hugtopia_logs | ♥ May (Ealom) Event Log

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♥ May (Ealom) Event Log

a blue and red gradient sky filled with clouds

May (Ealom) Event Log
Ealom has arrived and with it comes its typical beautiful weather. The days and nights are pleasantly warm and the city's flora is in full bloom. The greenery from last year has integrated fully into Havenwell's daily life, and pots of flowers can be found on native windowsills and in shops, usually decorated with pink and purple ribbons to celebrate the final month of Ainea. This time last year, a refreshing wind blew through the city, rejuvenating the landscape and this year a new type of change has come on the winds. Look to the skies, offworlders...

❥ PROMPT I: RISE to the Occasion

a jungle scene with large beasts traveling through it

The city has expanded again… but only the magic barrier, strangely. The walls have remained stationary as a flourish of energy rushes through the city, spreading outwards, and the sky above begins to warp and shift, like a rainbow soap bubble wobbling in the breeze. It lasts for about an hour on May 16th, so perhaps you might wish to stay indoors if you are susceptible to dizzy spells. By the time it has passed, the city looks and feels bigger, even if nothing has technically changed within the walls at ground level. Those who venture further, however, will find a much different situation.

Before too long, after some investigation has been done about what just happened, a public announcement is made: due to the barrier expansion, a large section of the outer city limits has been reclaimed, and a rejuvenation of nature has once more occurred, thanks to the efforts of the handholding visitors. Beyond the new wall is a wealth of growth and nature, similar to the burst of life that occurred one year ago. They do advise, however, that this new region has not been mapped or explored thoroughly in some time; scouts can only know so much due to the harsh environment it used to exist in, and clearly the terraforming has changed things. Anyone looking to venture beyond the walls should do so carefully.

Offworlders will find a veritable jungle out there. The land has well and truly been reclaimed by nature, now that it has been allowed to grow once more, and the storms that once raged outside have left far fewer signs that society used to exist outside of Havenwell's walls. Trees, bushes, vines and other various forms of greenery have grown and consumed the old structures, leaving patchwork pieces that are mostly unrecognizable. Exploring buildings won't net you much beyond broken walls and rusty household objects, but bring such items back could earn you some dora from private collectors of old world goods, or the good faith of the museum curators if you choose to donate.

Among that literal urban jungle, however, you will find all manner of fauna crawling, hunting, and living their renewed lives. The types of known animals that can be found are listed in the Bestiary, but there are also ones that no offworlder has laid eyes upon before and ones that the conservationists are itching to get their robotic hands on for the first time. New creatures that can be found are:

Silicamorpha

An undeniably-magical creature that closely resembles a shark in shape, though it appears to be comprised entirely of transparent crystal. It floats in the air, propelled forward by its tail, and like its aquatic counterparts, has difficulty turning around sometimes. Waves of aerial energy follow in its wake, occasionally taking the shape of remora, though if the wake manifests actual creatures is yet unknown. Despite a fearsome appearance, the silicamorpha is docile and will usually not attack, mostly because it is extremely fragile, liable to crack or even shatter into pieces, leaving a strange, mystical sand behind that carry traces of energy. Though they prefer to live peacefully, one whose family is being threatened may sacrifice itself by ramming into its foe, buying time for its mate and/or young to flee. Handle with care!

Lily Spider

A spindly red blossom with four green insect-like legs in place of a stem. It travels mostly in groups of three or four, and avoids direct sunlight. Roughly baseball-sized and an insectivore by nature, they will often remain very still at ground level for hours at a time, resembling harmless flowers. Smaller insects who brush up against its bright red petals will be paralyzed by its poison and swiftly eaten, though if touched by a human it will do little more than irritate their skin before the lily spider runs away to hunt elsewhere.

