sound is much clearer. Crying children. Lots of crying children. She believes she can navigate towards them, if she is careful.
In the depths of the tunnels, the water is well past the children's waists. They try clambering up on the highest rocks they can reach. Their cries are so fascinating to Trinket's ears. She watches them with no malice, no ill will. Just curious interest. She has never heard a sound like this before. It is different. It is new. Anything new is interesting.
She wants to hear more. Not out of any desire to make the children suffer, but just because she has never heard so many voices crying out at once, and it sparks her curiosity.
She takes the lantern, filled with lightning bugs, and dips it under the water. She cracks open the side, letting the water flood in and drown the bugs, extinguishing their light.
In the impenetrable darkness, the children cry louder. Trinket closes her eyes and just listens.
Quite curious indeed.
---
The sound of crying grows louder, giving Esmerelda a lead to follow.
Whatever Danta is or isn't doing seems to be working based on the fact that the other two individuals who had come to help are going into the tunnels. So that's something, right? He's not too keen on joining them though, truthfully, and so the Ancient chooses to remain outside. You know, where he won't drown if the tide comes in.
He does make himself somewhat useful though, one might say; taking flight from his perch, he circles back around to try and get the attention of the apparently very reasonable looters in Torchline. With a shriek and a caw and a cry of "MEAT" (because that's much more interesting than 'help', don't you know), he tries to lead them towards the tunnels as well.
They can go and get wet, it's fine.
Danta tries to corral some of the looters to go and help save the kids.
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Esmerelda isn't sure if it's relief at finding the trial or panic over what it implies that fills her. The jaguar begins to carefully swim towards the sound, doing her best to memorize a path that will be safe for children to use later. It was no use if she found them but couldn't get them out and had to go get backup. With the tide coming in, there simply wasn't enough time for such things.
Steeling herself, Esmerelda swam further, her ears locked on the cries, some part of her trying to pick out her brother's voice amongst the rest. Though who knew if his presence or absence was a good thing.
~
Esmerelda follows the sound and tries to memorize a path in/out that's suitable for kids.
Darkeye did not know the way the sounds were difficult to interpret because of the cave. There swam this jaguar purposefully in one direction past him. He still marked with the axe the way out and hoped that it would help them. It would be difficult to get out of here alive. Especially with all the children. What was all this bullshit who would do such a thing. Was his train of thought. So he followed the jaguar and hoped that this knew where to go.
----
Darkeye makes signs on the wall that lead outside and follows the jaguar.
For some inexplicable reason, none of the looters respond to the random bird shouting "MEAT" at them. Why this did not work will forever be a mystery for the ages.
Esmerelda is able to follow the sounds, and soon finds the cavern filled with missing children. They are huddled together in chest-deep water. They look at her with fear, not sure if they are being rescued or if this is another part of the cruel game they've been subjected to. She realizes, however, that there were too many twists and turns to ever keep track of, and she has no idea how to get back out.
Fortunately, Darkeye marked the path, leaving them a clear way to get back out. With the marks to follow, returning the way they came will be quite simple, except for the hardest part: corralling so many, many children to follow without any of them making a wrong turn, and doing so quickly enough with the tide almost reaching their heads.
Trinket watches the rescuers arrive, her face expressionless in the torchlight. "Seekers, you win," she says, her tone devoid of emotion. "But that's only part one. Now you need to get us out before we drown. Otherwise, we all lose." She includes herself in this statement, knowing that her own fate, too, rests in the hands of the Seekers. She knows the way out, but the waters are too high, and the demigod doesn't know how to swim.
---
Esmerelda, Darkeye, and a group of Torchliners find the children. Now to get them to safety...
Esmerelda shifts into her human form and rushes forward and to hug her brother the second she sees him, "You idiot!" After a few tearful whispered words, she refocuses on their mission. She bites her tongue to suppress yelling at Trinket when she realizes just who's behind this mess. She can do that once they're all safe. For now, she settles for a glare.
"Ok, listen up kids." Esmerelda spots the markers that Darkeye left and feels a surge of hope. "See those marks? We're going to walk two at a time along that path. When it gets too deep, us adults will carry you until it's shallow enough and then double back to get the rest. If we all work together and move steadily and carefully, we'll be ok."
With her speech over she attempts to get the children to start moving along the path.
