EVENT #1: THE EMPTY THRONE (PT 2)

[aionmods]

The Empty Throne Pt 2

ESCAPE

As more and more of the prisoners awaken to the Pleroma's power, it soon becomes clear that conflict is inevitable. Strength that was locked away blossoms once again, and simply waiting is no longer an option; those that remain in the cavern have made their choice, and they will not be kept there so easily.

By means that may not be immediately apparent, the Pleroma have found themselves able to cast a spell that will ensure their freedom... but only if they can last the half hour it may take to complete. Whatever this power, Xishen, the Aion orchestrator of the Kenoma's ritual, seems able to sense it. As it begins, she will appear at each of the Kenoma's sides.

"The Pleroma has taken hold of them," she says. "Stop them now, or when you see them again, it will be as your mortal enemies. If you believe in the Kenoma's promise, take a stand. The Regent is watching."

For those that heed her, it will not be hard to find the congregation of Pleroma, the first seeds of their teleportation magic taking form. What's more, the fires of their hope have been stoked by this new chance at survival, granted them a surge of energy born of the Pleroma, compensating for the poor state of their bodies. The tension comes to a head, between those that would follow the Regent's path towards a better universe, and those that would seize the wild power of the Pleroma to escape.

Whatever violence ensues, eventually it will come to an end. Despite the Kenoma's efforts, the teleportation spell will come to fruition, enveloping the Pleroma in a sea of light and warmth. The Kenoma can only watch as fractals of blinding color whisk the Pleroma away.

VALLEY OF INNOCENCE

You will find yourself at the Shrine of the Innocent, surrounded by a valley of flourishing wildflowers. As you step from the shade of the monument, you will find your arrived here just in time to enjoy a warm spring spring morning, the sound of birds and gentle breezes tickling your ears. The sun slowly drifts past the horizon, its rays reaching out to you, as if in comfort. The air itself is alight with a strange aura of peace, as if committing violence here would be a sacrilege. There are no man made structures as far as your eyes can see.

Flowers of all shapes and sizes can be found here, and so can fresh water and various fruits and berries. All of them are safe to eat, and seemingly grow in abundance. There are animals here as well, all the common types one would expect from a place like Earth, with the occasional odd addition. While you can try to hunt them, you will find yourself unable to follow through on any attempts to hurt the creatures here. In turn, they regard you as familiar, and will fearlessly wander close as they inspect these new arrivals. In the distance, you may even catch sight of what appears to be a unicorn, only for its ephemeral shape to disappear from sight just as quickly.

The Pleroma will find safety and comfort here for a time, before they recover enough to travel onward. At some point during the afternoon of the first day, they may spot the occasional humanoid figure moving in the distance; when attempting to move in their direction, they will find an assortment of clothing set out across the grass as if in offering. It will come in many sizes but in mostly plain colors, fitting a general aesthetic of 'things a fantasy peasant might wear'. There will also be some blankets, wrapped cheese, jams, jerky, and bread left alongside them.

While there are trees and brush enough to find shelter, the Pleroma will find they hardly need to while resting here. The weather will be picturesque, a comfortable temperature even at night, and there will be no disruptive rain or aggressive wind. Of course, nothing lasts forever, and even though there could stay here for days, what if the Regent's forces are on their way? Once again, they must find the strength to carry on.

THE TRIWATER

As the Pleroma vanish, those claimed by the Kenoma are left in the darkness of the throne room. The Hylician soldiers are clearly agitated by the fighting, but Xishen herself seems unflustered. She will only sigh before quietly coming to the aid of any Kenoma that still need it, providing some light healing magics and explaining that their work here is over. With the Pleroma gone, all that's left to do is to return to Achamoth.

Things move quickly from there. The camp grounds are packed up, and soon enough the Kenoma will be ushered towards the river at the edge of the forest, to board a particularly large river vessel. As the Hylician soldiers prepare to go their separate ways, you will be told that you are to take the Triwater river to the capital city of Achamoth, where you will finally meet your new master, the Regent. The vessel is big enough for all of you, and it will set off the moment everyone is boarded. Suddenly, the world of entrapment and ruins you've been living in since your arrival will be left behind, leaving you to ponder the nature of your future.

The boat itself is well equipped and comfortable for what it is. A variety of colorful hammocks are hung in the lower decks and are open to be claimed for the journey back, which will take a day or two. The Kenoma will be offered a change of clothes of a similar style to what they already have if necessary, and there are plenty of blankets and cushions available to make life in the hold more comfortable. There are dice available for games of chance as well as some mystifying decks of cards that seems to have twelve suits with five cards each, themed around the Legacies. The twelfth suit is for the Regent.