Dusema

A desert dwelling 10 tentacled creature that burrows into sand and rock to make its home. The dusema is approximately 6 feet in diameter from tip to tip of its tentacles and has a bulbous boneless head in the middle. It is a dusty, speckled brown, but has the ability to mimic its environment to camouflage itself as it moves. While typically a homebody, the dusema will travel up to 5 miles from its home, creeping along the ground or climbing up into trees and buildings, in order to find food. A carnivorous creature, the dusema has a single rotating eye at the top of its head and another located at the center of its tentacles on its belly next to its razor sharp beak. Making eye contact with a dusema is paralyzing, causing prey's muscles to go stiff and joints to lock. Once paralyzed, the dusema will creep over, maintaining eye contact, and begin devouring its prey. A dusema must maintain eye contact without blinking in order to maintain the paralysis, and anything that causes it or its prey to blink (such as being jostled or hit), will break the spell.

Baursa

A hulking bipedal creature with two small three-fingered arms and hands and large powerful back legs, the baursa has a thick stabilizing tail that it uses to prop itself up. It resembles a bear only in general shape, and has a massive head that sports two gigantic, sharp looking mandibles and a pair of antenna. The mandibles resemble those of a trap ant, but are thicker than a full grown man's bicep. When released, the mandibles are capable of moving an incredible speeds, are strong enough to crush rocks, and the snap of them creates a miniature sonic boom that can deafen foes. Despite it's horrifying appearance and immense size - often growing well over 6 feet tall at their smallest - the baursa are docile creatures that will only deploy their mandibles in defense to deafen a predator before running away. Their powerful jaws are used to crush rock, which they consume in great quantities, making them ideal creatures for construction, a task they were often employed to do back in ancient times. Domesticated baursa were quite a common sight before technology took over, and they apparently made good pets so long as the owner kept them well trained and fed on a diet of building materials.

Here's the thing: the appearance of such strange and wondrous creatures is proof that the world is improving, bit by bit. Unlike the last expansion, most of them don't appear to be deadly beasts or monsters that need to be culled to spare the mortals within the city limits. Still, they are technically within the city, which means that for the preservation of both the creatures and the residents alike, a number of them should be captured and studied to ensure that they won't be killed off by whatever else lurks beyond the walls should another breach occur. That's right, folks, this time it's a proper Monster Hunter event. ~~we swear this was in the works before the new one came out~~

A handful of these fresh specimens seem to be taken over by a strange poisonous goo (familiar to some of the veterans of town), causing them to mutate and become extremely hostile, even if that isn't their nature. The affected animals' eyes turn black and have black vein-like markings all across their bodies. For some, this goo has even replaced their blood, and at times it even seeps from their eyes like gruesome tears. Skin contact or ingestion of the goo can make a person incredibly sick and it is corrosive when it comes into contact with the native's robotic bodies, apparently reacting to their unique metal composition. These poor things cannot be saved, and as such, will need to be put down before they either attack the city, the offworlders, or even the other animals. Any affected flora will have similar black markings and leech the color out of things around them, driving any creatures in their vicinity into a rage. Destroying the plant seems to release whatever hold it had on them, however, and unless the animal is naturally hostile, it will return to its docile state and wander away, none the wiser.

There will be some instances where a creature not affected by the poisonous goo is killed; accidents can happen during capture, and sometimes it is kill or be killed. The locals would much rather their offworlder heroes survive over a dangerous beast, so unless it was confirmed to be intentional and unnecessary, characters will face no backlash.

If such unfortunate deaths occur, the locals request the following be submitted to the research towers for tracking purposes:

What the beast was (a description or picture will do!)
Where and why it was killed
What, if anything, was harvested from it (waste not!)

If possible, the research division would be very happy if you could bring back a part of the creature for the purpose of studying. As players, you can respond to the Mod Thread below (LINK) if you wish, to let us know this information.

❥ PROMPT II: Everything Has Its Place

a microscope and a collection of beakers and tubes filled with colourful liquid

The influx of flora, fauna, and minerals gathered from outside the walls has the Research Tower assistants running ragged trying to categorize and label everything in time. Some of the materials are time sensitive - such as the living animals and plants - and some are simply sensitive - such as dirt samples that may contain live bacteria. Even with all hands on deck, there just simply aren't enough people at the towers to do all the work when so many scientists are also trying to head outside the walls themselves to take the samples alongside the offworlders. This where you can come in!

