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!
07-16-2023, 07:04 AM (This post was last modified: 07-16-2023, 11:57 PM by Willis.)
Willis crossed his arms gripping on the sleeves of his leather coat. He never liked the cold, preferring the warmer weather of the Torchline. Though Willis didn't have the fondest of memories living on the islands, he could never adapt to the colder climates once he left. Yet Willis always follow where the coin is and right now, it was at Halo specifically at a cozy inn near the Citadel. The frosty winds whistled small snowflakes bristled against Willis' dark skin while he shuffled towards the entrance. This was the entrance of the Monster Hunter guild, a group of Sellswords who are tasked with killing Monsters than killing people. Even though it was more risky, Willis decided to do more Monster Hunting contract lately due to bigger payout and the lack of moral quandary when it came to Monsters.
Also, Willis would be supporting his wife and daughter. He never understood why his wife preferred the cold but unlike Willis, she quickly adapted to the warmer climate. Currently, Willis' wife is working in order for them to combine their income. He and his wife could barely afford the monthly rent at their ramshackle of a house. The young man took a deep breath, and entered the inn smiling when he was greeted by a warm fireplace ahead. Willis kicked the snow off his boots and took off his coat. As soon as he was thawed out, he could start looking for some contracts.
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
Having taken home some of the books to repair, since pages had been disassembled, torn, or ripped, the Sword snagged a few minutes of free moments to place them in the guild’s library once more. He considered the journals and tomes valuable, cherished, and worth their weight in information alone – so ensuring they were back where they belonged had been paramount.
Returned to the shelves, he crossed over the threshold, and heard another enter – though the footsteps didn’t go far. Arching his brow and looking down across the railing from the library to the center of the main hall, he recognized the man, but only briefly, barely, as one who often took contracts but had never made a formal declaration towards the guild.
Long strides swept down the steps, and since the Accepted was close to the fireplace, and nearby exit, Warden could issue a greeting and then head out, likely for the barracks or anything else that came to his attention. Nodding as he walked by, the deep rumble of his voice exuded and echoed off the hall. “Afternoon.”
Willis walked closer towards the fireplace enjoying the crackling of wood as well as the warmth of that it provided. Thank the Voice that main operating base for the Monster Hunters was warm and toasty. Every building Willis was took refuge in Halo felt like it was stepping into an ice age. But that was the frigid lands of Halo was it? The land of always winter the locals called it and the Citadel was the only place that had a semblance civilization. "You gotta be mad to willingly live in a place like this," Willis muttered.
Just then he heard loud thumps from behind. The young man instinctively grabbed the hilt of his Cutlass, even though Willis was aware that the Citadel was the safest place in Halo, years of fighting had hardened him. It always helped to have one hand on his hilt. Better to be cautious and alive than relaxed and dead. Willis turned around and saw large man even taller than him walked by him. His guttural sounding closer to a giant than a man. "He may already be a Giant," Willis thought slowly recognizing the person.
"You're the Grandmaster right?" Willis asked. "My name is Willis Reede and I've come here from the Tundra to collect my coin, a few days ago, I've slain a Frost Giant that has been gorging on a villages livestock. I'm also looking for another contract if you allow this part-timer to do so?"
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
The hand on the cutlass nearly made him laugh; pulling a sword on Deimos wouldn’t have helped matters in the slightest, but at least the man was amidst the ready. He implemented those notions to his soldiers every day. “Guildmaster,” he corrected – for he wasn’t Grandmaster of anything, even amongst his variety of titles. “Deimos Ignatius.”
His gaze rounded back to Willis, brow arching at the introduction, summation, and news that he’d conquered a frost giant. “All on your own?” If the Warden’s sounded skeptical out of the reticence, then it was; for he could recall being tossed like a ragdoll in their attempts in years prior at subduing such a beast, and never heard of anyone defeating the massive creatures by themselves. Not unless they were telling tall tales, deep in their cups.
Letting the matter simmer in his mind for a moment, his head tilted, eyes flickering back to the board of bounties. “You are welcome to look and take one,” though Willis must have already known that, given matters of prior contracts. “Though I must ask why you do not just join the guild.”
