Open Player Plot: "Head Month"

[warmare]

Hello, Aion Teleos players of both sect affiliations! This is Rizu (Hayame/warmare) and Vee (Makoto/affal) here, bringing you a plot opportunity we are officially opening up to other players who are interested in getting involved! Content Warning for this plot include, but are not limited to: beheadings, abuse, severed heads, eye trauma, potential torture, etc.


Vee's art is amazing!!! (Warning: not super gory but there's a head in the full click-thru, y'all)

PLOT OVERVIEW:

After the violent and chaotic raid on Achamoth, Hayame managed to narrowly avoid corruption by kenoma and escape from the city -1 eyeball but +1 head of a sworn enemy named Makoto (known more commonly as just "M"). Though she thought it would be a sick trophy that would soon dissipate and leave only a shard she could bring back for experimentation on de-Kenoma-ing, the demon's special anatomy means that his head can be safely separated from his body without killing him, leaving him... very alive and very pissed off.

With Makoto's head in hand, she initially fled Achamoth into the wilderness, attempting to avoid endangering others or risking exposure of secret base locations by bringing the head to rebel territory until sure it was safe. She posted a Pleroma sect Communion post about this, asking for assistance with things such as supplies, asking magic-capable characters for warding/defensive/hiding spells, and trying to get someone to ask Tehri about the chances of Kenoma LoJack or if she knows a safe place to hide such a thing from the Regent/enemy eyes. Thankfully, she did! So Hayame is on the way to the forests of Lohkimareen near the Valley of the Innocent.

Makoto will be... along for the ride, oops, and having a very bad no good terrible month full of abyss nightmares, dealing with an angry centaur jailer in heat, getting aggressively washed so he doesn't get dirty, and whatever awful attempts at torture or shonen speeches that Pleroma want to inflict on him. Also, he'll maybe be looking a bit like a bondage victim, because you can't carry your enemy's head around and just let him overhear you and spy on you or yell at you the whole time??? Someone get Hayame a bit and blinders and ear plugs.

PLOTTING OPTIONS:

↣ Hayame will be making Makoto('s head) available to Pleroma sect members who wish to interrogate/examine/torture him, under her supervision. There are some things she will try and prevent (killing him, messing overly with his shard) for fear it might trigger some sort of Kenoma GPS or etc., but feel free to pitch ideas in the comments below or ICly in her Communion post. She is staying in a remote part of Lohkimareen far from Greentruth, however, and moving frequently, so you'll need to travel or portal. [OPEN TO PLEROMA]

↣ For a week or so in the beginning of his bodyless adventures, Makoto will be affected by the abyss after using the power granted to him by the Regent in the last rounds versus the Sanctifier. During this period, the nightmares of others may leak into his dreams, so if you would like to submit a nightmare for Vee to select from please use the comment below! [OPEN TO PLEROMA AND KENOMA]

↣ Because of her lost eye, remote forest location, and commiting time to moving between safehouses (safecaves & safetreehollows) instead of hunting or visiting villages with an animated head tied to her withers, Hayame will need medical assistance, food, and supplies delivered throughout the plot period. [OPEN TO PLEROMA]

↣ Once Makoto's absence is noted in Achamoth, Kenoma players are more than welcome to start pitching plot attempts to locate him. This notice could likely happen very quickly, as his headless body was left behind by Hayame in the streets of Achamoth. Feel free to use the comment below to organize group efforts! If you do the organizing for them elsewhere (Plurk, Discord, etc.), please still post them here once you've decided on a course of action. [OPEN TO KENOMA]

↣ UPDATE: According to current Kenoma player plotting happening below, it looks like we can expect some magical location/scrying/future seeing attempts, as well as a posse physically invading Lohkimareen looking for Makoto's head. Are there any characters who frequent the forest who might notice their presence and say something, either to Pleroma sect in general or Hayame herself? Are there any magic users who might notice attempts to scry or be able to tell Hayame "that's not a cold, bitch, that's a curse on u"? Though Hayame herself is hardly an endearing figure, are there any Pleroma who feel strongly about Sticking Together for Pleroma's Sake who might try and insist on helping or guarding or assisting in the case of a Kenoma posse attack? Feel free to use the comment below to organize efforts! [OPEN TO PLEROMA]

DECIDED OUTCOME:

The only decided plot point we for sure are working towards is that Makoto's head be returned to Kenoma custody before [Redacted] Month. ICly we're looking to have him either rescued, exchanged, or stolen back at the end of September, so there will be enough time to run some fun plots-within-plots and get some threads done. At this time, we would like to leave how he returns up to what developments are undertaken by both sects to either keep him or get him back. We will likely want to pick a solution OOCly by mid-September.

