Aon 8 - There was plot?

[janestarz]

Today I finally take the time to write a little bit about Aon. I didn't have such a great time. I kind of blame myself for not finding more plot, because I've been actually searching for it and dammit I'm an h-experienced h-larper!

Brace yourselves and engage!

Friday
It was quiet in town, the townspeople going about their business. The well from the village square was suddenly missing. Haven't a clue where it went off to. I met a stern man, dressed in chainmail, who introduced himself as Hugo Valk, paladin of Nandoah of the Domus Nostrum Verus.
He and I had a long talk, in the Domus chapter, about Aon. He asked me why, why didn't I burn these heretics claiming Aon was a God at the stake.


Hugo Valk, paladin of Nandoah, played by the Scot. -- Photo by me.

I spoke to him about the vote, about how I was outnumbered, and how important it was that the Inquisition and the Collective had a unified facade, with no stragglers or differences of opinion. I told him my hands were tied.
"Hm." he hummed and looked sternly at me from the corner of his eyes. "I see. The Inquisition itself has fallen prey to the rot that threatens the souls of all the faithful."

Truth be told, I'd roleplayed myself into a corner. Loyal to the old Domus, unconvinced that Aon is real, and unwilling to stab my buddies in the back -- for OC reasons. It's just not cool.

Odelia and Caleb-Johann and myself had some other matters to attend to. There was one last Moriaantje, and news reached us that he had once been an elf. By selling his soul in a ritual, he'd become a drow.
Of course, this was Not Done, and we pounced. Something Had To Be Done!

We tried breaking the link between the elf and whoever claimed to come and get his soul the next day, but this effort failed. In the end, we executed the drow and let the vizier of the Schnoodaerts send the soul to Nandoah, safely out of reach from whomever wanted to claim it. The body fell apart into iron ore, for some strange reason, and we nodded at a job well done.

I'd have liked to talk to the Vizier some more, but he was busy and made himself scarce. I returned to the tent of the Collective, only to find three Raikua within.
"Won't you join us?" they asked. I felt the blood drain from my face.
"Why don't you step outside." I suggested.
The three explained how they had only wanted to bring us a gift. And then they turned around and walked out of the village quickly, laughing as they went.

Though I believe I've not heard about Frambooze, I still wouldn't accept any gift the Raikua might give us. I got Caleb to help me find whatever the 'gifts' were and we donated them to the needy, i.e. Zebedeus got the dubious honour of finding a silver tray and several bottles in his teahouse the next day.

Of course, no Aon is complete without a scouting mission with Arulo and Jonathan, who asked me to help them track down the father of a certain bride, who'd run from the town into the jungle alone earlier that evening. We set out with a group of no less then seven people, many of whom have Tracking 2 as a skill. It was a bit overkill.
We walked for more than an hour, one tracker with a small light following the footsteps and the SL telling us the things we saw, smelt or heard. After a long hour we got to the 'beach', found a couple of 'rowboats' and a 'campfire' behind the 'dunes' where 'we heard voices' 'laughing and carousing' and we picked up the words 'revolution' and 'fight'.

The father of the bride probably joined them, so there ended our quest and we returned to the inn. What a great trip. I walked into a hunter's trap, we found a small piglet, and we picked up some information about a coming revolution.

By the time we returned to the village it was nearing 4 am, and I joined Gavin, Bas, Joost, Gijs and others at a table where they were quoting Blackadder, which ended my day in laughter at least.


People from Holm -- photo by me

Saturday
Saturday started rather quietly and I had a talk with Odelia and Caleb who were a bit distraught about my attitude. They wanted to make sure I did not speak my personal opinion as a view point of the Collective, because people might get confused. If I wanted to bash Aon, they couldn't stop me, but I needed to make sure people knew that I wasn't speaking as one of the Collective.
I apologised for not making the difference between a personal and professional opinion known and we ended the conversation when stuff happened with Holm or some such.
The Holm people wanted our help in exterminating the Raikua, which the mayor said was on a personal note as we did not have any official contact with them at this time.

I didn't feel the need to escalate the matter more and opted to stay behind, and picked up my small lap-loom. Henriëtte's parents are weavers, and she was taught as a child but went off to be schooled by the inquisition. The skill could be of value to the village, so I tried to pick up my weaving but was soon bored by it. I'm not going to bring my small loom to the village square just to sit in sight of everyone, and being out there alone wasn't much fun either.
I decided to take some pictures instead, which was good too, but play was slow. The people who sat together, sat together for a long time and nothing happened, so the scenery to shoot didn't change much.

