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!
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on his sword
Look: Koa hasn't spent a lot of time on boats. He's not a boat boy. He's just a young man in way over his head, doing his very best.
So, unsure where else he can contribute, the lad stays at the helm. It's kind of awesome, honestly; He's grinning as he wrestles with the ship's wide wheel, feeling very much like he ought to yell something sailory. Maybe 'Avast' or 'Thar she blows'?
Or maybe he should just, y'know, focus on the task at hand.
Koa is a good steering boy.
He rolls 10 + 1, so 11
Flora's people skills continued to keep the ship on target, which became increasingly important the closer they came to the islands. The Hel's Blessing was able to follow right on the heels of the pirates through a dangerous section of underwater sea mounts - islands that were still rising but hadn't yet broken the surface - without needing to slow their speed and without taking damage.
Koa might not have been experienced at this whole sailing thing, but he didn't need to be. The ship's pilot knew which direction to turn the wheel, how far, and when thanks to Flora's instructions, but it was Koa's muscles that made it go faster and smoother as they strained the ship's mechanisms to their limits, turning the rudder this way and that to avoid the obstacles that Flora and the lookout could see and stayed on their quarry's tail.
Jack had warmed up and now there was no stopping his magic as he commanded the winds to fill their ship's sails. He might not have been able to steal it away from the other ship due to distance, but that distance was closing rapidly thanks largely to his efforts. The Blessing was fairly flying over the waves as he filled her sails until they strained, full-bellied, against the might of the wind pressing against them.
And those waves that rolled so high in front of the pirate vessel were strangely low in front of the Blessing's prow. Hadama swam with all his might beside the ship and cast his magic ahead, smoothing the sea before them so that the trim hunter found little impediment to her progress.
Which was all to say that just before they reached the islands, limned silver under the brightly rising moon, the pirates realized they couldn't escape and hove to, angling their vessel in an attempt to get off a shot from their cannons while the Blessing's own guns weren't in position yet. Bows and crossbows twanged across the water as a rain of arrows arced towards the Blessing's sailors!
Because of Flora's successful warnings, however, the pirate hunters were not caught by surprise and had a chance to react!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
There are incoming cannonballs and arrows.
The pirates do not appear to have realized the Blessing is equipped with a ram!
Actions this round include (but are not limited to if you have other ideas!):
1. Steer the ship : only one person can steer this round; since Koa is already at the wheel, he gets dibs on whether he wants to stay there or do something else
-- Ramming speed
-- Evasion
-- Bring cannons to bear
- Defend the ship : all OCs can use defensive actions
-- Defend against arrows
-- Defend against cannonballs
- Attack the pirates : all OCs can use attack actions; ships are now within 30 feet
-- Fire a cannon (only if the Bring cannons to bear Steering option was chosen earlier)
-- Attack the pirate ship
-- Attack the pirate crew
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on his sword
Oh fuck yeah bois, let's gooooo.
Koa laughs deliriously as the battle truly begins, flush with the power afforded to him by (kind of) steering a giant fucking ship. It's very much not something he ever planned on doing, but damn if it isn't an absolutely glorious affair.
Dark hair whipping in the magical and non-magical winds, the boy turns to wherever Jack is and calls out: "What's the play, Captain?" Because if there's one thing Koa excels at it's sussing out who has the most experience and being a good little soldier, damnit. And when the answer comes it has the Dragoon grinning, an eager glint in his copper eyes as he conveys the Captain's plan:
"Ramming speed! LET'S GO!"
Koa follows Jack's instructions (with permission) and goes for RAMMING SPEED
Listen, it's not his ship, and this one's got a big fuck-off ram on it, so of course Jack gives the go-head to Koa. If the captain of the Hel's Blessing has anything to say about it, well... they can talk after. Maybe.
In the meantime, Jack swings down from the rigging to the deck, eyeing the arrows and cannons and darting for the prow of the Blessing. "A'right, fuck this," he hisses, conjuring a gale to cut directly upwards from the arrows' intended path. He hopes to bend their trajectory away from the ship - he can't do much against cannonballs, but this he hopes to be able to handle.