~
Esmerelda shows the kids Darkeye's path and ushers them to start walking along it two at a time.
Well now, that's just rude. But you know what they say - where there's a will, there's a way. And where there's a Gore Crow, there's shitfuckery to be had. A less selfish more sociable creature might have tried another verbal communication, but alas, Danta decides to go with what he figures will work. Don't these looters know there are kids to save, or something? (It was kids, right?)
And so, swooping down, he pecks at the heads and shoulders of the looters with his large beak, before pinwheeling away to try and lead them to the shore. If nothing else, it's a fun way to pass the time while whatever happens in the tunnels happens. He quite likes hen pecking.
Danta pecks the looters to try and lead them to the tunnels. (Because this will surely work).
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
When Darkeye sees the children, he is glad that everyone is well up. But when he sees who is behind it all, he is more than just angry, he boils. This is for a long time again the case that comes up like tut in him. But this was neither the time nor the place to decide what to do with Trinket. "You heard the lady, the parents are taking the children on their backs. But only those who can swim. Stay calm, we'll get everyone out of here." he said calmly and rammed his axe into the ground here. He wanted to use it to get the kids out of here and get back and forth faster. Maybe his teleport was useful for something. He laid his spear across and told the children to hold on. He was very careful that Trinket was not there. If she tried to sneak in, it would have consequences.
Darkeye tries to help the children.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Upgraded
Throwing Axes | A pair of throwing axes crafted from the tooth of a giant landshark. They only ever deal basic damage, but allow the wielder to teleport up to 15ft in distance. Throwing the axe and teleporting each count as separate actions - they cannot be done in the same turn.
At first the looters bat away the raven, seeing it as a nuisance. But after it persists, one of them looks up at it and asks, "What is it, boy? Did Timmy fall down the well?"
Some of the people break off from their angry rioting, clinging to the idea that maybe someone had found the children. They follow the bird, catching on to the idea that it was a person transformed, and made their way down to the beach to help.
With the aid of Esmerelda and Darkeye, the townsfolk follow the commands to begin leading the children out. With enough people recruited to help, it goes quickly, and the group is able to emerge from the tunnels with the children in tow. Children run towards their parents, holding them tight and crying. They are wet, tired, disheveled, and scraped up from the rocky tunnels. But they are alive.
Trinket stops at the edge of the beach, the last one out of the tunnels. She watches the scene before her. Hundreds of people having the most interesting day of their lives. A day none of them would ever forget. A small smile touched her lips. She was sure Ludo would be quite proud.
---
The children are rescued, thanks to the leadership and ingenuity shown by those involved. If anyone wants there to be consequences, please post them now. Otherwise, you can make exit posts.
Darkeye is happy when he sees the children run to their parents and take them in their arms. He is wet and tired but at the same time relieved that everything has ended so well. But when he looks around and sees Trinket grinning, he runs up to them, takes a deep breath, and asks quietly. "Hey, Trinket, you're all right, aren't you? Everything is still there. You don't happen to know why the kids were down there, do you?" He didn't know, but the grin made him nervous. He didn't know yet how he would react if it was her fault. But it could not go unpunished.
The smart-mouthed looter receives a good pecking for his trouble (even more than the cursory abuse Danta provides to the others), but it seems that he's got some of their attention at least. Because Timmy has fallen down the equivalent of a well, he supposes, and they'll get to see it for themselves once they reach the beach.
And they do, as it happens. All hail Danta for getting their attention, right? Right.
Anyway. With his work done - or as done as he plans to make it anyway - the Gore Crow croaks something that might be a farewell or it might be an obscenity, and flaps away from the scene.
Kids are dumb.
Danta out!
'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
It's chaotic but it works. The children are safe, and their families rejoice. Esmerelda saw more tears than she'd ever seen from the citizens of Torchline. But given the severity of the situation, she couldn't fault her. Or herself, as a few tears escaped her eyes as she drew her little brother Dominik close into another hug.
Sending one last harsh, suspicious, look at Trinket, Esmerelda picked up Dominik. Sniffling, he curled up, hiding his face in her neck as she tries to soothe him. The Attuned then swiftly began the walk home, all to get them both home and settled, and to put this whole day behind them. Her parents would be furious but hopefully their relief would overshadow the worst of it.
~
Esmerelda takes her brother and goes home with one last glare at Trinket.
