EVENT #6: By Heaven or Hell

[aionmods]

By Heaven or Hell

THE STORY SO FAR...

During the month of Innoseri, the Pleroma and Kenoma were mobilized to the city of Venera to investigate a mysterious affliction of the residents. They were succumbing to a strange apathy that slowly disconnected them from the reality, to the point that many would lose interest in even necessary activities to live. They ran the risk of starving, dying of dehydration, or simply wandering into danger with no sense of preservation.

By entering the city, both sects were exposed to the effects of the illness, which turned out even worse for Aions. In a twist of fate, it was during that time that the Pleroma Aion Estinien met his end at the hands of the Kenoma Aion Makoto, shattering his Innocence-petrified body. It was this act of profane violence that summoned the god-like creature that has caused the illness, sending a great metaphysical scream echoing across the city, demanding to know what had been done to it's child.

The winged being now colloquially known as the Innocence Entity manifested for the first time, in the form of a great cloud of wings floating above the city. It turned it's attentions to the gathered Aions, striking down any that challenged it, enraged by the acts of violence committed in the city it had hopes to envelope in a haze of endless peace. Abel, a Pleroma who had come to Estinien's defense, realized that the entity seemed be acting to protect Estinien, who it considered its ward after he succumbed to the illness its power invoked. Abel beseeched his allies to stay their hand and begged the Innocence leave him and the city be.

The Innocence Entity was reluctant, arguing that life without its 'blessing' would be filled with suffering and strife. Abel, Himeka, Ryunosuke, and Alphinaud, the four Pleroma present at the time, insisted to it that life was worth living despite that pain that came along with it, and promised they could care for Estinien in its stead. Accepting their vow, the entity bound them all to a contract that would be broken if they failed to shield him from suffering. It left Venera and the illness faded.

Last month, the Kenoma were deployed to Venera and to Godsblood with the intent of culling dissenters and citizens who showed disloyalty to the empire. During this conflict, the capture of Ryunosuke and Thoma drew Estinien into a battle against several Kenoma. Outnumbered and disadvantaged, the pain and panic Estinien experienced summoned the Innocence Entity once more. It possessed Estinien's body, using its power to dispense of the Kenoma challenging him, all while lashing against the Pleroma it saw as having broken their vows. This divine punishment fell upon Abel and Himeka as they were facing off against Ciel and Emet-Selch in Godsblood. Taking advantage of their suddenly prone enemies, the two Kenoma delivered them to the Regent.

The Kenoma had long-since hoped to capture Estinien, to use his connection to the entity as a weapon against it, but now the perfect bait had fallen into their hands. As the Pleroma rally to save their captured comrades, the Kenoma prepare to turn circumstances to their advantage, and to perhaps eliminate the Innocence Entity's threat once and for all...

❖ INCLUDED EVENT PROMPTS

◆ BURNED AT THE STAKE: In an effort to force the Pleroma's hand, the Regent will be scheduling the public burning of Abel and Himeka in Achamoth. After the failed public execution in Godsblood, why not try again! This will be set up to occur in a public square near the Citadel. The Pleroma will be in a race against time to save them before both their bodies and their shards are destroyed.

◆ INNOCENCE ON FIRE: As the Pleroma enter the city, the Innocence Entity, previously disinterested in fighting on behalf of Aions it considers oath breakers, will seemingly have a change of heart. It will offer its power to Estinien who will, in turn, temporarily ascend to boss monster level during this siege, wielding both the power of the Innocent and the Firebrand. This will be run as an official boss encounter in collaboration with Estinien's player, the mechanics of which will be explained along with the post. In addition, the radiance of the Innocence Entity will rob most Achamoth NPCs of their will to fight, leading to a conflict largely between Aions. Those of the Innocent Legacy will receive strange communion from the entity itself, which they can respond to as they will.

◆ FIREBRANDS RISING: As if summoned by the Pleroma's rebellious actions against the Regent's empire, Pleroma Firebrands participating in the raid will be blessed with additional power that will amplify along with the strength of their defiant conviction. This power can be extended, to a lesser to degree, by those fighting alongside them that are inspired by their example. In opposition, the Firebrands of the Kenoma will hold a natural resistance to the Innocent's assaults, and will find themselves with the ability to 'inspire' limited amounts of NPCs into defying the power robbing them of their will. In general, all Firebrands will feel supernaturally uninhibited by all that would hold them back from achieving their desires, whether those bonds be emotional or physical.