The Research Towers will be constantly recruiting those less inclined to foray over the walls to help with simple tasks at their labs. They need people to type up the labels, to stick them to the test tubes or name placards to be put on the cages, to move samples from one room to another, to feed and clean the cages of the animals, to water or feed the flora, basically all the daily grunt work that an unpaid intern would do at a science laboratory. It isn't glamorous work, but it is paid! The Towers will pay anyone willing to work for them doing this menial labor a moderate Dora fee, and they encourage you to bring friends and talk amongst yourselves to help pass the time a little quicker. You can even cuddle the animals (that are safe to do so) if you like. They're in need of a little TLC sometimes after having been captured.

So bring your friends, grab a labeler, and set to work, offworlders! You don't have to be on the frontlines in order to contribute to scientific progress!

❥ PROMPT III: A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way

one pair of hands offering a large red heart to another

While a lot seems to be going on outside the walls this month, the Ainean priests are making sure that the end of their deity's reign is celebrated in the best way possible. They've decided to have a little event of their own, and are encouraging people - offworlders and natives alike - to act as Ainea herself would and be kind to one another. But not just any kindness, of course, but a "pay it forward" style of kindness. By doing favors for other characters or by finishing one of the tasks the priests ask of you, the temple priests will pray for Ainea to bless your character for the upcoming day. The favors other characters ask of yours can be decided between two players so long as it isn't a monetary exchange and it's something that could be considered kind (e.g. no "give me all your money" requests or "punch so-and-so as hard as you can for me" requests). To advertise a favor your character wants done, highlight it in your top-level with the label: Favor Requested. For those who want to do the priest provided tasks, please see the following:

Priest provided tasks: A Happy Talk, A Happy Tummy, A Happy Laugh

A Happy Talk: Talk to someone or multiple someones and ask them about a happy memory they have. Either write down or record their account on your communicator (with their permission, naturally!) to bring it to the Ainean priests. Always get permission from the people involved before recording or writing down their experiences though. Remember, the gods and priests are all about consent! The goal here is to help them relive a happy time in their life. Everyone likes to think back on the happy days, right? The priests sure hope so.
A Happy Tummy: Cook a meal for someone from replicator scratch - meaning you replicate all of the ingredients and then cook the meal itself, rather than just using one of the replicator settings to create a ready-made meal. Snap photos using your communicator to show your process and prove it's from scratch, then eat it with your friend and take a photo together to show you shared it. Bring your photos to the Ainean priests. A meal can be a single plate or multiple plates, but it should be large enough to be considered a meal and not a snack - meaning you can't just give someone a rice ball or an apple, that's not enough! But a stack of pancakes for breakfast or a filling sandwich for lunch and that would be pretty kind of you, or so says the priests.
A Happy Laugh: Record a video of yourself and some other offworlders (with their permission of course!) where you tell each other jokes and make each other laugh. Some old text somewhere said that laughter is the best medicine, so getting those good ol' guffaws out can only help you, right? Right! Bring your best comedy talents to the Ainean priests and show them how you all enjoyed yourselves to get their prayers for your blessing. No mean pranks or derogatory jokes may apply though. The priests want to see everyone laughing and enjoying themselves as Ainea would like.

Should you complete a favor for another character or a task for the priests, those blessings the priests prayed for turn out to be real! If you do as they ask, one of the following random blessings will find its way to you:

Choose one blessing per task/favor completed!

