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!
03-27-2019, 04:17 PM (This post was last modified: 03-28-2019, 05:58 PM by Odd.)
key quest
The stairs go up and they go down.
It's a simple choice, really.
Within lights illuminate the pathways, though there seems to be an eerie, ethereal glow pulsating from somewhere... upwards. Somewhere spiralling, where the steps are wide but shallow, and the air smells stale.
You have 48 hours to respond, detailing your character arriving and any preparations they might have made. So that nothing is missed, please include a quick summary at the bottom of your post.
REMEMBER: KQs are rewarding, but dangerous. They may cause death and/or permanent changes to your characters - join at your own risk!
Those in {PQ} Semper Fidelis have first right of refusal for being already on the scene.
The Voice had spoken to him, directly. Had come into his mind. Only you. Come... find us. Save us from this prison. Only you... Sam was not naive enough to think the message was only for him, but he had felt drawn to respond to it. The Voice had served him well lately after all, once for his own voice and once for something he couldn't quite remember, but knew had been for good.
He was not often one for feeling like he had a purpose, but this time he felt as if he should be at the Spire. This was a monumental moment in his home's history, after all. He took the cube from his table (thinking that The Voice may have given him it for a reason) and then set off, wearing a long dark coat and tying a scarf over much of his face.
The scene at the Spire was chaos, as was to be expected with the sudden change to the barrier and loud noises underground. He cut through the crowds, trying to ignore the fear grasping at his heart. Jigano's words ran through his head, that he didn't condone just running in without a plan...but it was too late for that now, wasn't it? Something was happening, The Voice needed Ascended to help with it.
Maybe he'd finally be important.
He came to the base of the Spire and paused for a moment, shocked, at the sight of the open door. There are other Ascended here already which he acknowledged with a nod, not wanting to particularly start conversation. Upwards felt...safer, somehow (something about how being underground felt like being trapped? He had an odd memory about packed earth over his head he couldn't quite grasp the details of...) and he stepped up onto the first step, leaned against the wall to wait and see who (if anyone) would join him going upwards.
03-27-2019, 04:51 PM (This post was last modified: 03-27-2019, 07:46 PM by Ashetta.)
ASHƎ
if you think i'm pretty,
you should see me in a crown
She saw the lightning, she felt the rumble. She was there.
There was nothing and no one that would stop the wolf from racing for the spire, a vicious calm settling low in hr chest. She saw the world beyond, and she was going to fucking have it. She kissed Kalt, she kissed Theea, and Ashe ran faster than she had in a very, very long time. Lightning cracked with every thud of her paws, golden eyes upon the looming spire until she arrived.
Ashe shifted when she was within a few feet of the opening, catching the scent of the Ascended gathered. As Safrin had said, it was them that had opened the spire.. but she sure as fuck was going with them.
The hybrid did not know any of them, she had been outright terrified of bloodfiends ascended in the past - it didn't matter. They all wanted out as badly as she did. She crossed the threshold with a chill racing down her spine, and she looked up at the red-haired ascended with a quirked brow. ”Name's Ashe,” she greeted with a crooked smirk. She turned her eyes to the stairs going upwards, brilliant fire-blue eyes glinting gold at their center. Safrin said Ludo believed the way out to be at the top, she had no intention of going underground unless she had to. Her voice was low and grim as she went on. ”Let's get the fuck out of here.”
Edy and Bobi were out like a shot, racing towards the fucking spire that had lit up like a christmas tree (can't say that, since they didn't have them) a fucking lightning rod.
Then she saw it.
Him.
"Oh I get it." The not-teenager said, her dark eyes narrowed to points of flint in the midnight darkness. "So all that before, that was all just bullshit huh? You and your pals just wanted to be the ones to do it. So ya'll camped out, roasted some marshmellows, and now it's party time huh?" She snarled, watching Wessex and the other ascendeds head into the now open Spire.