MOD NOTE: All characters who go participate in the event log will be awarded 1 Token, so please make sure to mark that on your AC. You will not receive the token if you don't claim it. For new players, they will be permitted to spend this token for use during the event, though this will only be relevant for those with the Normie Discount.

We would also like to be clear and say that the outcome of this event has been predetermined by the players most closely involved (Himeka and Abel will escape, Estinien will be captured) but everyone else's fates will be up in the air. The event itself will go up and take place on August 17th.

Comments

[bythelight]

Hello! If someone Pleroma wants to adopt Anduin long enough to get him to this place via a portal or something, he'll happily come help. Happy to wing it or be recruited into a plan, if he has a skill you need.

He can offer:

🔅 Big glowy shields! Stops you getting hurt, but draws attention for sure.
🔅 Healing!
🔅 Crowd control! He can make people briefly run away or stun them.
🔅 Some fighting! He can do a little magical fighting.
🔅 Some rescue! He can magically yank people a short distance to safety. Maybe out of the way of an attack!
🔅 Strategy?? Listen it may be too late for that, but technically he's lead several wars so he has some decent ability to strategize.

And like I said he can also do some fighting, so if you're into that flavour of fighting where it's one character being all YOU DON'T NEED TO DO THIS then he's the right character for you! He can keep shielding himself and trying to stun you and stuff in the hope that keeping you busy will keep you off other people. It's a tactic! With permission, he can also briefly mind control people. Only characters who are technically weaker in that sort of stuff than him, obviously, but if you wanted to clash and have everyone come away mostly ok that's one option to disengage, he can walk you away then absolutely leg it to safety.

Also, if anyone actually does want to get some kind of gnarly injury happy to have Anduin heal it afterwards.

ETA: Honestly, also if any Kenoma people looked hurt badly and they weren't actively trying to kill more people there's a chance he'll heal you too if you need it!

[galdorleod]

if we want to do more with them in the future, i think it'd definitely be good to set a starting point for their cr during this event! even if it's nothing more than them learning the other person exists and clashing a bit, it's a foundation to start from.

[bythelight]

Yes!! I was honestly thinking about this event when I was suggesting that. Their Eyes Can Meet Across The Battlefield, in a... nonromantic but still somehow intense destiny kind of way idk

[galdorleod]

maybe just a quick little thread, then? towards the beginning of the raid? then we wouldnt have to worry about injuries and how it could effect future threads.

[bythelight]

That'd be fine for me, though I'm not too worried about injuries on Anduin so long as they aren't BIG ones because he can just heal himself. So he can get knocked about a little, and deflect some attacks with a shield spell if necessary! Are we aiming to give Howl a reason to hesitate in this thread so Anduin can see it and tunnel vision wanting to help him later, or just exposing them to each other?

[galdorleod]

hmm, I'd been thinking of just some exposure? but if you have any specific ideas I'd be open to hearing it!

[cutlery]

So! Since Sebastian is very much just the sort of character that's never going to be swayed but would definitely pretend to be, I'd really love to start some CR with him and Anduin! He'd definitely be a great candidate for that "you don't need to do this" kind of prompt, since he's also a great candidate to aggro away from other people lmao... please protect other pleroma by keeping the super aggressive demon away from them bud

[bythelight]

ABSOLUTELY GO FOR IT, happy to have him Invested in this Poor Man who Clearly Is Struggling and just needs HELP

SEBASTIAN, DON'T WORRY SEBASTIAN, THEY CAN HELP, YOU HAVE OPTIONS, MAKE GOOD CHOICES

[cutlery]

anduin......... this poor sweet soul......

so yes happy to do so and hopefully keep a running track of how long it takes before anduin realizes "no maybe actually there's at least like SOME guys that are just. bad?"

[bythelight]

LISTEN He does know sometimes people are just bad but....

HE JUST LIKES... TO GIVE THEM A CHANCE IF HE CAN...

Maybe more than one... SOMETIMES PEOPLE CHANGE

[cutlery]

I mean sure but what if they're less people and more like. eldritch abominations made of darkness??