07-17-2023, 06:56 PM (This post was last modified: 07-18-2023, 01:04 AM by Willis.)
"Guildmaster......" Willis said slightly embarrassed by the fact that he mispronounced Deimos' title. He sounded like an amateur who doesn't know what he was talking about but a mistake is something that only occurs once.
"Nice to meet you sir," Willis said curious at Deimos' reaction to him slaying a giant. "Yes sir," Willis replied. "Killing him was simple, I convinced the Elderman to give me one of their Sheep that I can use as bait. I placed the Sheep in the middle of a small island across from the village. The lake was frozen due to a harsh winter the village suffered a month ago and I spent an entire week carefully carving holes on the Ice around the island."
"Freezing my ass off in the process," Willis thought crossing his arms.
"Once the Giant came back to attend to his buffet, I've used the sheep's blood to lure it to the lake. Giants have great sense of smell and a lone Sheep on an Island was irresistible for the Giant not to take it. Once the Giant walked across the frozen lake, the ice collapsed with a combination of the holes I dug and the Giant's weight. It was only a matter of time before he drowned."
And all that for barely enough coin to feed his daughter.
"I've been wanting to stay close to my family," Willis said. "They live on the islands on Torchlight, been hesitant to become a full time Monster Hunter but I heard once you become one, you get access to benefits as well as much better pay. Figured that I would have a look."
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
While Deimos listened to the tale of how Willis had somehow managed to thwart and maul a frost giant, the healthy amount of skepticism remained inward. Taking the notions as best he could, with barely an arched brow, he pondered over the complexities of someone boasting about landing such a creature. Issues could’ve easily been cultivated on any other venture, and perhaps the Accepted had seemingly run into good fortune or better tactics than most of the Halovian trackers. He’d air towards the former. “I see,” he mentioned. “Maybe you could teach some of our own.”
His eyes narrowed again though at the mention of families and Torchlight (presuming Torchline), or the advantages of being a guild member – Deimos had led it for quite a few years, and his rewards yielded more towards knowledge, expertise, proficiency, and growth in the guild itself. “What benefits are you implying?”
07-18-2023, 01:14 AM (This post was last modified: 07-18-2023, 01:15 AM by Willis.)
Willis carefully wiped the snowflakes off from his sleeve blinking at what Demios told him. He wanted him to teach the others? Weren't the Monster Hunters smart enough to conduct a tactic like this? It wasn't like Willis did anything special. Giants tended to be pretty stupid. "I guess," Willis replied. " I'll consider it only if there's coin involved."
A teaching job would be less painful and maybe there'll be more pay. The issue was that he had to stay in Halo where it was freezing hellscape. "Well for one," Willis said forcing a smile to break the tension no doubt caused by his nervousness. "We have a nice to live and we get free access to potions, and healers as such. Plus I get better pay! Who doesn't want that you know? Especially a man like me with a hungry daughter to feed."
Willis continued to flash an awkward smile. He had to do something to prove himself to the Guildmaster "So are you going anywhere?" Willis asked. "Are you hunting some Monsters? I could help, I just need to restock, and I'll join you."
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
Sarcasm had been lost apparently, so Deimos let the matter drop. The other information seemed a bit bizarre to him – as none of his guild members, nor himself, had ever advertised access to potions. The guild itself certainly had rooms for anyone to utilize, especially those from other lands traveling and journeying to either obtain information or participate in a hunt. “We do not have ready access to potions,” considering there few of them to create them (save for himself, Evie, and maybe one or two others), “but we do have rooms, an armory, and a library.” If Willis found that suitable for himself. “Is that your request to join?”
The man seemed to have a need to prove his abilities (possibly because Deimos still thought the giant a tall tale; might have been fitting). “I was headed towards the barracks,” since he had other duties to attend to. “But you may look at the contracts,” pointing towards the board, directing towards more feasible means for Willis; with fiends such as hels, ningos, and blind swamp rats.
Potions were fairly rare but Willis heard rumors that the Monster Hunters created batches of healing potions that full time Monster Hunters took for free. Judging by Deimos' response that rumor turned to be just that: A rumor. "I really need to stop placing stock in rumors," Willis thought. "But then again with mercenary work drying up, I have nothing but rumors to go on."