Though the sailors controlling the vessel will mostly keep to themselves and leave the Kenoma alone, one of them will occasionally play harp music on the deck. Though they probably don't actually need help running the ship, they will let the Kenoma help them with chores and ship running tasks if they are so inclined; generally speaking, these sailors just seem like normal people, albeit a bit shy of their passengers. If you're polite to them, they may even gives you a river tour of Horos. On this ride alone, you'll get to see several magnificent bridges spanning the Triwater's width. At night, you are treated to a clear spring sky filled with stars.

As you make it closer to Achamoth, you'll notice the landscape shift, becoming mountainous and dotted with more and more military watch posts. The land becomes increasingly lifeless in a way that's hard to put your finger on, nature giving way to man-made creations of impressive architectural prowess. Soon, you will meet the person behind it all.

QUESTIONS

Can my Kenoma character fight against other Kenoma and/or help the Pleroma?
Yes, though if you do this you must describe what your character has done in a reply to the "Committed Actions" top-level below. This way, the mods can be aware of what happened and have your character treated accordingly. They are unlikely to receive immediate consequences if they don't hurt their fellow Kenoma, but their choices will follow them into Achamoth. If a Kenoma vs Kenoma conflict escalates into serious violence (attempted or successful) committed by the Kenoma rebel, Xishen will intervene and consequences will happen immediately which may restrict their actions until the next event post.

Can our characters leave the valley?
They can, yes, but really this event is just meant to cover the day or two they spend recovering before finding a more permanent place to go. You are free to have your character investigate the valley and probe the spaces beyond it, but please save any plans for large scale travel to the next event, which will be happening on April 2nd. The game will move into a 1:1 time ratio as of then.

Can our characters leave the boat?
Technically yes, but any Kenoma who wander too far will get in trouble. You are expected to report to the Regent, and behaving as if you are considering doing otherwise will not make an good impression.

Does the hope-based Pleroma boost last into the valley?
The boost to Pleroma characters will fade shortly after arriving in the valley, like coming down from a high. They'll have to recover the normal way from there.

Comments

[expiera]

[Misa's reaction only further emphasizes how alien 'magic' is to her. As practical as it is to expedite healing, the true scope of this acknowledgement -and the source of her discomfort- is not lost on Ciel. Quite a few among them were completely ordinary people until waking up here, and now, they must deal with all these things beyond their experience and imagining one after the other. Being scared and confused would only be natural, she's truly entitled to react in whatever way that lets her process all of this best.

So she just offers a faintly sheepish and apologetic smile, letting go of the other girl once her arm's fully taken care of.]

I'm glad to hear it. [She briefly considers mentioning trying to stay away from the fray, but dismisses the idea almost as quickly as it came. None of them are here by choice, even if they HAVE chosen. Things like today will probably happen again, so...] I'm sure someone else could have helped you too, but with things as they are, I'd like to do what I can.

[...Hm.]

I always had the aptitude, but did have to learn the process. The different magic systems of the world are a bit complicated where I'm from, but since we're on Horos now, a lot of the rules I knew could have changed.

[Is she hoping to learn? Ciel can't deny half-anticipating the question, with how long her own answer ended up being to an otherwise simple "yes" or "no" one.]

[lifespanned]

[ Within the confines of her own mind, she's trying to unravel what Ciel's just said in order to understand her own confusing changes to her powers. So, she's not the only one with things a little wonky...? It'd be nice if she could ask for clarification, or even just let this girl know that oh my gosh, same!,but it's too risky to reveal her own abilities just yet. A little calmer, she just nods in understanding. ]

That kind of makes sense. You're not in the same place, so magic might come from a different source... right?

[ And that pondering is based solely on her casual dabbling into "magic" and "occult stuff" back on her home world. None of which was real. ]

As long as you can still heal people, I'm sure you're going to be a really big help on this side. So you don't have anything to worry about! Even if your powers are busted. You'll probably be in super high demand.

[expiera]

[They'll hopefully have time to go over it later, Ciel's rather confused herself about the now partial nature of her own regeneration. It wasn't supposed to be some ambiguous matter, but as a "power" that she fully understood to be tied to the world itself, it made sense for it to act 'out of sorts' now that they're in a different one. Things to ask Xishen later once they're on their way, perhaps.]

That depends. From what I'm familiar with, it's usually from you and/or the world itself. Kind of like how different climates around the world would influence the growths of plants and animals of that region, or how people develop different lifestyles too because of their environment. Magic is a little like that, too.

[Different places, different rules/laws, and all that. She can only hope the analogy made some sense to Misa. She'd usually be more tight-lipped about that sort of thing, but considering how commonplace magic is shaping out to be on Horos, being informed is the least that all of them can do.]

Fighting is what I did before waking up here, I'm just doing what I can. The right tool for the right job and all that, hm? [It's almost said as a light joke, but at that, her eyes lid.] ...I do apologize for not keeping a closer eye on our side. If those of us experienced in combat did better, maybe we could've prevented others among us from getting hurt.

