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Entry tags:
- !event,
- #dionys,
- #innocence,
- #xishen,
- abel nightroad: martyr,
- amos burton: lover,
- anduin wrynn: sovereign,
- barnaby brooks jr: lover,
- bruno madrigal: martyr,
- ciel: martyr,
- claude von riegan: seeker,
- dorothea arnault: celebrant,
- emet-selch: champion,
- estinien wyrmblood: firebrand,
- eustace: firebrand,
- father paul hill: martyr,
- han sooyoung: artisan,
- himeka sui: wanderer,
- howl: celebrant,
- jayce talis: visionary,
- jonathan crane: sovereign,
- kaeya alberich: lover,
- kim dokja: martyr,
- koriel xii (dextera): lover,
- kotetsu t. kaburagi: champion,
- liem talbott: champion,
- majorita: firebrand,
- makoto ("m"): firebrand,
- meteion: innocent,
- rand al'thor: martyr,
- ryunosuke naruhodo: champion,
- sebastian michaelis: celebrant,
- tartaglia (childe): firebrand,
- wrathion: seeker
EVENT #6: BY HEAVEN OR HELL
By Heaven or Hell
THE BURNING
Achamoth, as it turns out, is no stranger to public killings... the burning of two Pleroma, however? That's special. Abel and Himeka's upcoming execution date seems to be regarded by the city's populace as something akin to a holiday, with the upper crust of the social stratum fighting for positions of prominence in the festivities, including the best possible seats. It's been decades since any Pleroma have been brought to heel in Achamoth, and it would only be prudent to place yourself at the forefront of this exciting new trend. There's a sense of pageantry to it: ritualized ceremonies, public sermons, and strange religious 'décor' are all part of the process.The city is in the throes of these preparations when the two Pleroma captives are finally brought to a central square not far from the Citadel's front gates. Two burning pyres have been set up for them, about ten feet apart. While Abel and Himeka's bodies are chained to their stakes, their shards will be handed off to Silco, Ciel, and Makoto to be brought along separately. The set up of the execution is thus: while their bodies are ravaged by flames, their shards will be bound to an altar in advance of the pyre. Via a kind of alchemical 'fuse', the pyre being lit will trigger a reaction that will gradually result in a explosion on the altar just large enough to destroy the shard in turn. The shards will be bound in position with a series of jewelry-like metal prongs that could be pried away, but would take some time to do carefully.
As the Pleroma make it to the city, the sun will be setting on the 17th of Firaseri, with the execution about to be underway. The pyres will not yet have been lit, but are fully prepared. All Kenoma will be called upon to guard the city, with the warning that the Pleroma are mounting a raid to rescue their imprisoned comrades. For Kenoma both new and old, it's a time to test your mettle. Those that defend Achamoth valiantly can expect to be rewarded.
INNOCENCE ON FIRE
The city of Achamoth looms ahead, a seat of power in Horos in every fashion. It sprawls outwards, claiming the lands around it in a lazy confidence. The spires of the city grow up and up like a mountain, dragging the eye towards the Citadel. The walls that surround it are modest in height as if offering a challenge to any foolish enough to attempt to climb them. Who would? The Regent's eye is ever-present and the guard towers that line it like beaded pearls on a string are reminders that nothing goes in or out of the city without notice. Openings in the towers and the walls threaten the use of projectiles while dark, shimmering crystals float above with the quiet hum of protective magics. Only a fool would breach these borders.Initially, getting into the city unmolested will be a considerable struggle for the Pleroma. It's military is robust, its fortifications solid, and even without the Kenoma's added resistance, the sheer numbers could be considered insurmountable. Stealth could get them some of the way, but its sentries are watchful, and immigration is strictly controlled. With faith alone driving the Pleroma towards their goal it's fortunate, then, that something is there to answer their call.
Estinien will feel the presence of the Innocence Entity rise up in him again, and this time it is offering him a choice. He may utilize its power to save the ones he loves, while risking both the brutality of the Regent's defenses and the threat to his own soul by channeling such power. It will stand with him against the darkness, it says, if it is truly his will. Emboldened by the power of the Firebrand and his love for his comrades, it is no surprise that he accepts.
Light will flood the sky above Achamoth, an ethereal aura combatting the encroach of the night. From a great miasma of wings and flame, a colossal dragon emerges, coiling above the city skyline. Its luminescence rains down upon the city, and all Achamites exposed to it will be enchanted into finding the idea of committing acts of violence unthinkable, at least so long as no violence is brought against them in turn. With much of Achamoth's defenses having lost the will to fight, only the Kenoma will stand in the Pleroma's way as they penetrate the city, making their way to Abel and Himeka's pyres.