OOC NOTES:

↣ Because this plot deals with very dubious content, please be mindful of tagging for Content Warnings if you participate or thread about it.

↣ For obvious OOC outcome confirmation reasons we are posting this after the second part of the raid event, but please keep in mind that that this plot is considered to have ICly begun back on the day of the Achamoth raid (8/18). That means posts, threads, and actions undertaken in the first part of this player plot are backdated.

↣ Hayame will be taking her custody of Makoto's head intensely seriously-- it is unlikely anyone will be able to ICly convince her to let them have it, take him out of her sight, or even speak to him without her present. She will also be wary of who she allows close, and also warn people that he may still be dangerous. However, when it comes to threading with Makoto('s head), unless you plan to have your character do something that violates one of her "rules", you can just assume Hayame is there glaring and watching silently in the background. (Threads with both Makoto and Hayame are potentially available, just ask!)

↣ For the duration of the plot, Makoto's headless body will be in the care of J (tohell) in Achamoth. If you have something you'd like to use the body for (!?) please run it by the player and drop a note here.

↣ As needed, Rizu and Vee will field questions in the comments below. If we ask the mods a question about something we will provide the answers here also, if they're relevant for plotting in general. Likewise, if you ask a question of the mods about something, please drop the answer there. Sharing is caring!

↣ Though we will do our best to try and allow interested parties a chance to do things, please keep in mind we are just two people and may not be able to thread everything out. Likewise, we want people to have fun with plotting and trying to get Makoto's head back in as sensible/smart a way as it can go ICly, but please be mindful of metagaming, etcetera.

↣ Thank you for your interest, and we hope we can all have a fun time with this! ❤️

IC COMMUNION POST • SEMI-OPEN LOG • THREAD REQUESTS • PLEROMA PLOTTING • KENOMA PLOTTING • NIGHTMARE SUBMISSIONS • QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Comments

PLEROMA PLOTTING

[warmare]

A thread for plotting amongst the Pleroma- !

[bythelight]

Offering to heal Hayame a little if they cross paths (potentially.... at a hot springs? Or somewhere around the outskirts of Greentruth or something, we can work it out!)

Equally, putting in writing that if you want to be in a curse fight with Matt, Anduin can dispel a magical effect if you'd like it to initially work but both agree to then have it be removed by blond priest.

Small print: due to local impacts on his magic, any dispel would not be instant -- it would begin to fade over time according to taste. Equally, because Warcraft is Like That, there's a difference between a 'bad magical effect' and a 'curse'. If it's classified as a curse, he cannot undo it, if it's a bad magical effect and does not contain the word 'curse', he can dispel it.

It's stupid. I know. It's the way it is.

He will probably avoid weird head interactions because there is NOTHING in his skillset to help with that and, honestly, what a fucking nightmare tbh!

[warmare]

I am not sure how much magic healing can do, since her big injury right now is that she's lost her left eye and I'm under the impression that healing spells in-game here are capped against being powerful enough to regrow limbs and parts, but!

Also judging by Matt's player's comment below, it looks like Matt's ability is officially classified as a "curse", unfortunately... 🤔

BUT I'm wanting to figure something out with him if you're still willing? He could always TRY to dispel the curse if we end up going that route, or he could be on supply delivery?

[bythelight]

Sure! You asked for medical assistance so I wasn't sure if she was injured in some other way -- and I wasn't sure if it was 100% settled on what Matt was going to do or still being decided.

You're right that he cannot.... regrow a new eye or limb, but I'm happy to have him just try to dispel the effect and tell her it's a curse and that is why he can't! He can bring her supplies, too. Maybe check her missing eye situation is all sanitary and not infected?? Lecture her on not scratching it and eating a healthy diet??

[warmare]

Oh whoops fknewlf sorry that's a leftover from a previous draft when I thought she'd be more injured. Can we maybe go with a supply drop/checking the missing eye for infection, etc? Fair warning she will get very pissy if a new acquaintance tries to lecture her lmfao but YOU TRY IF U WANNA SIR

[bythelight]

Sure! I can see she has at least one offer of supplies on the communion post already but if she needs them topping up he can bring more -- dyou want me to hit the post and go from there or just... hit you on a log and assume the basics?

Also she can be as pissy as she wants, Anduin has that like patient school teacher steadiness she could fucking roll on the floor and scream and he'd be like "sure, are you done? It's your own time you're wasting."

[warmare]

Yeah she has an offer of initial delivery, but I assume she'll need semi-regular ones throughout the month, primarily of food, so perhaps we could go with that? I'll go ahead and get a starter up for supply drops and link you?