By the end of the afternoon (see how much things I did in the meantime?!) both Caleb and I were bored, so we picked a sunny spot right outside the town and did some yoga to greet Celes.


From left to right: Elana, Witch of Aon, Michelango Schnoodaert, priest of Nandoah and Soulkeeper, Andromedus, priest of Celes and Nandoah. -- Photo by woran

After dinner, play picked up again. I'd been invited to the Merodes and picked at my food. But I'd also been invited to the Bacchanalia, an orgie-like celebration of Nandoah organised by the Schnoodarts. I'd been trying to talk to Michelangelo Schnoodaart or the vizier for most of the day, but they both were too busy with family stuff to even notice me. When I finally did manage to broach the subject (in stead of watching their retreating backs every time I tried to talk to them), and Mickey heard I was a loyal Domus girl, he invited me to the orgy right away.

There were two tables with sticky red food, and I was seated and poured some red wine. Soon enough Giesje, the girl who'd been waiting tables in the bar since her arrival, was led to the table and she was used as a tablecloth. The bacchanalia got started and we ate food with our fingers. Zebedeus fed me a strawberry. It was quite shocking, especially because of the lewd comments. The Viscomte insisted on eating a cake from Giesje's belly, for instance.


Bacchanalia in progress...everyone's eating with their fingers and you can just see the little toes of Giesje. -- Photo by woran.

It was a great way to let my hair down, but Henriëtte soon excused herself because it was enough. People were getting drunk (and under the influence of a love potion) and she got up from the table to watch from a distance. Good thing she did too, because not five minutes later some farmers came to implement their revolution. I'd broken off an earlier attempt that morning, and they were back. After the confusion died down, the Schnoodaarts explained that they had invited the farmers to join them at the table, offered them wine, food and a job, but that had all been refused because it was just a little fighting-plot.
Yay.

Uncle Luigi, who had died from a heart attack, was revived by the doctor's heart massage, and then fed opium and booze. In the aftermath of the Bacchanalia, lots of people were under some influence or other, as the Vizier was kissing Kiara's staff and Gino proposed to Henriëtte. ("You are wildly attractive?" Riiiiight...)

After an afternoon of struggling with the game, this was a pick-me upper and it would only get better. Gino's proposal had not gone unnoticed and people were starting to talk -- Caleb amongst them. I was fuming, and pulled him outside to have a good word with him.
"What I don't need is you spreading nasty rumours about an alleged marriage!" I fumed. "This is bad for our image as the collective, and what's worse is that it smears my good name! How can you even think I might consider his proposal when he is not even courting me? What kind of woman do you think I am?!"
Caleb apologised, and I calmed down a bit, but I wished James was there. He'd understand the rage that was in my heart...

And then finally, I managed to grab Michelangelo and Jonathan, both priests of Nandoah, for a talk. We sat in the field of potatoes and Fifi's^* under a clear, nearly-full moon talking about Nandoah and how they viewed the faith. I had been raised as a good follower of Celes, but because of reasons untold (background) I was converting to Nandoah. I wasn't sure if she'd have me, but the talk with the two priests convinced me otherwise.

Michelango did his disappearing trick, but Jonathan stuck around. "I hope that made sense." he said. "Mickey talks a lot."
"He speaks a lot, and he says very little, but the things he says are valuable." I summarised. "I would ask you for help. Can you help me pray to Nandoah?"

We sat near the tent of the collective, where the moon shon in between the branches of the trees. Jonathan started the prayer, asking Nandoah to listen. I picked up the chant.
"Nandoah, please hear me. I pray to you tonight to ask you to accept me, as a faithful child in your service. I realise there are things in my past, but I have done them with an open heart."
Jonathan picked up there, but his words were drowned out by another voice. A piercing whisper. Liiiiaaaarrrr.
"What I did, I did because my emotions were pure." I said. "I feel no remorse, because it was what had to be done. And I believe that this is what You teach us."
I felt warmth spreading from my heart.
You are mine....
"Yes, I am yours!" I nearly shouted, overcome with joy. The warmth spread throughout my body and dissipated. Jonathan ended the prayer, thanking the Lady of Vengeance for hearing our words.

