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!
Edmund hissed as the nail sinks in. Grumbling irritably, he slowly shifted back to his true form. Eyeing the NPCs who had abandoned their task, he grabbed a torch and brought the flame to his skin. Using his fire magic, he let the flames heat the nail. If it melted and dripped away, fantastic. If it simply heated enough to kill any threats of tetanus as he pulled it out, acceptable.
Perhaps a flicker of bloodlust was also hoping to see the fear on the faces of the NPCs at the display too. Blinking, the Ancient promised himself that he'd tend to it soon. His normal schedule had been thrown to the wind in the wake of this disaster.
~
Edmund shifts back to use his fire magic (with a torch) and deal with the nail.
Fire Manipulation: Can manipulate flames. Must be within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent
Type: Dark | Rank: Upgraded
Magic: Fire Resistance (passive) | Cannot be harmed by heat or flame.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered
Clasping his hands together heartily, Dorian leans forward in a respectfully low bow. "My many thanks." He beams to Hadama, stepping aside that the king might go about his way.
And what mayhap becomes of the Tidebreaker's carefully maintained piles with their clear instructions and well-sectioned-off parameters? Well, of course Dorian was doing his utmost to keep things running just as smoothly as the King had done, but the day was hot, morale was wavering, and accidents were bound to happen.
"Yes, yes, just there is perfect." Dorian called loudly. "Oh dear, no not that one. That pile there, if you please." And so on and so forth.
Royal Command was indeed what was going to see them through this task. Though Torchers were not a people who gave up easily, moving about wood and debris in the fucking sun was piss poor work at the best of times, least of all when there was no beer or rum to quench the thirst of those toiling on the sands. So it was that Hadama 's offering of food was met with resounding success and though it caused an hour or so delay, everyone was in generally higher spirits for having had a break and some food.
As flame bites at the bottom of Edmund 's foot, infection if there was any, is indeed burned away. This activity does earn a few stares from several NPCs who look on in horror and fascination to see the ancient all but cauterizing his own wound without so much as a murmur of complaint.
"Okay, okay!" Flora called loudly, clapping her hands together once she'd judged everyone should have had enough time to eat. "Let's break up into new groups. One is going to be working on the docks, one the skyport, one on materials, and one on trash." She explained. "We've got a good amount of wood to start with, but the materials group will have to go into the city and get what we need to put everything together as well as some extra wood. Trash group—" Tilting her head toward two of the piles Hadama had set up, she looks back. "Need to make all that disappear.'
Group 1: Skyport Repair/Construction
Group 2: Dock repair/Construction
Group 3: Materials
Group 4: Trash Run
With his belly full, Dorian stood with his arms clasped neatly behind his back as Flora laid out their next set of tasks. "My, my. All of that seems awfully technical, and I'd hate to get anything wrong." He said with an apologetic shake of his head. "I think I'd better take the garbage. Not much can go wrong with that, mm?"
Without waiting for approval or complaint, Dorian turned and gathered a gaggle of NPCs to his side with a warm, wide smile. "Let's find a horse and cart, shall we? No use breaking our backs more than we already have, mm? Then we can load it all up and take it somewhere."
Hadama was always quietly pleased to see people enjoying the food he made, and the delay for lunch was more than justified by the improved efficiency of everyone once they'd had a rest and a good meal to give them strength. The rum fountain repairs might even go more smoothly with the concrete goal of a chance to get drunk afterwards to look forward to!
Seeing Edmund favoring his paw, Hadama swam over to the young Ancient, retrieving Ray's healing wand from his belt. "May I?" he rumbled quietly to his friend, offering healing magic to close the wound up before they gathered around to hear the next part of Flora's plan.
The skyport was a bit out of the mermanta's reach until the next full moon, but the rest were all within his abilities. As Dorian took trash duty with a nod of gratitude from the Tidebreaker, Hadama considered the remaining two tasks and chose the one that could most benefit from a Mer's comfort beneath the waves.
"I will take the docks," he said solemnly, inclining his head to Flora. Gathering a crew of NPCs, he headed over to where the broken remains of the docks floated forlornly beside the port. While whoever was in charge of materials went to bring fresh timbers and pilings, the King organized his group into removing the broken ends of the piers so they would have clean edges to begin rebuilding. Hadama offers to Heal Edmund with Basic Healing from his wand and takes Dock Repair.
The reactions were even better than Edmund could have hoped. He'll be laughing about it for some time. Just as the nail seemed to be taken care of, Hadama approached. The Ancient smiled softly at the offer of healing, "Thank you, Hadama." He wasn't sure if he needed it, but he wasn't going to turn the help away.
With his foot taken care of, Edmund turned to work on the Skyport. Most of his construction experience lay with stone and fire but the wood shouldn't be too much of a challenge. He then began to lay out planks of wood before nailing them into place. When he felt uncertain, he'd turn to one of the more experienced NPCs working alongside him for advice.
~
Edmund lets Hadama take a look at his foot before working on the Skyport!
Well well, that left the Queen to gather the materials! Given Flora's charm (read: ability to persuade, manipulate, barter, or blackmail as needed), she was relatively well-suited for the task. "Be back as quickly as we can!" She called loudly to Hadama and Edmund (where Dorian had gone she had no idea, nor particularly cared just now). Gathering a gaggle of NPCs to her side, she set off into the belly of their beloved little city to try and gather the resources that the dock-builders would need.
Given that it was going to take a bit of time, at each location where nails or rope and the like were purchased, Flora sent back an NPC with them that she might not hold up the Dock or the Skyport group. It also allowed them to report back and let her know if Hadama or Edmund required anything more of her.