I believe in him tho

[lifespanned]

hello there!! i'd be super down to do a You Don't Need to Do This type of interaction/battle!! if she saw how helpful he was being to the pleroma, she'd definitely go after him with her petrification powers. i find the idea of him mind controlling her into walking away to be so funny, i would be super down to disengage that way (and it would be a hilarious way to start cr??) if you're amenable!

[bythelight]

lmaooooo absolutely. The last time Anduin used it as a specific plot example it was basically a jedi mind trick where he tells someone trying to take him away "actually I'm not going I'm sure you understand", and they go "ok!" then about a minute later when someone is frantically asking what they're doing they're like.

Eh, what?

The actual spell in game lets you move a person/creature physically, but he'd probably basically be trying to send her back to base like 'get yourself out of the way shoo shoo' so they probably ultimately culminate in the same result if he persuades her it's her idea and I guess it's up to you if she does immediately realise afterwards what he did or if she's like

having a moment like me wondering why I came to the kitchen again because I swear I had a reason but I'm just standing staring at it like nope I don't remember

[lifespanned]

LMAO this sounds hilarious to me.... he is so free to send her off back to camp, i think maybe i'll do a little of column a, little of column b, so that she has a why did i come to the kitchen moment for the rest of the raid, only to realize later "hey wtf happened in the conclusion of my fight against that guy again????"

will you be topleveling in this event? i won't be, so i can either come to your tl to start off the You Don't Have to Do This PVP Portion, or we can do a closed starter situation too!! :')

[bythelight]

Lmao her back at camp like wait what happened to the blond dweeb hang on...

I think I will probably toplevel yes! I may live to regret that decision, but sometimes we must take risks!!

[lifespanned]

great!! i will keep an eye out for it then 🥳

[killandrecycle]

Can I offer you this tiny girl (who just happens to be both a demon and a necromancer)? She's going to be playing the role of a 'helpless girl who wants to be rescued from the bad, bad Kenomas' but of course actually doesn't want to be rescued and just wants people to drop their guard around her. Even if Andy wouldn't fall for it, she'd still wanna go after the big, obvious healer target.

[bythelight]

Oh my goodness what kind of monster would put this poor, clearly innocent girl in a warzone! Truly, this Regent is the most dishonourable creature alive!

That said, there's a chance his danger sense would warn him if it's a trap situation -- but we can always time that very last second for fun, and have him just like "what am I even being warned aboUOHNO--"

[killandrecycle]

I am 100% fine with it not actually working. I am merely fulfilling my obligation, as Wrathion's player has informed me I am required to dislike you (in character of course!) for being a priest, something which the stereotypes say would have have problems with both demons and playing around with the dead.

But yes, who would ever put such a charming girl into a battle? Can't you tell how harmless she is? Never mind that knife, she doesn't even know how to use it.

[bythelight]

Oh we can do it! I meant to say we could just have him not realise what he's being warned about until it's too late for him to properly escape. I mean, why would he need to be worried about this little girl!

What was your plan once he was lured in?

[killandrecycle]

The short answer: stabbings. A bit longer, ask to be escorted somewhere safe but, on the way, run into some soldiers that don't seem pacified by the Innocence and pretend they are after HER instead of Andy. They'd just be her minions, of course.

[sterngaze]

I would love to get a thread with anduin, if you have room on your dance card! liem will be trying to pick off whoever he can from the invading force, but if anduin proves too tricky to kill outright, he's not above trying to bait the healer further away from the group instead

[bythelight]

Religious combat?!

I'm game! I guess however you need to decide how we're balancing Warcraft magic types/schools vs his pathfinder affinity stuff! Most of Anduin's magic counts as Holy, obviously, Church of the Light!

[sterngaze]

I think it's totally reasonable to say that holy energy is analogous to positive energy in Pathfinder, so if Anduin has spells that have different effects on undead compared to living targets bc of energy weaknesses, that seems fine to carry over. Liem's creature type is humanoid rather than undead, though, so he can't be targeted by abilities that specifically target undead creatures.

[bythelight]

Well Warcraft doesn't really do "energy weaknesses", exactly. Undead canonly get burned more by the Light but it's because their Undead state is being.... seared constantly by the magic? Like it's not a "hnnnn turn away from holy energy" thing, and they don't take extra damage in game its just flavour, which is why it's really up to you! He only has one Undead specific spell which is "shackle Undead," which is easy to have not work!