Later that night, I heard someone say that the gnomes that were spreading through the village were of Aon. Heretic garden gnomes, it shouldn't get any worse. I went to the tent of the collective, picked up the two gnomes that were there, and carried them across the town, dumping them in the pond of the Aon garden, hoping they'd drown.


Said garden gnomes (girl not included)-- photo by me.

After such a job well-done, it was time for booze. Andromedus, priest of the Domus, offered me a chance to confess in his basement. He had the chains all ready for me. I passed.
There were crisps and there was pepper-mead and there was whisky. It was a good evening.

Sunday
I woke up a little early, considered falling back to sleep but had a good talk with Palanthe instead. She plays Samantha, one of the Aon followers, and I have very little contact with her character, but I do get insights into other player's actions because our characters are on opposite sides of the spectrum.

After breakfast I snapped a few photo's of the adorable daughter of Surtur. After that, I went to get my staff, and found out it was missing from the tent. I visited our neighbours the Merodes and asked if they were missing things too. Several people in the village missed stuff, and Dominic the blacksmith had an eye-witness account of which way they went. I gathered some people and tracked the thieves. Two pairs of footsteps went into the forest, two straight ahead. We picked up a man and a woman outside the village. The man held my spear and the woman wore Odelia's hat, no less!

After a brief struggle we overpowered them and went to take them back to the village. Meso told Gino to take the damned hat off! and then joined me and Arulo when we investigated the other prints. They seemed to go into the direction of the M'Beki. If we wanted to follow them, we'd need supplies.

The thieves were questioned and I set to work alongside Rocko, a friend or member of the Schnoodaart family. Honestly, I only enjoyed it out-character. It's just that shoving toothpicks under someone's fingernails is so much fun...

Soon enough the judge had a verdict. The two would have one of their hands amputated as punishment for buying stolen goods at far too ridiculous prizes. They should have known better. The M'Beki merchants who had bought the rest (at far more reasonable prizes) would go free.


The Doctor, ready to save lives... -- Photo by Ork.

I offered to set up an expedition to the Umbeki (Henriëtte doesn't know the proper name of the clan, or the proper name of the village, because she can't read) to ask them to deliver the thieves to us. I talked to Mayor Gideon and found him a suitable diplomat, asked Carter, Ares, Dunya and Jonathan to come along and picked up supplies for the walk. It would take us a day to get to the M'Beki, roughly. Despite meeting Talfar along the way, we passed through the wilderness without incident.

And then it was time-out for us. cabaray insisted to run back to enjoy the final battle, and I dropped my costume off at the toilets and picked up my camera for some last-minute shooting. After time-out was called and everyone started to clear away things, I went into the forest for a bit of toadstool-hunting. I made several good photo's, but this one is just 'it':



And so ended Aon.

Next Aon promises more play, there is a special with the M'Beki coming, and I am unsure whether I want to go. I need to cut down on the number of larps, and I think the winning argument on whether I have fun at Aon is that either James or Tijl has to be there, and the Collective should have more than half of their members there. So for Aon 9, we shall see...

***

Photo's from Aon 8:
Portraits of Aon by Ork, starting at this picture (the rest is from previous Aons)
Ork's pictures.
Nieske's pictures.
Woran's pictures
My pictures

-----
*) Fifi = a plant that is alive and conscious, because it's been fed blood. A creature of Nandoah, created by Michelangelo Schnoodaert. Also known as Fifi the Guard Plant and "That Demonic Thing"

Comments

[charida.livejournal.com]

It is a shame to hear that Aon 8 could have been better for you.

I do hope you'll have a more interesting event on Aon 9 - let me know if I can be of any use for that. I am still a priestess of Celes and Nandoah, perhaps we can have some conversation on that subject?

[omdathetkan.livejournal.com]

Mooi verslag! Jammer dat Aon niet werkt voor jou; hopelijk zijn er volgende keer weer meer collectievelingen. Al kun je ook altijd nog naar het ware geloof overstappen. Dan heb je helemaal geen plot meer nodig - de haat van de rest van het dorp is dan meer dan genoeg om je continu bezig te houden ;-)

[cabaray.livejournal.com]

Amen! het is een drukke boel aan de onderhond zijn kant.