Jack defends against arrows with his air magic!
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
"Sorry, what?" Flora calls out brashly. "Is there some telepathy I'm missing out on, or did I miss the memo about what the fuck we're supposed to do when our original plan goes to shit?" Of course there's no time to answer her, and so Flora finds herself ducking out of range of incoming arrows.
"If things get dicy, remember we can always have a kraken come and help out. Or...whatever Ronin wants to be." Flora calls as she moves to stand by Jack near one of the railings. Pulling out a dagger, the Doubletake breathes in slowly before throwing it at one of the crew members she'd seen do most of the bossing order before. Hopefully it was someone important, who, if hit, would slow down the response time on the other ship.
"If someone lights something on fire, I can always try and launch it over."
Flora throws one of her daggers at one of the Pirate Crew who, based on her eye-spying from previous rounds, seems important.
Type: Grey | Style: Offensive | Level: Mastered
Deadly Plumage | Three iridescent feathers capable of being used as projectiles. Razor sharp, they will recall themselves to the user's palm at will up to a range of 30ft.
+
Type: Dark | Style: Offensive | Level: Basic
Star Poison | A poisonous coating on each of the Deadly Plumage daggers
Just walk away, don't make me say
The only words I owe you: I told you so, I told you so
08-01-2023, 07:54 PM (This post was last modified: 08-03-2023, 02:45 PM by Hadama.)
Koa may not have known what he was doing, but he was a fast learner and he could turn that wheel like nobody's business. Maybe the Blessing's captain wasn't entirely keen on using their ship to ram the pirates, but with the wind in her sails and a calm sea before her there wasn't time for protest. The Hel's Blessing cut across the water like a knife, aimed right at the pirates. The pirates brought their broadside to bear on the Blessing and got a single round off, but the narrower target presented by the oncoming ship made her harder to hit. The cannonballs went wide and the Blessing struck the pirates amidship a few moments later!
Arrows began to rain down even before the vessels became entangled, but instead of thudding into the Blessing's deck they were swept aside by powerful gusts of wind that were no longer needed in the sails. Jack brought his magic to bear, protecting the crew (and himself) with admirable control over his magic and keeping the enemy projectiles away from the ship.
Flora 's luck wasn't quite as good. Though she had correctly identified the captain earlier and her plan was solid. Unfortunately in the movement of wind and wave and the swarm of enemy combatants bracing for impact her dagger was accidentally knocked off target when it grazed the arm of a pirate racing by at just the wrong moment. On the plus side, that pirate suddenly dropped like a rock and was no longer a threat to the Blessing.
As for Hadama, the Tidebreaker turned his own mastered water magic against the pirate ship from below the waterline. Picking up a trick he'd learned from the lethal currents in Svaturis Bay, he formed balls of ice and then sent them racing through an artificial current to slam against the hull, attempting to breach the heavy planks.
The pirate captain was rallying her own crew, however, and she pointed towards the Blessing with a vicious stream of curses that culminated in an arc of lightning striking down from the sky and onto the ship's deck. Flora wasn't the only one who had been keeping track of an enemy, and captain of the Blessing was struck directly, falling to the deck to lay unmoving and lightly smoking.
"Do not let them board the Blessing!" Hadama called even as the pirates started to mass where the ram was still stuck in their ship, preparing to use it as a bridge to swarm across!
There is now a connection between the ships that can be used to board the other vessel, but the pirates can use it, too. What will you do?
Well now that's a dirty trick. Jack means the lightning, of course, narrowing his eyes at the pathetically flamboyant tells that denote the Abandoned pirate as captain of her own vessel. "Pretty sure he's on fire on the inside," he tells Flora gruffly as the Blessing's captain falls as a result of the pirate's magic, and it's with an arm snagged around the Doubletake's waist that he heads for the prow of the ship.
