EVENT #6: BY HEAVEN OR HELL

[aionmods]

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.

Comments

[warmare]

[It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Or maybe it was... but Hayame had not wanted it to. She had not wanted the unknown, unreliable entity known as Innocence involved in this, because even if the effect it had created had allowed them to breach the city easier, the Achamites laying down arms and losing interest in repelling them, who knew how long it would last? Who knew what cost would be paid for it? She had not wanted the person she'd planned to fight beside to become a giant, roaring target in the sky whose voice was joined by an eerie, freakish chorus of strangers, and she had not wanted-

No. Perhaps a part of her did not hate that she had run into the earth mover again. Gen, apparently his name was Gen, but-

Her arrow punches through the chest of an impromptu Achamite shield instead, and though it is tempting to just fire her second arrow... she doesn't actually need to kill him. She is here to distract, to buy time for those more soft-hearted among their number to reach the two Pleroma who'd not succeeded in killing themselves with honor rather than suffer the indignity of capture and the shame of their torture being used to torment others. So her arrow is notched against the string, it's aimed... but she does not yet fire.

Unlike the last time they'd met... Hayame has come prepared. She is armored, yes, but perhaps it is more strange that her hair and mane are oiled and styled, her hooves polished, a swipe of red powder in the corners of her eyes and just tinting her lip.]

Hand over your shard and we will stop.

[Prepared to die in the service of this ill-motivated raid as she was always taught- elegantly, and splendidly. So why not also aim for the impossible while she was at it? She had demanded the same of two other Kenoma in Venera, and merely compounded her failures twice. What was a third?]

[epiprocta]

[ His gaze flickers from that arrow notched at her bow, to the long flow of her hair, to the armor at her hindquarters, to the bright streak of color tinged at her lips. Gen exhales hoarsely, not quite a sardonic laugh, and he's not sure if he's talking to himself or to her when he mutters, ]

Even getting all dolled up for this shit ... aren't you getting too excited?

[ It's not like he hadn't gotten himself geared up for this fight, too. The gear that his retainer had prepared for him feels stifling, buckled close to his body, and Gen tries not to think about how his damaged arm feels itchy; the layers of padding meant to cushion tender, still-healing flesh from the abrasion of heavy leather renders his skin hot and prickly. It feels unglamorous because it is. As a stiff breeze sends that empty sleeve fluttering at his side, Gen idly shifts his weight on his feet before calling out to Hayame a little louder: ]

-- then what.

[ He hasn't loosened his grip at his mace, but he holds it lax at his side for the moment. Prepared to fight back, of course, because he's well aware that Hayame probably won't hesitate to shoot at him with full intent to kill the first chance she gets. But -- it should be fine to delay for just a moment longer, right? He's so tired. Gen clears his throat before clarifying. ]

What're you even gonna do, if you get your hands on our shards? Throw'em down a well? Shatter'em? Just leave'em lying around on display? -- d'you even know what you'd do, if you got what you wanted?

[ A question he's been asking himself a lot these past few nights. He wonders if other people might also ever dwell on it. ]

[warmare]

[Even though it is just a mutter... Hayame, with her heightened senses, hears it. Like with almost every word that has ever been exchanged between them, it makes her angry. She is not excited. She is not dolled up. And though she tells herself she won't...]

A warrior prepared to die does so at their finest.

[She snaps, the illusion she'd once been able to maintain so well of the cold and uncaring huntress long since shattered by the stresses and pressures of this foreign place and each new horror brought with it, each new person she viewed unable to understand her ways and her culture. In Venera, Pleroma had come to help the natives, but she had gone for revenge against a Regent who claimed to be responsible for the death of her world. Here in Achamoth, Pleroma had come to rescue a mere two of their number... and she, unable to imagine a victory against an entire fortress of enemies, had come to at least find an honorable death against the enemy closest to the Regent that she could locate.

So perhaps it will surprise him, that she has an answer to that question that isn't violent. She highly doubts he will, but in the fantasy of a world in which he did--]

I will give your shard to one of the Pleroma who use magic, and we shall see if they can purge you of that black sludge you Kenoma consume.

[The Pleroma. You Kenoma. There is no place for her.

- And apparently, she isn't the only one missing. His sleeve flutters in the wind.]

[epiprocta]

[ He's silent for a moment in the face of that answer.

Then Gen smiles. Not a smirk, but a weary, sardonic smile, just a faint quirk of the lips as he exhales hoarsely, like he's heard an impressively bad joke. ]

That's a fancy way of saying 'I don't know what'll happen to it.'