As the Pleroma forge ahead, this draconic being that was once Estinien Wyrmblood will guard from the skies, drawing the attention of the Kenoma towards it and it threatens to bear its might against the Citadel itself. Fortunately for the Kenoma guarding the city, they will know that the Regent has a plan. All they must do is hold off the beast long enough for the Regent to wield their own strength in turn. The battle against this creature will take place here, with combat rules being explain in this OOC post.
As the power of the Innocent washes over Achamoth, those of its Legacy, or those marked by its Promise or Touch, will hear it speak on the winds in a chorus of voices:
Aions of this new dawn... I have honored your choice... fight... if you will... and I will follow...
FIREBRAND RISING
Beneath the moon of Firaseri, however, the Innocent isn't the only force at play. Firebrands of both sects will find themselves spurred on by a rush of Legacy-based power, as if inspired by the tumultuous environment of an anti-authoritarian raid. How precisely this manifests will depend on which side they are fighting for.❖ PLEROMA
The Firebrands among the Pleroma raiders will feel a sense of vindication and rightness come over them, set as they are to challenge the Regent's rule. Their powers will be amplified during the battle, and those that witness them and are inspired may find their performance boosted. The nature of these enhancements is fairly flexible. For the Firebrands, the use of their regular skills and abilities may be amplified beyond normal boundaries, whereas those following in their wake may find themselves with usual endurance that allows them to push their their usual limits.
❖ KENOMA
The Firebrands of the Kenoma's inspiration is more complicated in nature, given their roll in defending Achamoth's status quo. However, they will find themselves bolstered while facing the pacifying might of the Innocence Entity. Firebrands will experience a natural resistance against any Innocence based attacks that would stop them from fighting, and will be able to use this blessing to rally NPCs that would otherwise be rendered useless to their cause, in defiance of the entity's command for peace. In general, they will see a boost in strength while fighting the raid boss in particular, unable to be deterred from their goals.
In general, all Firebrands will feel untethered by their regular inhibitions, fighting for their desires at all costs. Abilities intended to bind them or control their will, will be largely ineffective, and they will find shields both physical and magical particularly easy to break through.
QUESTIONS
Q: What is the best way for Pleroma to travel to Achamoth?
A: Akua and Estinien are both setting up portals from Godsblood to the outskirts of Achamoth from which to begin mounting the assault. Caitlyn will be providing a back-up in the case either of those portals go down.
Q: Can my character make use of the chaos and try to raid the Citadel?
A: They can try but there will be mod rolls involved for any attempts. NPCs inside the Citadel will not be affected the same way the NPCs outside in main area will be. We do not want it to seem like the Citadel is defenseless otherwise.
Q: If Kenoma cause damage to the city during the raid, how will the Regent feel? Will there be consequences?
A: It should try to be avoided, but the Regent will understand if there is collateral damage in battle as long as they aren't being careless about it.
Q: Is the "no-combat aura" completely incapacitating NPCs?
A: No, it is only stopping them from aggressing the Pleroma. If they or their property are attacked they will defend themselves, and are otherwise operating with a normal level of cognizance. Kenoma Aions can order them out of the area to avoid being hurt if necessary.
BOSS BATTLE:
Q: I would like my character to take part in the battle but want to limit the outcomes in a way that isn't too devastating. Is that possible?
A: We think in that case we would basically only be acknowledging the possibilities between the "The attack either misses, is ineffective, or it triggers a counter attack from the boss." and "The attack hits with moderate effectiveness, as determined by the nature of their action." range. So, you can't get taken out, but you also can only deal moderate hits at best. You could still trigger a counter attack from the boss, but the damage taken from that is more flexible and free form than the 1-5% zone. If you make an attack with this restriction just add a little OOC note to your initial attack tag.
Q: How can a support character engage in the combat?
A: If your character is providing support, you may team up with an attacker to submit a "group attack". This means that your character is putting their effort towards supporting that attacker character that round, and will not be able to submit their own separate action. In exchange, that attack will receive two mod rolls instead of one, and the attack itself will be based on the more favorable of the two rolls. (Sort of like rolling with an advantage in modern D&D.) We will make as many rolls as there there are character combining their effort and select the best of them.
If any character rolls in the 1-5% zone they will still be taken out, however. Click the link above for more information.
Q: Can my character take a hit for another character after a mod roll?
A: We would be willing to accept this in the case of the defender taking the hit for the attacker, which would mean that if it's a 1-5%, they would be taken out in the attacker's stead.
A: Akua and Estinien are both setting up portals from Godsblood to the outskirts of Achamoth from which to begin mounting the assault. Caitlyn will be providing a back-up in the case either of those portals go down.
Q: Can my character make use of the chaos and try to raid the Citadel?
A: They can try but there will be mod rolls involved for any attempts. NPCs inside the Citadel will not be affected the same way the NPCs outside in main area will be. We do not want it to seem like the Citadel is defenseless otherwise.
