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!
Last time she had been here, Wessex had nearly killed her. Despite the long journey and lack of necessity of leaving Stormbreak to find a shrine to her herald, Anju had picked this location for that reason alone. The spirits had answered her plea that day, and without them she doubts she would be here now. On the other side of the war, the last Dragoon standing, with a broken city and too many dead on her shoulders.
The bow on her back belonged to one of those lost souls. Though Anju had never been much of an archer beyond basic proficiency expected of all Dragoons, she has been training with it for the past year to try and honor Lisbeth's sacrifice. Kneeling before the bone shrine, Anju withdraws a few hard candy treats and a toy bow and arrow set with arrows that have little suction cups at the end - it had seemed hilariously inappropriate, which she hopes Ludo will enjoy. "Ludo, it has been a very long time. Are you there?" As straight to the point as always.
I didn’t mean to be this kind of creature The brain, the heart, the color or the features
Clicky-clack, go all the skulls assembled at Mort and Ludo's shrine, their bleached jaws parting and closing again as if they are biting the air. And whilst the voice is disjointed with the movements of the bones (like a badly dubbed movie), it is unmistakeably Ludo who replies. How will Anju know it's the herald and not a spirit?
The sudden animation is startling, though not frightening. Charming, even, as the skulls with half their teeth missing chatter away. Nothing would ever be as intimidating as Delphia's mummified body laying on top of her mother's grave in the Greatwood coming back to life before Anju's eyes.
Ew. Back into the memory vault for that one.
"I hope there's enough for all of you," she remarks dryly with a tiny smile, beginning to deposit the candy in each chattering mouth - timing the gnawing, gnashing motions as best she can. The candy plops through the openings to the sand below with little fanfare.
While Stormbreak natives don't often encounter spirits, malevolent or otherwise, Anju sees no problem in 'feeding' the skulls regardless. There is always the bow and arrow for Ludo if they decide to show their mask-face belatedly.
I didn’t mean to be this kind of creature The brain, the heart, the color or the features
Whether there is enough or not is irrelevant - each skull happily accepts a candy (or not) with an eager and enthusiastic nom nom nom, and if Anju looks closely, she might see a little raggedy tendril snatching out to rescue the candies from the sand where they fall. Offerings are always accepted by the deity, after all.
Once the sound of, er, munching begins to echo around the shrine, Ludo appears in a swathe of darkness contrasted by the stark porcelain of its mask. "It was me all along," it informs Anju proudly.
Anju is neither maternal nor particularly emotive, but she has a softspot a mile wide for the heralds and their various spirits, and the charmed grin on her face makes that apparent. The little tendrils are hard to spot but not impossible, and as Ludo arrives bedecked in darkness Anju chuckles quietly, not as surprised as she might have been otherwise.
"Were they tastier with so many mouths to enjoy them with?" she inquires, extending a hand with candy concealed in the palm towards Ludo as if challenging it to steal it away from the prison of her fingers, wiggling her wrist to and fro enticingly. "If I give you another, will you answer a riddle? Though I made it myself, so it's not very good." Advice was only half of what she'd come for, but to make a game of it was more entertaining.
I didn’t mean to be this kind of creature The brain, the heart, the color or the features
"Well of course they were," Ludo drawls, as if that much ought to be obvious. What also ought to be obvious, of course, is that it could take the candy from her without so much as a blink of effort - but the lure of a riddle is too great, as Anju likely always knew it would be for the herald.
"I will answer your riddle for a candy, sweetling," it confirms, in case the ominous gentle way it appears to be bobbing up and down doesn't suggest that much to her.
She smiles indulgently, the herald's surety like a child's firm belief in their own logic. And though she has seen Ludo's tricky nature and might alike, Anju knows how to appeal to the entity's curious spirit; whether it's all that Accepted schooling in Stormbreak or her reticence to visit any other herald is for someone who cares more than her to decide.
"What makes more noise when it is dead than when it is alive?" She asks, doing her best to bypass her normal stoic voice for something more dramatic and lofty. "And if I were to make like its genealogy, should I fulfill my punny prophecy?" A lopsided quirk of a smile presents itself as she leans in, far from dissuaded by the off-putting bobbing display, to whisper, "I promise you can have the candy even if you forfeit."
I didn’t mean to be this kind of creature The brain, the heart, the color or the features
03-03-2023, 08:45 PM (This post was last modified: 03-03-2023, 08:45 PM by Ludo.)