"You're a real fuck, y'know that?" She added, almost conversationally as she crossed her arms. Edy spied Ashe heading in, but bit her lip. Where the fuck was Roana? Or Zariah?
The fuck was she supposed to do?
Edy gonna be on the reserve team!
Edrei
You know I talk too much Honey, come put your lips on mine and shut me up
He smirks when the door forms under his fingertips. His steel hues eyes dancing between the door and the other Ascended that had gathered. They had opened the spire and now, what else was there to do than go in? He steps back briefly, making sure he still has his two knives strapped to him, still woefully underprepared and uncertain of what his new body can do. But he thinks that if he fell into this world and crashed into a fucking statue of all things, he could handle whatever was within. It certainly couldn’t be that bad, right?
He notices when others arrive, the other Ascended he has met before when they had gotten their upgrade. And another, a woman with dark hair who introduces herself with a fire that Aedion can entirely admire. He nods to her with a fanged grin. “Aedion.” He replies, looking back to the Spire with a greedy, hungry look about his face. He hasn’t been here long, but he agrees. “Agreed.” He no longer wants to be held within a bubble, another cage. It reminds him of the darkened fogs of the Rift, how he had slumbered for what felt like years before it had revealed his home and tossed him back into the fray. But this is here, it is now. And he balls his hands into fists as looks back to the Spire’s door, completely ignoring Edrei’s words from beyond.
He’s ready to enter the spire, and it seems his companions are all too eager too.
Zariah, on principle, had been watching since arriving in Caido.
Watching the people. Watching what little politics there were. Learning. Silently in the shadows. Pieces were thrown by various players and she saw how they all landed. Could she participate? Sure. Should she participate? Probably. But her family had been chained like attack dogs from hastiness to align with powers once before. She wouldn't be so hasty or careless now.
But some things couldn't be missed. A sudden earthquake, a lightning storm, a Spire breached and near ablaze? Talk about a rather obvious sign.
Beatrix was ordered to watch Jace and then the Head of the Launceleyn family headed out, following Edrei silently as she did. She arrived just after her, quirking a brow and crossing her arms. "I see you're about as good at making friends as I am." she said lightly as she glanced up the stairs. Hm. Interesting. Hazel eyes glanced towards the other set that went down. This seemed more complicated than those diving in head first probably thought.
"Let them die and we can go salvage their work. Hopefully they'll have at least worn down whatever might be in this place." she said quietly, watching as the former Captain Roana went sprinting down the stairs. "Do you think this will be the time death finally catches her?" she asked Edrei conversationally, as if talking about the weather.
Zariah will join the Reserve Team.
zariah
If my strength intimidates you, I hope you realize that is a weakness of yours.
03-28-2019, 06:12 PM (This post was last modified: 03-28-2019, 06:13 PM by Wessex.)
They’ve woken something up.
The earth shakes and the spire erupts, delivering a jolt of life to the bars of their barren, wretched cage. Something is happening, and they’re announcing it to the whole goddamn world. Wessex winces - not in fear and not from the noise, but because it’s going to draw everyone straight to them, and she’d rather not have had an audience for this. Whatever this is.
She almost looks back at Rory, hearing his words in her ear: be careful, and her jest,I will. You can’t get rid of me that easily, meant to placate, to deflect the reality that bubbled up between them. She could die tonight. Again. For real. No one knows what’s been locked up in that phallus for centuries. If it’s anything like the Spire Demon, it could kill all of the Ascended. Easily. And that thought makes her pause. The two options spring up in front of her:
1. Go into the Spire
2. Wait. See what happens.
Her mind begins to calculate the risks, analyze her systems and strengths as the team in front of her begins to move. What if all the Ascended die in there and it’s only… Bastien left to carry on their legacy? With a man like him, they’ll never replenish their numbers. On the other hand, how cowardly is it to bring them all here and then not enter? What kind of leadership is that? The Lady said she can’t be the hero of every story, nor should she be. Brightest of the bright ones also means she needs to be smart about her actions. Sometimes that means caution over action.