[She knows there's no sense crying over spilled milk, but... Looking at how injured if not exhausted most of them seemed after all this, it's a little hard to not feel responsible, especially considering the stunts she herself pulled. Should she still do her own thing, or try to be a better team player if that's what they are, now? Hopefully they'll be told more clearly what to do, once they reach Achamoth.]

[lifespanned]

Aww, come on. You can't really be apologizing! You did pretty much exactly what they asked.

[ She files most of her magic explanation away for later— maybe it's something she'll be able to look into herself, once they get to... wherever they must be going? She gets the sense fighting will be something she comes across more often than not here. And without her Note... she'll have to come up with something else. It doesn't worry her as much as it probably should. In the meantime, it's important to make as many allies as she can - strong ones, if possible. So she swallows any lingering fear and discomfort over the situation in favor of trying to warm up to this person, trying to comfort them. ]

We were better off with you doing what you were doing, you know? Like you said, it's what you do!

[ Misa probably would've just felt like a burden if someone had to stay back and protect her the entire time— and she found ways to be useful, sort of. Hopefully the Regent will see it that way. In the case she's going to get in trouble for her own little back-stabbing stunt, she continues to play the innocent bystander card lest this girl become someone who can testify against her. ]

Besides, I think most of us were just making stuff up as we went. [ Tentatively, she reaches out to give a reassuring pat to the other girl's shoulder, coincidentally with her arm that's just been healed. ] It's not that surprising things got kinda crazy.

[expiera]

That, well...

[She's not bashful per se, but Ciel's not sure if making a show out of roughing up the Pleromas, getting seemingly critically injured, and failing to actually stop any of them as ordered could remotely qualify as "doing pretty much exactly as asked". Is Misa trying to cheer her up? It's appreciated, as slightly awkward as it makes her feel. After everything that happened, especially with how chaotic and dangerous things got...]

I'm simply better placed to handle combat because of my own experiences, but I do think it's unreasonable to ask people unused to fighting to force themselves into it. Maybe there were other ways to stop them... But we did what we could, that's true. Nevertheless, please don't feel pressured to step into a dangerous situation. We still don't know what exactly is expected of us, but everyone has things they're good at and can contribute in different ways, so don't worry about leaving the front lines to people like me.

[She accepts the pat and offers a lighter smile in turn, having no idea what Misa actually did to earn herself that wound.]

Thank you for your sentiment, miss. Your wound just reminded me that we do have a responsibility towards each other too, so please let me help however I can. Things may get even more hectic in the future, after all.

[She knows it doesn't sound the most reassuring, but Misa is taking all this quite well, that fact is not remiss on her. Is she just a carefree and cheerful person? Or maybe she's already been through unreasonable things before, and has learned how to deal with them in her own way?

...Regardless, it's exactly as it sounds: Ciel can and will fight in her stead if she asks, and she shouldn't feel shy about it. No ulterior motives, just girls on the same side looking after each other!]

[lifespanned]

[ It's true that she has no idea what's going to be expected of them— the requirements certainly can't be all combat based, can they...? Why even bring her if that's the case? Whatever. She's not going to worry about it until it truly becomes an issue. The battle's over for the time being, and she's nothing if not a pro at procrastinating stressing the difficult stuff. ]

So what you're saying is, I can rely on you to protect me?

[ She says that jokingly, snapping once and ending with a charming point her way. Turns out, Misa is quite easy to cheer up and distract from anything that scares or worries her. Not even 15 minutes ago, she was feeling pretty out of her element with the healing magic and all the wounded soldiers everywhere. Now, she feels just fine playing and joking around with Ciel, now that she's gotten a better sense for who she is. ]

Just kidding. I won't totally hide behind you. I'm going to find some way to support everyone... [ Because she's feeling very inspired ever since accepting the Regent... there's got to be something she can do to move this whole "rebuild the universe" plan along. ] Including you. So don't be a stranger when we get to wherever we're going, okay? We're on the same team now, so that makes us friends.

[expiera]

[Misa has a great attitude honestly, far better to have your head in the clouds and be happy about it especially when nothing's really there to drag you back down. Fly high, girl...!]

Yes. I'll do my best~

[She answers with matching pep this time, and it may be hard to tell if she's actually serious or joking back. Given her earlier performance though, certainly both seem possible...?]

Thank you for the sentiment, I appreciate it. [It's more than good enough, and while she doesn't intend to be reliant on others in general, she knows better than to express such details out loud.] I'm sure there will be opportunities to figure out what you can do, once we've had the chance to rest up and regroup in Achamoth. Then since we'll be working together and seeing quite a bit of each other, how should I call you, miss?

[She may have caught names here and there from simply listening around, but it's still no substitute for a proper introduction, right?]