When you walk into a native-run store, you suddenly get showered with virtual confetti and a virtual banner swirls around you announcing with jarringly loud music that you've been randomly selected for a store gift. Congratulations! You can get a free gift of a small item from the shops or get a discount on your purchase for that day. Gifts can be things like free hair gel, a hair accessory to go with your outfit, a fun pen to go with your art supplies, a musical kazoo that also does a mini light show when you play it, etc. Have fun! If you're not sure if the gift you want to write is acceptable, please ask in the Mod Question thread below.
When you go to get something to eat or drink from your replicator, you'll hear a buzzing noise and suddenly get something completely different - and absolutely delicious! That food you've been missing from home? That drink you've been craving but haven't been able to get in ages? That's what pops out instead of your 100th plate of spaghetti. It tastes and looks just like you remember, and it's not something your replicator can normally produce on its own. How did this weirdly fortuitous mix-up happen? Who knows... The food or drink produced won't have any magical effects, and trying to get the food to come out again during the same blessing won't work. It seems like each incident is an isolated one.
The morning after you complete a task, you hear tiny squeaks and scratches at your door (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, front door? it could be anything really!). Open it up to find a little gaggle of pink and purple mice there at your feet, looking up at you expectantly. These are the Ainean temple mice and once they're sure they have your attention, whether they have to squeak louder, tap on your toes, or tug on your shoelaces, they'll skitter off back to the temple and leave a little gift in their wake. These gifts are items found within Havenwell, but always seem to be just the right gift to fit your character. Are they fashion minded? Then they find a piece of pretty jewelry. Are they scientific geniuses? Have a little gasket or a scrap of metal that you've been needing for your latest project. A cook? Well, maybe you'll want to disinfect it first, but the Aellyn Remys have brought you a spice or a utensil you need for your kitchen. None of these items can be from home and must be able to be found within the city already.
Until your blessing ends, your house (or business, or just wherever you happen to go throughout the day) turns into the latest, greatest, cutest hotspot for local wildlife to hang. Enjoy the chittering of birds or the slitherings of the one-eyed lizards. Have fun watching the Diachtian crows hop about in your yard, turning over rocks and shiny objects, or pet some of those Ohman cats that never let you touch them before. See the lohpeh hop around in the street outside, and sun themselves on the cobblestones! The only creatures that seem immune to this are the Rawna dragonlings, who remain at their temple like always, and the wild ones outside the city walls. Once the blessing ends, the animals will go back from where they came. Trying to trap or capture them will end the blessing immediately, causing all of the animals to scatter. Just enjoy the view and live your D*sney princess life in harmony.

You can only have one blessing at a time. These blessings can't stack (i.e. no having Blessing 1 and Blessing 3 simultaneously) or compound (i.e. no getting 15 stores to give you things on the same day by doing 15 tasks), but you can do more than one task or favor and get different blessings on different days. Each blessing lasts for a minimum of 24 hours or a maximum of 48 hours after you finish the favor or task. You can choose the same blessing multiple times.

The priests are genuinely happy when they hear that their prayers have been heard, although the types of blessings that come are...unexpected to say the least. Still, they will encourage people to continue doing more and more tasks and favors to help Ainea through to the end of her calendar reign.

This event will run from May 15 to May 31. Click on each prompt's title to see the text. If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to the FAQ or to the Mod Question thread. You can also use the Havenwell Status page or the General Plotting Comment to give you other ideas for original prompts!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

✾ PROMPT One:
❀ i: [Aerith couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was so much life here...

She stepped foot into the new area with some trepidation, almost as if she expected to be yanked back and thrown into jail for going beyond the walls. But when nothing happened she relaxed and smiled to herself before venturing a step or two further.]

It's all so beautiful... [She breathed the words as she reached up to touch a hanging leaf.]

❀ ii: [A few days in can find Aerith wandering through this new world of green.

She can be found either sat at the base of a tree examining a plant or in part of a ruins, sat on a wall doing much of the same. Her focus is very much on the flora of this world. Beside her might be a container of soil and several samples she'd picked to take back home with her to examine in more detail.

But for now she was enjoying being surrounded by all this life!]

❀ iii: [It doesn't take Aerith long to realise that there was something wrong with some of the plant life, as well as some of the animals and creatures of this new area.

When she firsts stumbles upon a sick plant, she kneels down to get a closer look. To attempt to heal the sickness. She touches it... A wave of sickness washes over her and she sways... But continued to attempt to heal the poor plant as best she can, pushing aside her discomfort, the flushed feeling. She's hot because she's in a jungle, right?]

❀ iv: [Closed to Sephiroth] [Aerith didn't mind having a shadow watching over her. It was something of a comfort to know that she could sit there in safety.

While she sat there she could hear things moving around. But so long as they kept their distance they, and she, would be just fine. Though a shift just to the left of her brings Aerith's head up and she smiles at her shadow.]