Wessex growls in frustration as she watches the team split. Even Samuel comes running in to help, which means others will be on his heels. Self-preservation and a savior complex war within the de facto Ascended leader, and for once, she is mired in indecision. And she hates it.
In the end, she knows she will not be so lucky as to be re-reborn. And this life, what she has become, what she can see herself being, the people here, they win over her deep-deep-deep-seated need for glory. Pausing at the opening, Wessex shakes her head as most everyone hurles themselves forward. Let the rampaging idiots come past her.
She will be their backup, if they need any. And she prays her Team will all come back out alive.
------------------
Wessex to Reserve Team.
WESSEX
come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts unsex me here
It is time. No more games. No more guardians. No more waiting.
The air is somehow damp and dry at the same time as the group makes their way in and up. Warm, cloying, stale... the walls, if the group choose to touch them, almost feel alive. Like they could be wounded, if one felt the inclination. But the steps beneath their feet are solid enough, sleek and black and tap-tapping as the group ascends.
Only they are not alone here. What has been sealed within this Spire, sealed within these Hollowed Grounds, was never meant to be released. And those who have breached this sacred prison will soon learn that it does not appreciate their intrusion.
The walls growl.
The stairs scream.
And the darkness above hurls obsidian blades, spraying down onto the group below.
The Spire is unhappy with the group’s intrusion and shoots spikes at them!
Luckily, all members of the group succeed in dodging. They are able to continue upwards.
03-28-2019, 08:46 PM (This post was last modified: 03-28-2019, 10:52 PM by Ashetta.)
ASHƎ
if you think i'm pretty,
you should see me in a crown
The air was like a palpable weight, an ominous thing that she swore was the breath of the spire itself. The assassin said nothing further, merely stepping forward and starting up the stairs. Her senses shifted, ears tapering to a point with that sense, eyes flaring gold with her sight, nose feathering gently as she inhaled the staleness of this ancient place. An uncomfortable feeling was creeping its way up her spine, and she kept quiet, listening to the sounds of her and her companions' feet on black stone.
The quiet vanished almost all at once. Ashe halted, ears straining - the walls growled - the very stone beneath them protested at them - she heard something from above -
"Back!" she snapped, and not a second too soon. Ashe flattened herself against the walls that made her skin crawl, and her heart galloped in her chest as the obsidian blades shattered onto stone, missing every one of them.
She exhaled, glancing at the others. Whether it was her warning that did it or their own instincts, all that mattered was that they were unscathed. "Growling walls that drop knives," she huffed, stepped off of the uncomfortable wall to move up another stair. "That's new." Golden eyes looked to Aedion, Samuel, and Zariah, painfully aware of her disadvantage here: she did not know them, (barring her knowing of Zariah), and she did not trust them. All she could rely on was that they wanted out too.
The wolf girl tossed a crooked smirk and turned to continue upwards. "Stay sharp," she said wryly, trying to smother her rising unease. She had a feeling that was hardly the worst this spire had to offer.
Aedion notices the moment that Wessex decides to hang back, but he doesn’t mind. Instead, he’s still found companionship with Samuel, the other Ascended, and the others he hasn’t gotten the names of yet as they sprint down the stairs. But he chooses to move up, and as the others gather around him to begin the ascent to the top of the Spire, he palms a knife in his hand eagerly. And they all begin to file into the black obsidian building like ants under the guard of night. He doesn’t spend time to notice the group in the distance that have arrived to watch. He only notices the sheen of dark hair as Ashetta begins to step up the stairs.