Q: If Kenoma cause damage to the city during the raid, how will the Regent feel? Will there be consequences?
A: It should try to be avoided, but the Regent will understand if there is collateral damage in battle as long as they aren't being careless about it.
Q: Is the "no-combat aura" completely incapacitating NPCs?
A: No, it is only stopping them from aggressing the Pleroma. If they or their property are attacked they will defend themselves, and are otherwise operating with a normal level of cognizance. Kenoma Aions can order them out of the area to avoid being hurt if necessary.
BOSS BATTLE:
Q: I would like my character to take part in the battle but want to limit the outcomes in a way that isn't too devastating. Is that possible?
A: We think in that case we would basically only be acknowledging the possibilities between the "The attack either misses, is ineffective, or it triggers a counter attack from the boss." and "The attack hits with moderate effectiveness, as determined by the nature of their action." range. So, you can't get taken out, but you also can only deal moderate hits at best. You could still trigger a counter attack from the boss, but the damage taken from that is more flexible and free form than the 1-5% zone. If you make an attack with this restriction just add a little OOC note to your initial attack tag.
Q: How can a support character engage in the combat?
A: If your character is providing support, you may team up with an attacker to submit a "group attack". This means that your character is putting their effort towards supporting that attacker character that round, and will not be able to submit their own separate action. In exchange, that attack will receive two mod rolls instead of one, and the attack itself will be based on the more favorable of the two rolls. (Sort of like rolling with an advantage in modern D&D.) We will make as many rolls as there there are character combining their effort and select the best of them.
If any character rolls in the 1-5% zone they will still be taken out, however. Click the link above for more information.
Q: Can my character take a hit for another character after a mod roll?
A: We would be willing to accept this in the case of the defender taking the hit for the attacker, which would mean that if it's a 1-5%, they would be taken out in the attacker's stead.
no subject
She is back to work. The dragon-like entity in the sky above requires attention, but that doesn't mean she'll risk staying in one place for too long. Each time she used her abilities the radiation it summoned in her body made her a glowing beacon in the gathering night, and she wasn't about to risk letting one of those Pleroma attack her while she was focused on the dragon. (It would be strange if she bothered to let herself care about that kind of thing- fighting a dragon.)]
Except this time, when she descends the staircase of her latest defensive position and exits the building on the way towards the next she had picked out as useful for her purposes... it's a Kenoma who greets her. On that snarls, charging towards her like a human tank-
And Havoc reacts quick, throwing herself back the way she came and slamming the door back behind her just in time.
It doesn't matter if the door can stop him or not. She just wanted to be seen trying a non-lethal method first.]
no subject
It's just. Another thing. To destroy. He wastes no time glaring at it, instead throwing himself right back at the door with a more sophisticated plan of attack than simply running into it. He punches it, not minding the way the wood splinters against his knuckles; claws at it, not minding the way it digs itself into his hands. Bits of the outside show through the holes he's made, is making; himself at their forefront, picture of mindless determination and rage, simultaneously without any reasons as to why he's doing this and with way too fucking many.
It doesn't take him too long to destroy the door thoroughly enough that he can see his target on the other side again, giving him the inspiration to ram his body through the holes he's created — and blowing right through it, letting the door explode in his wake as he charges at Havoc once again, lips curled back in a full-blown snarl, teeth ready to sink into flesh. ]
no subject
That hand might be more powerful than she'd estimated.
There was no room for panic, only action. The door wouldn't hold him long, that much was clear immediately.]
Amos!
[So she calls out, laying down her excuses for later as she scans the room clinically, identifying weak parts of the infrastructure, the best place to open up a vacuum and do the most damage to stone and wood. Like the wood of the door already splintering behind her.]
I'm not your enemy... but I'll use my powers, if you don't back down!
[She hadn't tested it yet... if her powers would shatter the shards that made up the true life of an aion. So if Amos was to "die" here and come back... Let it not be said she hadn't been a "good teammate". She'd warned him.
And when he bursts through the doorway in a whirlwind of splinted wood and twisted hinges, she is right in front of him at the foot of the staircase across the room. The eerie glow of radiation springs up in the back of her pupils, the acrid scent of ozone fills the air... and then a sphere of hard vacuum space springs up between them, aimed at trapping the berserking man inside. And if it did...
Well. Havoc doesn't know about his experience with the terrors that lurked in the depths of space and what could happen to a human body suddenly exposed to them, but. This might be one of the only Kenoma who could begin to understand what it was her powers did.
In this condition, though... would the lack of air stop him? Would the bursting eardrums, the boiling humors, the swelling blood vessels, or the intense change in pressure?
It stopped humans. But what was he now?]
no subject
He doesn't notice any glow, any change in the air, too focused on trying to maul her with claws extended ready to tear into her frame, and then there isn't any air anymore, there isn't any anything, and he's scrambling.