EDMUND! One of Flora's NPCs have brought you more nails and screws, however you're low on hammers and such to pound them in with. Would you prefer to send the NPC back and get more hammers from Flora, OR keep the NPCs and have them use rocks instead?
HADAMA! One of Flora's NPCs have brought you the rope and cloth materials needed to rig up the nautical flags that keep the docks working efficiently, however this is a task that's maybe better completed later. Do you want to KEEP the NPCs and have them complete the flags now, or send them back to continue gathering materials?
A horse and cart are found, and all the debris is loaded into it. Should it be the case that a few scraps of the materials earmarked as being salvageable were tossed in as well, I mean, honestly, what of it? The day is hot, the task exhausting, and the workers were tired. Surely no one would get too upset.
"Right! Let us off and away!" Dorian called out heartily, clapping the NPCs gathered around him on shoulders and backs before jumping into the driver's seat and giving the horse a cluck to carry on. "We'll find somewhere quite safe and out of the way to dump all of this and hurry right on back." Said with a wink as if to perhaps imply that they'd all be stopping for a beer on their way back instead.
Edmund glanced up when the NPC arrived with more nails. Doing a quick scan of the other supplies he gestured with his head to leave, "We need more hammers as well. Would you please go get some?" While they hopefully retrieved the supplies, Edmund grabbed one of the hammers that they did have and got to work. Any progress was better than none and he could keep hammering in the new nails until they returned.
He was concerned about how long it would take for the hammers to arrive, but it would be worth it. Rocks would be inefficient and likely to bend the nails more than pound them into place.
Hadama inclined his head gratefully as the supplies for the docks were delivered, but he instructed the NPC to set the ropes and canvas aside for now. "Until the docks are repaired, these can wait," he decided firmly. "For now, focus on the structures. We will need more wood and nails." So saying, he sent the NPCs to get more materials. As they headed off he turned to the canvas and ropes thoughtfully before taking the time to rig up a single flag with three vertical stripes of red, white, and blue:
KEEP CLEAR
He found a long pole near enough to shore for him to grab hold of with his water magic and drag it into reach. Anchoring it against a remaining piling, he hoisted the flag into clear view of any approaching vessels.
Then he turned back to the task of removing damaged pieces of dock from the water so the newly repaired sections could be added more swiftly when his helpers returned and constructed them.
Hadama sends his NPCs back for more supplies and hoists a temporary KEEP CLEAR flag to keep ships away from the docks while the repair work is in progress.
The NPCs nod dutifully as Edmund makes his request of them. They won't return this round though, so the Ancient will have to make the most of what he has at his disposal. Conveniently there is still much to be done, including the railings and stairways that lead up to the skyport docks themselves, as well as the actual footing.
Wood and nails Hadama shall receive, and quickly too. As his NPCs disappear, its only about 20 minutes later that they return carting behind them a donkey laden with nails in its saddlebags and boards strapped to its back. Though the docks have taken a significant beating thanks to the waves, their construction was always more or less crude at best; the silver lining here is that anything Hadama does will likely be an improvement on what came before.
Dorian ... what are you doing? Hurry up, will you?
Flora continues to barter and bat her eyes in order to gain the supplies her counterparts need, and though this is the best task for her to be doing, it feels strange to be so far away from the actual action.
The NPCs left without complaint and Edmund returned to his tasks. All alone, his progress was slow, but it was better than nothing. With his hammer and nails, he worked steadily. The sound of hammer strikes was a constant tempo as he made progress on securing the railings, stairway, and footings. If anyone were to fall through, fingers would be pointed, and the Ancient had enough on his plate already.
If the structure wasn't made of wood, he'd have used his magic to weld it together. It was probably for the best that it wasn't. He'd never tried to weld before and who knows how crooked it would have ended up.
~
Edmund keeps working on the railings, stairway, and footings.
With his crew back together and with plenty of supplies to keep them busy, Hadama was well set to begin repairs to the docks in earnest. The king split his forces, sending most of his Mer, Attuned with stronger aquatic shifts, and Abandoned with earth magic to begin sinking pilings for the sturdier docks. Those less suited to working underwater were given the task of building out the dock frames between the pilings, forming sturdy, flexible supports for the planks they would eventually lay on top.
The mermanta himself focused most of his time below the waves, using his stronger water magic to sink pilings faster and lending the magic of his Staer ring to the Abandoned earth manipulators who helped to keep the sand out of the way while they dug down into the sea floor. As each piling was sunk he returned to the surface to check on the progress of the framing crew as they moved along and built the trusses that they could use to stand on and build out the next section.
It was hot work, but the water was a comfortable temperature for Mer, human, and Ancient alike, and he made sure there was plenty of fresh water for his team to drink so they would stay hydrated.
Hadama keeps working on the docks, dividing his NPCs into an underwater team to sink pilings and an abovewater team to build the framing and supports between the columns.
You sure it's this way? a woman at Dorian's side asked. With a twinkle in his eye, the older man nodded sagely. "Yes, yes, my dear. No use in clogging up the normal spots, is there? Surely everyone else on the island will have the same thought themselves, so I thought that we'd go a little farther in. Make it a bit easier on the others, mm?"
It seemed a good an answer as any, and so the cart, horse, and wagon-load of debris traveled further inland and away from all the usual places garbage and the like were normally deposited.
"You know, I've heard that there are several caverns in the Fingers that might prove a good spot. Ones that don't actually lead out into the water of course. We wouldn't want to pollute. Lets head that way."