"I dunno about the rest of the crew, but I certainly ain't gonna complain if some demigod wants to visit," he adds. Switching from air to water, it's with a blast of ice towards the oncoming pirates that Jack attempts to forestall their boarding - and hopefully impale a few of them or throw them into the water while he's at it!
Jack uses Water Manipulation to blast ice at the oncoming pirates to stop them boarding! He's also sort of(?) protecting Flora.
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
With a muffled ooof! as Jack catches her around the waist, Flora gets her feet back under her in order to stride confidently at the captain's side. "I know they say that what's on the inside counts, but I'd really like to see that fucker burn." The Doubletake mutters, before pulling in a breath. It wasn't written anywhere that you actually had to shout down a demigod in order to channel them, but in the midst of all the chaos that seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Flora screamed out, sounding and looking for all the world like some spoiled and sacred child calling out for a parent to whisk them away and save them. While she did absolutely want to be saved, no part of her was inclined to be whisked away.
Flora channels Remi!
Just walk away, don't make me say
The only words I owe you: I told you so, I told you so
but baby i've been here before; i've seen this room and i've walked this floor
While it might have been very cool for a Kraken to enter into this water battle, for the sake of pragmatism here's what actually happened.
Pulled away from wherever he had been and suddenly at his daughter's side, it took only a moment for the Lullaby to understand what was happening, if not why. With a stern Garalt-like scowl and huff, Remi took to the air rather than the sea as celestial starlight began to build within his palms.
Pointing the blasts directly at the pirate ship, three points of light shoot out from his palms aimed at the center of the ship that the impact might crack the thing in half if not obliterate it quickly.
"Be safe-" The Lullaby had time to call, before Flora's hold on him disappeared and Remi was returned to wherever he'd been only moments before.
Remi uses:
Magic: Copycat | Remi can mimic the abilities from two fellow demigods (Old Gods only). In order to mimic the ability, Remi must have been damaged by it in a thread previously. Only one ability may be used per thread.
Type: Grey | Rank: Upgraded
+
Magic: Shooting Stars | The user may summon celestial energy as a projectile. Control is excellent, and multiple projectiles may be created at once. (In quests or other combat situations requiring dice rolling, only 3 stars may be created per post). Range: 60ft
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
For total damage of 229.5 HP
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on his sword
Battles, it turns out, are a bit of a mess.
Ships crash. Lighting flashes. Ice smashes against invading troops. A demigod appears in a burst of starlight and vanishes a moment later, leaving smoke and ruin in his wake. Koa registers it all in bits and pieces, his brain storing moments away for later as he focuses on his task at hand. Which, for now, seems still to be steering the Blessing, to keep the ship steady as the melee unfolds.
"Try to take one alive!" he calls down from his perch at the helm to whoever will listen, teeth gritting as the Blessing strains against being so close to another vessel.
Koa continues holding down the helm, and directs Hadama/NPCs to try and take a pirate hostage before they all drown.
Not only was the pirate captain flamboyant, but she had a fabulous hat and a rakish scarlet sash that made her even easier to distinguish from her crew of cutthroats, criminals, and murderers. Unfortunately for them all, however, their luck was running out, and running fast.
Jack 's choice of magic to forestall the imminent boarding of the Blessing was a timely one. The crowd of pirates were an easy target for his ice, which sliced through them like… well. There were a slew of metaphors to choose from, but the result was that the air was filled with yells and screams of pain and red, red blood as a number of the pirates went down.
Then those screams turned to fear and panic as Flora called upon her father’s assistance and a flying demigod manifested in the gloaming. The raw power in Remi’s hands was more than enough to finish the damage that the Blessing’s ram had done to the pirate vessel, and the hull splintered swiftly in two as if the Lullaby had been cracking an egg for his breakfast.