It's the first time anything other than anger has seeped through his brain: it's panic. He'd already been exhaling as he'd suddenly found himself in vacuum space, and he's still advancing towards her by virtue of his own momentum, but that all suddenly comes to a halt. He can't breathe. He can't charge her. He's left in nothing, and his limbs flail in response; a mindless, frantic reaction.
If he'd been himself, he'd have known what to do. He can handle not breathing for a couple of minutes, has had to do it before. He'd also know to not really do anything, let his momentum carry him forward, and then he'd be out of this space. He's never been fully immersed in vacuum before — not without a suit — but he's spent more than enough time crawling around on the hulls of ships to know what to do.
He is not himself. Or if he is, he's the truest version of himself; the self that was born in and forged by Baltimore, who was never supposed to leave those city blocks, never supposed to touch space. He is also granted a defence he should not normally have; radiation would take much longer to affect him in this state, shell of an outer body repelling everything as much as it can because killing her is more important than succumbing to wherever he is now.
But what's left of his mind is freaking out, causing his body to halt its progress. He had been on the verge of making it out the other side; now he's stuck partway through, a kind of primal fear in his eyes as he looks around him, not at her.
Something in him tells him he's going to die, and there's almost something peaceful to it as he feels his limbs go limp, his eyes slide shut. He's going to die and that's okay, as he remains stuck in vacuum, unknowing of when it will no longer be his entire world. ]
no subject
She opened up her vacuums at full force, full size capable at that time to eliminate the threat. But here, where she had to pay her obeisance differently, where she likely needed to care about the Regent's opinion of her, her teammates'...
For a moment, she thinks he might be one of the few capable of succeeding against the sudden sphere of vacuum space, she readies herself for the potential need to open another... but he succumbs to panic, like most do. Fear builds in his eyes as the air escapes from a body damaged by the sudden depressurization... and Havoc, "Carmine", watches impassively, abandoning her attempts at appearing human as he loses consciousness. Her face goes slack, her body sharp, and she simply watches... until she judges it long enough to have incapacitated or killed him.
The shard didn't break. That's interesting to know.
As tempting as it was to test whether she could break one, to take advantage of the chaos... Havoc does not know yet how far-reaching the Regents' eye was in this city. And not wanting to pay her obeisance just yet... She releases the sphere, allowing Amos' body to thump heavily down to the floor, and lets the glow of radiation die away from her body.
Ready to resume her original plan... She steps around his body to head back towards the now splintered and broken door.]
no subject
He hits it with a thud, limbs splayed out, and has no reaction. He's still stuck inside his own head, in the peace that comes with nothingness, and there's nothing in him capable of focusing on the outside world. Not the soreness of his limbs and torso as he suddenly makes contact with the ground, not her footsteps as she calmly leaves him where he is — nothing.
And then his eyes shoot open, and his gasp for air turns into a snarl.
He's still here. He's still alive. The lost time means nothing to him; all he knows is he'd had prey right in front of him and now she's moved. He doesn't know how he ended up on the ground, and it doesn't matter. He pushes himself back up with enough ferocity to leave claw marks in the floor, tearing out small chunks of it on his way up as he looks around him.
Catches sight of her back as she heads for the door, and lunges for it.
He isn't done yet. As long as there's something still alive nearby, he can't be done. ]
no subject
The sound of him rising makes her turn, the look on his face and the desperation in his attack makes her put aside the facade of "playing nice to prevent hurting a coworker"...
And this time when she opens up the sphere of vacuum space... she opens it wide enough to cover the columns supporting the roof of the building, wood cracking, buckling under the sudden assault of depressurization... then shattering as she releases the vacuum to instead let pressure and air suddenly rush back in the space of an instant.
An instant aimed at burying him beneath the rubble as the floor buckles and the ceiling crashes down. Whether that kept him down or not... Well, she only needed enough time to leave.]
no subject
One moment, he's lunging for someone smaller than him, weaker than him, someone who he is going to be able to kill within seconds; the next, the world crashes down on him, and it's all he can do but give a mindless yell as he finds himself rapidly buried underneath rubble and partially collapsed structure.
He claws ferociously at it, hurling chunks of debris to the side whenever he can find purchase — and when he's able to come up for air, free himself from everything that had been collapsed on top of him, there's nobody else here. Just an open door leading to the outside world, the sounds of battle — and, more importantly, life — on the other side.
He doesn't remember who had been here before. They aren't anymore. It doesn't matter. All there is for him to do is charge out into the wider world and kill the first person he comes across, and then the next, and then the next.
But it's been more than long enough for Havoc to leave him back to his own devices. More than long enough for him to find someone else.
So he'll do just that. ]