[ Because that's basically what she's saying, right? 'We shall see.' She has no fucking clue what's even possible if they get their hands on a shard from a Kenoma Aion. And what are they planning on doing if it isn't possible purge the Kenoma from them? Hold them prisoner forever? Kill them, leave them to rot as a shard? ]

Sorry [ he's not sorry at all, insincerity drips from the low deadpan of his voice ] but you gotta give me a better argument than that if you want me to just lie down and die. [ A pause before he adds, that sickly smile fading from his features. ] You know that, right.

[ Because, in the end, they're both here to fight. She hasn't relinquished her bow and he hasn't dropped his mace. They both knew that, once they'd set foot on this arena, leaving it without bloodshed no longer became an option. -- at least there's something comforting about encountering others who feel the same way as him in that regard. Dirt grits underfoot as Gen adjusts his stance, better angling his body to prepare for a fight. ]

Better luck next time.

[warmare]

I do not.

[Hayame isn't about to claim that she knows what would happen to his shard, when all she actually knows is that is what she'd do with it. It is what she would have done to Liem, to Barnaby, if one of them were not now either dead or wishing for it in prison, if the other wasn't a deceiver that had betrayed the paltry hope she'd attempted to have in Kenoma.

She is many things, but she is no liar.]

But choosing the hope of cleansing will work far better for you than anything else that will happen this day.

[That she's sure of. He moves, and she tenses with readiness, her hooves sliding on the hard streets of Achamoth, but... rather than loose her arrow, her dark, storm grey gaze catches on the glint of the mace. Her mind accidentally slips to the visceral, chaotic images that she had seen speaking with Estinien after the chaos in Godsblood in Venera, when he had related losing himself to the Innocence entity. Specifically, the sensation of a mace cracking against her (his) horn and head, the surge of pain and rage--]

-- Say.

[The tip and the line of her arrow's shaft level at his chest. The larger target, no matter how she wants to aim higher.]

Is that the same weapon you took to Venera?

[epiprocta]

Don't flatter yourself.

[ There's the creak of leather as Gen tightens his grip on his mace, expression growing just a touch colder at Hayame's words. ]

You think the worst thing that could happen to me here is getting headshot by a pretty girl? [ Maybe that indirect compliment of her looks comes across as paradoxical, but it hadn't escaped his notice that Hayame seems to hate being referred to in that way. A shame. She really would clean up nicely. And besides, that's part of his point. ] You really have no fucking clue what kinda shit can happen here, do you. Use your head a little more.

[ Death is hardly the worst thing that could happen to him. Not even if Hayame were to shatter his shard under her hoof. The prospect of going through whatever had been done to Barnaby and Liem makes his blood run just a little colder, and Gen eases forward a half-step to try and shake off those thoughts. Even that question of hers and the creak of her bow as it's leveled at his chest only earns a reluctant pause, and Gen narrows his eyes. ]

No.

[ Unseen, magic crackles at his fingertips, the preparation already made to move the earth to block any arrows that might be shot his way; the first sign of movement, and he'll shield himself. Because this question has to be just a distraction, right? He'd abandoned his mace in that fountain behind that church in Venera, left it in those bloodied waters. ]

What's it to you?

[warmare]

[Don't flatter herself? The snap is automatic, the insult, just fitting. Hayame was creative in very few realms, but one of them-]

Call me a pretty girl again, you filthy cur.

[Never mind that she was actually incredibly aware of the fact that she was physically attractive. She had been praised for her handsome features and elegant body ever since she left the gangly, long-limbed tomboy years of fillyhood behind... and prospective buyers certainly had no reason to lie. But she had always resented it, each compliment a risk that she might be bought for that beauty, that she might be used for it, and so to hear it now, from the mouth of this disrespectful-

No. She didn't know what he means. She did not know what happened to the man named Liem once he had been ripped from her side in Venera, but for his sake... She hoped he was dead. Torture was always an option in such a situation, but torture, well- You could end torture.

But not everyone had the courage to bite off their own tongue. (If she were in that position, truly, would she- ? Of course, of course-) What did it mean to her, what mace that was?]

I promised the man you and yours killed that I would capture, not kill, all those who raised their weapons against him in that state.

[Even if she disagreed with the idea of capture over kill... She had owed him a debt, and she would pay it that way if he so chose. But even saying that... that man is now a giant, twisted beast in the skies above, she does not even know if he yet possesses a person's mind. And in it's absence... her lip curl up, not into quite a smile, but a daring, angry twist of her mouth, brief and fleeting before it becomes the deadpan line cleaving across her features.]

But if that is a different mace, well...

[Maybe she did not have to keep that promise.

Maybe she looses the first arrow on her string, leveled straight at his chest. (Not maybe.)]