You know you don't have to stand at attention all day.

✾ PROMPT Two:
❀ v: [Taking some time from exploring, Aerith decides to help out with the animals and flowers in the research towers.

She feels a little off, but keeping busy helps.

Aerith can be found watering plants and humming to herself. Or sat in an enclosure, legs crossed and an Outskirts Hare in her lap. It was a timid creature but with Aerith petting it slowly it was calm and seemed to be enjoying it.]

✾ PROMPT Three:
❀ vi: A Happy Talk:
[On hearing that the priests have requests, Aerith is more than happy to hear what they are and even happier to go out into the city and do some good deeds!

So if you see her around, her phone in hand, don't be surprised if she stops you for a chat, waving and calling a cheerful "Hi, hello! How're you?"! Or maybe you want to chat to her? Either outcome is welcome!]

✾ SICKNESS:
[A glutton for punishment, Aerith had kept trying to heal the plants. Even some animals, when she came across them, to no avail. The problem was it kept making her sick. And the only way to fix it... was through touch.

Over the next two weeks this silly girl is going to find herself sick a few times before she finally puts a stop to it and takes her findings to Verstael. But until then... maybe you find her collapsed in the jungle, struggling to make her way home, or at home with a fever in bed. Whatever the case, she's going to need your help.]

✾ WILDCARD:
[Have another idea? Just throw it at me, I'm open to anything and everything. Hit me up with a PM or on Plurk and/or Discord if you'd like to plot something!]

Edited 2021-05-16 02:29 (UTC)

[With the city expanded yet again, of course Undertaker had to go out and see it for himself. Whatever happened this time, concerns that it would affect things for better... or worse, again... were always merited. Interestingly enough, the worse of it didn't yet seem that bad.]

[Not, at least, until he came across a young woman he thought he may have seen somewhere before, looking like she had seen better days. The poor dear. With a soft hum, he approached her, intent on making sure she was going to be okay if nothing else.]

Oh, hello there. Having a rough time of it, are we?

[She was very much not okay. Or, the world wasn't okay. It really needed to stop spinning.

Aerith leaned against a wall, her head lowered, eyes closed and an arm wrapped around her middle as she tried to catch her breath and work up the energy she needed to continue moving.

When a voice called to her though, she lifted her head, her eyes were unfocused but she gave the person a weak smile and spoke in a strained sort of voice.]

Oh, this? This is fine. I'm just... a little dizzy. It'll pass...

[There had been a time, not so very long ago, when his vision had been blurred by the reaper's haze enough that he wouldn't have been able to make out the look on her face, only able to see a blob of her form against the world around her and in what general directions that blob was going. So, he had learned to live with it, to live as the blind do without the use of canes or other devices that might give his condition away.]

[But thanks to technology from the last world he had been made to visit, his vision had returned, sharpened even, enough that he could tell even from where he was, without hearing her voice or knowing how she held to herself, turned to look at him without quite seeing him herself, that all was not well with her.]

[In truth, he didn't even need that. Old habits did, indeed, die hard, and he needed no sight to tell him she had seen better days. Always smiling, he chuckled softly to her response. Trying to tough it out, eh?]

Ground's trying to get away from you, is it? That's a shame. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help noticing just how hard it has you hanging onto the wall there. All that for a little dizziness.

[Aerith opened her mouth to speak, but a wave of nausea caused her to close it quite quickly and take a breath instead to push the feeling back.

Okay so she wasn't fooling this guy. But what else was she supposed to do? Maybe ask him if he knew Sephiroth or Cloud or even Tifa maybe? Maybe Tony or Gladio or... Regis? Regis would help. They all probably would, if she asked. But the problem was asking and being a bother when she'd been told to be careful in the first place, and clearly she hadn't.]

The ground is being very uncooperative... [She grumbled then gave a low, weak laugh.] ... I... I think I spent a little too much time... with the sick flowers beyond the wall.

[ Aerith was in her element. Beautiful and surrounded by greenery and totally and completely oblivious to the threats surrounding them. Sephiroth had already scared more than a few off just by turning his patented stare on them. He could do that sometimes, and with people too.