Which made Koa ‘s decision to maintain his place at the wheel wiser than anyone else might have guessed. His piloting may not have been expert, but his strength at holding the tiller steady prevented the Hel’s Blessing from bucking into the choppy waters caused by the sudden sinking of the pirate vessel, and he was able to hold their ride steady enough for the rest of the Blessing’s crew to repel the few pirates who tried to jump over in a panic.
The pirate captain cast another bolt of lightning at the Blessing, but luckily for Koa her aim was spoiled by the sudden destruction of her ship, and the magic crackled harmlessly into the ocean beside the ship he steered.
The crew might have been too excited and ready to fight to hear Koa’s words, but Hadama caught them on the wind before he stretched his magic to help calm the waters around their own ship. Instead he turned his attention to the sinking halves of the enemy vessel his sharp gaze caught sight of several wretches who had been chained belowdecks, pressed into servitude aboard the pirate ship as galley slaves and deck swabbers. He dove forwards, cutting through the water as he turned his efforts to using his trident to slicing free the chains of the first man he reached and using the proximity of his StAer ring to keep two more nearby captives from drowning.
Remi’s blast combined with Jack’s magic and the general destruction of the shattered ship had done a number on the pirate crew. Many were killed outright from blasts of either ice or starfire, and others had been killed or knocked unconscious from falling spars or falling into the sucking vortex around the sinking ship. Only a handful remained alive in the water (including one woman in a very dashing hat), but with triangular fins converging on the battle it seemed unlikely that they would last long.
Remi’s assistance has definitely turned the tide! The pirate ship has been destroyed, and only a few crewmembers and their captives remain alive in the water. The sharks will arrive in one round. You decide who lives and who dies!
Ice, stars, fire and blood - it's exactly the sort of thing that would make for a great, swashbuckling tale, if anyone cared enough to tell one. For Jack's part, he turns himself (and Flora, by proxy) away from any splinters and debris caused by the starbolts and the way the pirate ship promptly starts to disintegrate and sink, the captain letting out a low whistle. "Your father doesn't mess around, huh," he mutters, reminding himself to stay the fuck on the Doubletake's good side.
(...At least until he knows she's used her Channelling, anyway).
As for saving people from the water, Jack releases Flora and hurries across deck for some rope. "Captains ought to go down with their ship," he announces to no one in particular - but it probably explains why, as he throws the rope to the water, it's nowhere near the woman and her dashing hat.
Jack throws some rope for survivors to grab onto (though he makes a point not to throw it near the pirate captain).
are the angels on their way? i’m in the dirt
Jack being an Abandoned is common knowledge these days, however his Telepathy remains a well-kept secret:
Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered
Also branded with a small star tattoo beneath his left eye.
idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on his sword
And thar she goes.
Koa watches in abject awe as fire and ice all but explode the enemy ship. He's almost too distracted to catch the wheel as it yanks away, steadying it with gritted teeth as the pirate vessel shoves a wave into the Blessing, like a curse from its dying breath.
Sweat remains where his palms were as he at last releases the wheel. Liberated from his post, the young man runs to the side of the ship, snatching up rope as he goes. "Grab on!" Koa calls as he flings the end of the rope overboard, bracing to haul up any poor soul caught in the turbulent water below.
"He does not." Flora confirms of her father. Glad of Jack's guidance lest she be pelted with splinters and debris for not moving in time, the girl grabs hold of the captain until the dust more or less settles. Not overly altruistic at the best of times, the Doubletake is inclined to take Jack's advice and let the captain drown go down with her ship. Besides, with Hadama in the water it was likely that the Very Good and Kind mermanta would find a way of saving her anyway.
Grabbing a hold of some rope as well (gods it was heavy), Flora enlists the help of some of the crew to help her haul it over and subsequently pull up anyone who might grab onto it. "Anyone who grabs on better play nice, or else." She calls sweetly, holding a dagger and pointing it overboard just in case any of the pirates were planning on trying to be sneaky when boarding.
Flora throws a rope down with the help of some crew, and warns anyone climbing aboard about fuckery.
Just walk away, don't make me say
The only words I owe you: I told you so, I told you so