[bythelight]

Sure! Just let me know if I'm assuming they've spoken or if he's going in that direction and agreed to take it IDK when an NPC working for the resistance asked him or something -- either works.

[warmare]

Best to assume that beforehand he communioned and either identified himself as someone who heard about the situation from other Pleroma/Tehri or someone who saw her communion post and was offering help?

If that's cool-- Here's some options!

[vapour]

Kotetsu can help Hayame with getting her food, supplies, etc and things if she is willing to trust him and can contact him whenever necessary. He's a new Pleroma so he doesn't have any interest or need to deal with Makoto, but he's happy to play delivery boy to help out a warhorse girl taking her job as warden over a head seriously.

[warmare]

+1 Delivery Guy! Thanks, Kotetsu! Since she has a neutral impression of him, she will accept some help from him, we can just assume he hit her up on communion post to volunteer!

[leicesters]

As discussed with the mods, Claude will have access to the same anti-scrying magic as Hayame from acting as her go between to Tehri, so I'd like him to be able to use that to his advantage. My current idea is that he pulls off a bait and switch tactic where he tricks an initial group of Kenoma who invade Lohkimareen into thinking he has Makoto's shard on his person, and they'll have to hunt him down if they want to get it. In reality, he'll be leading the search party in the opposite direction to Hayame's location (probably into a nest of irritated dinos or a trap set by other Pleroma) while using the time bought to warn Hayame to relocate.

This would need some Kenoma volunteers to fall for the bait, and of course any Pleroma who would want to help him pull it off would be welcome too!

[chronosynthesis]

Syr can lend his magic to assist Claude in the running and escaping without getting slaughtered!

[warmare]

I very much love this bait and switch tactic idea that could potentially distract or perhaps split up the Kenoma posse once they enter Lohkimareen!

+1 Distraction Team added to the list, and I'll re-pimp for Kenoma to look at this after the Tehri council!

[undertheweight]

+1 free taxi service, if Claude needs it. (And/or other baiting shenanigans as needed...)

[lockedon]

slowly shambles my way in here

I spent a little time thinking about things and I thiiiink that if we do wanna do something relating to this plot, we can maybe start with a network/communion thread since those tend to be a little easier for me. Eustace was kind of MIA during her original announcement since he was...a shard....but if he heard about it he'd reach out to Hayame. I don't think he'd have too much useful information to give but he'd be willing to at least talk about his own experiences with the Regent and what he's learned (like the Regent spying on Emet despite not being physically present) to keep her (and thus the rest of the Pleroma by proxy) out of the Regent's clutches.

Depending on how that goes, we can probably transition to/start a threeway with Hayame, Makoto, and Eustace, though I don't have any concrete ideas about the direction of that thread other than Eustace brings Hayame supplies and Makoto is indignant that he's there.

Lastly, on an OOC level I don't mind volunteering him as part of the Pleroma posse when the Kenoma invade to snatch Makoto back, but I'm a little iffy on committing to anything depending on how the numbers shake out, since he is tragically not OP and I'm not looking to get him dissipated again or captured. Even if he has no love for Hayame, he is trying to be like Abel and help out his fellow Pleroma despite his own personal relationships with them, and would grit his teeth and stick around if knowledge that the Kenoma were coming for her ass came to light.

[warmare]

Hello-- !!!

I think starting with communion is a good idea! I'm definitely game for "X was dissipated or not available during initial post times but heard about them later and contacted Hayame directly" threads. Either in Hayame's inbox or just labeled "LATER" on the communion post, I don't mind! Those tags are easier, you're right, so we could knock those out better for a bit and see where it takes us/how you feel about action tags at the end point.

As for confrontation participation, I definitely don't wanna get anyone involved in consquences or odds that they don't necessarily enjoy/want schedule-wise, but I super appreciate the offer! How about I file him right now as a tentative +1 and maybe we can find something for him to do that jives... If not, no problem!

[lockedon]

That all sounds good to me! Hopefully we can wrangle some more people (lovingly, not forcibly) into participating and it'll all work out in the end!! I joke about sending Hayame to the dark side but I think it would be nice if she got Power of Friendshipped at least a little during this plot to help cement her a little more to Pleroma. Feel free to mark me down as a tentative +1 and I'll try and keep an eye out for plot developments as they unfold.

And huehuehue.....I will slide my way into your inbox later today when I have some free time.

[warmare]

Yeah, I definitely came into this plot fully aware and willing to do Bad End things if plotting shakes out that way, and I will find a way to do something interesting with whatever way the cookie crumbles, but I will admit my Inner Hope for this plot was that it could end in some way that did make Hayame feel a little bit more like a Pleroma. We'll see! I'll be pimping this out a bit more after the Tehri council has had some time to breathe.

Roger, roger~!