LUDO
The mask's expression does not change a single bit, and yet all the same, Anju might swear that it looks puzzled, then frustrated, and then victorious as it works through her lyrical tongue twister of a riddle. Waggling a raggedy bit of cloth at her, Ludo clears its throat theatrically, before uttering (however absolutely wrongly), "The answer is fire."
But wait, there's more foolishness where that came from! "Because if you make like a fire, then you are on fire! And you will die." It nods. "That is a pun," it adds, helpfully. (It is not).
Maybe it's the shadowy bits, or the magical ~vibe~, but Anju does indeed get the sense of each of Ludo's emotions. Which makes it all the more delightful for the herald to be so very wrong, and yet so confident in its answer. "I think that is a far better answer, so first I shall give you your candy," she aims to be as solemn as possible, but the corners of her mouth fold in little dimples of amusement as she turns her hand over to reveal the largest candy yet - a black piece of saltwater taffy, half the size of her palm.
"My answer was leaves. They make more noise dead than alive. And if I were to make like its genealogy - a tree - should I leaf?" The pun sounds strange in her normally stoic voice, like a jerky shrug of the shoulder. "I hoped to trade candy for life advice before I ask for my bow to be stronger. I know I am not good at it," she admits freely. "But you brought me to the Greatwood long ago. I had never been outside of Stormbreak before then. What do you think I should do?" Politics likely aren't interesting to Ludo, but with no leader, no Dragoons, no way of opening the city to Abandoned without a ruler...is she needed somewhere else, now?
I didn’t mean to be this kind of creature The brain, the heart, the color or the features
"Yes," Ludo agrees freely, and whilst her explanation of her riddle is probably very clever indeed, the deity is somewhat distracted by the taffy. Sneaking out a raggedy tendril, it stuffs the piece of candy beneath its mask, and when it speaks next, it will be unmistakably hindered by a jaw half-glued shut by taffy.
"Yushud opn a cndy shp," it informs her. "In Shtorbrk. Yushud shell tassy." The mask bobs up and down wisely, as if this is, in fact, the most sage wisdom anyone will ever hear from it. "Iss ish vry gud! Shanks!"
Though it's not the answer she sought, Anju can't help but chuckle, unable to not be lighthearted around their favored herald. Perhaps the advice lies within the childish enthusiasm anyway. Something to over-analyze while staring up at the ceiling in bed tonight. "You're welcome, I'm glad you like it," she snorts, glad to have discovered something the little mask-menace prefers.
"Can you help me make my bow stronger, then?" Removing it from her back, she presents it loosely to Ludo. It had been Lizbeth's, and she hopes to honor the young woman's sacrifice by utilizing the weapon more frequently despite her own preference for swords. "And then I'll bring you more taffy when I come back. Maybe from my new shop." Quite the sweet deal.
I didn’t mean to be this kind of creature The brain, the heart, the color or the features
Sweet deal, hueh hueh hueh hueh. Ludo does not respond at first, though Anju might well be able to guess that's because it is still wrestling with the taffy. When it does speak, at least it can properly form syllables again. "Ah, yes. Fiery sparky spark bow." Its masked head bobs up and down in a nod.
"I can help to make it stronger. But you will need to bring other things, not just taffy." After a pause, it adds, "But do remember the taffy."
Anju has received a quest to upgrade the following:
Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Basic
Scorch Recurve | A bow infused with volcanic ash. A rich, dark colour, it is always warm to the touch. Any arrow drawn with the bow will ignite on release.
She must:
1. Complete a thread collecting a bone from the Boneyard in Hak Etme.
2. Complete a thread practicing archery at sunrise. (This may be a Training thread, but it doesn't have to be).
3. Complete a thread hunting fauna of your choice with the Scorch Recurve bow.
4. Complete a thread making black saltwater taffy.
Anju waits patiently, and a tiny grin emerges when Ludo manages to speak this time without sounding like half its mouth is glued shut. Not that she wants to know what kind of mouth exists behind that porcelain mask mind you. Even the most devout are okay with a little mystery.
She listens intently to the list the herald doles out, idly stroking the strange warmth of the bow as it lays across her lap. It will be an adventure to say the least, but she doesn't mind that. Surely an easier path lies before her than the awakening of Mort's daughter. Standing, the Dragoon hooks the bow onto her back once more and smiles at Ludo and the grinning skulls that have gone still and silent. "I will see you soon then. Thank you, Ludo." Summoning Riya back from the skies, Anju folds at her waist in a little bow, and begins her trek back to civilization.
- Fin!
I didn’t mean to be this kind of creature The brain, the heart, the color or the features