He gave no indication of this when Aerith looked up at him. Instead, Sephiroth's expression morphed into something that while still neutral was slightly more gentle. If he could ever be described as such. ]

Don't I though? After all, who knows what you might do to these poor plants.

Edited 2021-05-17 22:38 (UTC)

[Well that earned him a scowl and, just to be childish, she stuck her tongue out at him as well. Then laughed because she wasn't the least bit serious. And she knew he wasn't either. He was teasing and she loved that.

Looking back at the plants, Aerith smiled. She really was happy being surrounded by all this life, the green and the warm. But... there was something just a little off.]

How could you ever think I'd do anything to these beautiful plants? They're fascinating! Just think, these are completely alien. I've never seen anything like these before. They're all so beautiful.

[ Just the reaction for which he was looking. Sephiroth uncrossed his arms and stood up straight from where he had been leaning against a tree. ]

Hmm...if you say so.

[ The only clue that Sephiroth was being deliberately vague and thus still teasing Aerith was in the way his lips quirked slightly upward for a moment. ]

And just how many are you bringing home with us?

[Her cheeks flushed, knowing she was busted.

Aerith glanced at Sephiroth again, nose wrinkling up as she pulled a face at him. Then she pointed to the one she was bringing. The plant she had found elsewhere and hadn't yet touched it, but the dark markings on it where concerning. It sat in her tray all alone, she had been nervous of adding any more in face it infected them too.]

There's something wrong with this one... I wanted to see if I could help it somehow.

[ Sephiroth didn't show his amusement at Aerith's flush. Instead, he stepped closer to take a look at the plant. They had passed several that looked this way on their trek here with each one of them seeming to leech the color out of their surroundings. There was something oddly familiar about the plants, and not in a good way.

Sephiroth stooped and reached toward the plant, curling his fingers inward at the last moment. It might have been his imagination but Sephiroth trusted his instincts and right now they were screaming at him that it was a bad idea to touch it. ]

Don't get your hopes up.

[ He turned to look at Aerith as he said it. If anyone could do it, it was her. However-- ]

Some things can't be saved.

[She didn't expect Sephiroth to reach for the plant, but as he did her hand shot out to grab his wrist to stop him. For a moment her eyes widened, surprised at herself. But when she lifted her eyes to Sephiroth's she couldn't help give him a little smile.]

That doesn't mean we can't try...

[ Sephiroth's gaze drifted from Aerith's down to her hand around his wrist and back. He pulled his Cure materia out of his bracer and moved to place it in her hand. It wasn't meant for this and certainly wouldn't work for him, but for her maybe it would. ]

Well?

[Her own gaze shifted away to what Sephiroth placed into her hand, then she smiled.]

I have one. I have a Cleanse materia too.

[But she closed her hand around the one that Sephiroth had given her and pulled it closer, both of her hands closed around the green orb. This was a Healing materia. It would surely help this plant, she thought. Aerith hoped.

Her eyes closed for a moment, summoning the spell before they opened again to focus upon the plant as she cast Cure upon it.

... And nothing happened.]

[ Sephiroth didn't say anything, just took the other materia out of his bracer and handed it to her. His hand found her shoulder and squeezed. He stepped back behind her and out of the way but with palpable presence still. ]

[Her eyes narrowed, mouth set in a stubborn line as her hand tightened around the materia. Aerith barely noticed when Sephiroth left her side to move behind her. She felt his hand but didn't react much as the plant now had her entire attention.

Cure hadn't worked. Cura might.

Having no real idea what was wrong with the plant, she was just throwing anything she could at it. So she decided to attack it from both sides and pulled out her Cleanse materia too. She cast both Cura and Esuna on the plant.

For a moment it looked like it was getting better. A little more colour. A little more robust. Aerith started to smile. Until she realised that the dark liquid that was poisoning the plant was still there. Still hurting it.

She cursed softly under her breath.]

Dammit. I think this liquid is immune to magic somehow...

Aerith Gainsborough | Final Fantasy 7: Remake | OTA

sickness - why not?

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IV

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Hope you do not mind late! Sickness

Never to late!

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