"It was only a rumor spread across Citadel," Willis replied. "I can bind a up a wound easy enough but with a healing potion, it saves hours of work. Hell, if there were more potions then healers will be out of the job."
The young man chuckled at that joke as if it wasn't said a thousand times already. "Of course, Guildmaster let me take a look." Willis walked towards the board and grabbed the first contract he saw. There was a call for a Monster Hunter to get rid of some Ningos that were agitating a farmer not too far from Citadel's boarders. The payout was actually decent as well.
"Some Ningos to take out," Willis said to Deimos. "And the coin is decent too, looks like the person really hates Ningos."
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
Deimos’ eyes narrowed, pondering over the complexities of such a rumor, or if someone with a bizarre sense of humor had offered Willis the false information. “We do have a healing spring now,” he offered. “But it is in the Fangs.”
Without a declarative answer towards his question, the Warden merely watched the other – incredibly uncertain, brow arching. Was he joining the guild or not? Was it a trial by basis sort of opportunity? Deimos had often just taken them at face value – if the individual was interested and intrigued, they were welcome to become a member.
As for the ningos needing to be rid of, the Sword could imagine it was likely a nuisance flock opting to take residence where they didn’t belong. An easy and efficient task, and probably something that would need to happen in the near future as well, since the birds rarely understood where they were meant to settle. Glancing over at the paper and the person who’d declared the bounty, he snorted, recognizing Mr. Took’s scrawl and handwriting. “Yes. Mr. Took is not a happy person by nature,” and the avian creatures would undoubtedly get under his skin. “His shop,” a large butcher’s building, “is down the corner.”
Willis didn't feel like going to the springs as much as he wanted to relax. In front of him was more opportunity for coin especially with his wife being heavy with child. "Thank you Guildmaster," Willis said. "I'll check it out after I'm done with this Ningos contract."
The young man grimaced when Deimos mentioned that he Mr. Took the writer of the contract wasn't the approachable type. Either Willis was going to have to take his shit or more likely he was going very blunt with Mr Took. Willis learned quickly that when it came to Monsters, the client usually folds quickly especially businessmen.
"I'll head there immediately," Willis shrugged. "Ningos are annoying little bastards but they're a breath of fresh air compared to Giants."
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
Nodding at Willis’s decision, the Sword opened the door of the guild hall, intending to step outside and head towards his next destination – being the barracks, with multitudes of training and instruction to coincide and supervise. Seeing as how the mercenary was agreeable to working with Mr. Took, despite the warnings, Deimos shrugged and snorted, mildly amused by the statement. “True.” At least with ningos one didn’t have to fear losing their life; though they probably ought to be prepared for irritation.
Arching his brow again, and waiting for anything else, he gave a firm nod. “Let me know if you need any assistance. I will be at the barracks.” Further down the road, assisting with the soldiers and warriors of the Citadel.
"Well....." Willis stopped and turned to Deimos. "I think joining the guild will be quite beneficial for my finances."
The young man sighed. "It's hard to get work now and days," he said. "The guild does have constant contracts coming in so It was hard for me not to take up your offer."
Willis smiled. "Thank you Guildmaster Deimos," Willis said smiling. "I look forward on taking on bigger and better Monsters for more coin. I got a pregnant wife back at Torchline who is due any day now."
He'd hope for not only better pay, but also a new adventure. Though Willis is going to be a father soon, the thrill of traveling still coursed through him since he was a boy. "I best be off," Willis said. "Thank you again sir."
the ocean does not apologize for its depth and the mountains do not seek forgiveness
Whether it was beneficial to Willis’s finances didn’t much matter to the Sword; but he arched a brow as the man indicated he did want to join. Perhaps it had merely taken him a little longer to parse through than many others who opted to be within their sanction. “All right,” mentally adding Willis to the list of members. He granted another nod of acceptance, keeping the notions of more children being introduced into the world as a good thing – it meant they thought it was safe enough. “You are welcome. Good luck.”
From there, he gave a half a wave, before heading down to the road towards his destination of the barracks, presuming Willis would be meandering his way down to Mr. Took’s butchery – and be able to tackle the irritating ningos.