He follows diligently on her heels, not knowing any one of them really but assuming they knew well enough to keep themselves safe that they would for him too. And it isn’t like Aedion isn’t smart enough to do it on his own, he just chooses to believe nobody would outwardly throw him under. Outlander or not. But he moves when Ashetta speaks, eyes scouting the darkness of the stairs with ease. The walls growling, stairs screaming, and spikes that descend and aim to kill. But with Ashetta’s words and his quick, new body, he manages to flatten to an opposite side and avoid them as well.
Capturing her glance for a moment, his steel eyes and face are serious but he nods to her in agreement to the entire thing being new and strange. He grits his teeth as he looks up the staircase further, momentarily scanning the area for any other hidden things as he continues with his group to ascend the Spire. “Eyes up.” His deep voice hums in response to Ashetta’s own warning. They were ascending the stairs, and Aedion was certain that if other things were to come to harm them it would be from the top, too. But he doesn’t know how well they can see, Aedion’s own eyes well accustomed to the dark with his new found body.
He finds some excitement in the allure of finding out – of being one of those that breached the Spire and hopefully releasing everyone from the cage of the bubble. And he is excited, albeit a bit nervous at what they might face, to be a part of it.
Aedion follows Ashetta up the stairs after dodging the blades!
Sam did not know anyone else going up with him; only the Ascended man vaguely from the meeting they'd had. While he would have appreciated the comfort of a friend, he was partially relieved; no one knowing him meant no one to judge, to discount him right away.
He tagged along at the end of the group, head down. As soon as he heard the screech he impulsively lifted up his arms and made himself small (accompanied by a whine he hoped no one noticed).
Luckily it seemed to work - when he looked up, he was safe. Sam tried to collect himself and continue to walk up, privately beginning to tell himself off for thinking this was a good idea.
Sigh. Well apparently people were going to need help. She supposed she had come to do just that. Irksome. Sleeping would have been the much better option.
Zariah hurried after the group, moving up the stairs in a quick fashion, skipping every other step as she did so. It allowed her to catch up fairly quickly, which was good because she was more use with them, but bad because apparently they were going to be pummelled with spikes. Lovely. Not only that, it seemed only two of the three misadventurers were of any use. Her expression deadpanned as she carefully dodged the spikes, hers locked on the red head. What a waste of space and good air.
"Either man up and get a move on or go home. You're just a liability now." she said to him sharply as she quickly moved past him, still climbing the stairs.
Zariah dodged the spikes and continues up the stairs.
zariah
If my strength intimidates you, I hope you realize that is a weakness of yours.
03-30-2019, 04:02 PM (This post was last modified: 03-30-2019, 04:04 PM by Court Official.)
key quest
Up and up and up.
Until eventually, suddenly, the group come to a platform. This certainly cannot be the top of the Spire, and yet there is a wide, flat space between this set of stairs and the next. The ground they walk upon is old, never having felt the touch of a human foot. But it is waiting there for them, ready. Patient as mountains, furious as magma, ageless as the woods and relentless as the sea...
The creature that hauls itself up from the ground might well be nature itself. Blessed by Rae and blocking their path, its screech is a sound like grating stone. It slams the ground and swipes at them with one giant stone arm.
The party is under attack by the Guardian of Rae!
Ashetta, Samuel and Zariah DODGE the swipe.
Aedion FAILS to dodge.
He will notice the ground leave his feet, one of the sleek obsidian walls come up to meet him, before his systems are ground and crushed to nothing under the paw of the creature. No time to react. No time even to scream. This bright one has been snuffed out forever.
03-30-2019, 06:15 PM (This post was last modified: 03-30-2019, 06:17 PM by Aedion.)
AEDION
you cried wolf, so i came running.
am I the wolf or the savior?
Once upon a time there was a boy, a boy that followed wolves and became one when the frustration of the world became too much to bear. And he lived with his curses day after day, a child born of wings and flight cursed to the ground with a shaggy pelt and solemn howl. The world had been unfair, unkind, the gods grew greedy but there was one that still made time for him. One that caressed him in his mists and whispered wisdoms into his ear. And for a time, Aedion could control his anger, could control that tempered beast from within. But then his gods died, and were ripped from his world, throwing everything into the inky darkness of disaster. Creatures grew worse, grew more threatening and no longer remained in their comfortable lives. They plundered and destroyed, and Aedion was left to try and find his gods, to save his world.
It wasn’t until a group of those that had killed his gods returned that he found out the damage of the world. When light returned and carnage surrounded him, he found it hard to hear anything let alone the sound of the wind and feathers shifting with gusts. He no longer could control the shift from feathers to furs, and for a time he remained a wolf — sleeping deep beneath the icy fortress of the north. His family long gone, perished by the actions of the god killers, and he knew nothing else other than the yearn and longing for vengeance.
But like most things with Aedion, everything happens too soon.
He had plotted, figured out a way to get close to the god killers and strike back. Before he had a chance to, the young god of the land had thrown them out. Had thrown him out, a child of the destructive land that Aedion had only wanted to piece back together piece by fragile piece. He never got his vengeance, never got to enact on anything he had hoped to. But he never thought himself a failure. When coincidence befell him here, in Caido, his wolf heritage forsaken for something mechanical, something different. And for him it felt like a new beginning. No longer surrounded by the need for vengeance—unable to answer the call anyway— he did the most he could. He had learned and changed, became a bit more humble though arrogance still sat beneath his appearance.
He had hoped it was Reszo that helped his shift in nature. It had to have been Reszo to give him the strength to help strangers create a better world in a place he still hadn’t come close to understanding. At least back home he knew the reasons why— why everything in the night wanted to kill and feast and devour entirely. Caido had been a mystery, one he wanted to answer. He just doesn’t know it’ll end like this.
Like most things, they’re gone too soon.
Soon Aedion is following Ashetta up the stairs, rolling his eyes at the remark Zariah gives. Soon he is noticing as others dodge. Yet despite his enhanced body, his quick thinking, his better eyes. He doesn’t see it when it comes for him.
Eyes up, eyes up, eyes up.
He keeps telling himself this, until the ground is suddenly gone and he sees nothing but the world shift before darkness. But for a moment, it’s not the darkness he’s expecting. For a moment it’s a wall, with a hard crack against it. His mind doesn’t even have the time to register what is happening before the paw of the creature greets him. At first he’s terrified. But there’s no time, no sounds leave him aside from the ones his body makes as true darkness comes and his body becomes crushed and gone from him forever.
He is not alone, however.
Mists begin to cloud his soul, a guiding light in a world he doesn’t know, a place where no one knows his name. Where he doesn’t remember his family name so he chooses the only family he has. Reszo. He comes in mists with a quiet gentle laugh of pride. Because he knows that Aedion knew not what he was doing, that perhaps one day his family would be there to greet him all along. For the wolf god had watched the man when he was a boy bury his mother, his father, his sister. And he had watched from wherever he had been hiding as Aedion sought revenge, and had helped give him the wisdom to prevent something like this. But he has no power in Caido, none aside from watching where he hides in the shadows of a lost forgotten world.
"Aedion," he says, his voice a gentle, warm, and welcoming laugh. In that moment he is silver, and not the black of corruption. "My wayward son." His eyes are gentle as he steps lightly over his broken, mortal body, his paws leaving no prints, his presence a mere sigh. His tapered muzzle presses into the wreckage of flesh and machinations, teeth picking out the soul of the dying man and lifting it oh-so-gently. "It is time to come home," he whispers.
Nobody else sees the wolf of home, but Aedion knows in that nonexistent place of his. And he can see from that strange split part the wolf as he speaks and begins to take Aedion. Now, there is nothing else to be done, and he has done well with the lives he had been given over and over again. There’s nothing else to do other than to go home. And somewhere, very far away, Aedion is glad to follow.
Permission from Odd to have Aedion get picked up from his old god <3
