♥ November Event Log

[hugtopiamods]

November (Malom) Event Log
The chaos of Lasohm's invasion is still fresh in the mind, but it's over. The ugly scar of the hole in Havenwell's wall is a jarring reminder that this world is dying and nothing goes quietly into that dark night. The phantom is gone as Malom overtakes Lasohm, the weather turning colder and chillier with each passing day. Still, the city of Havenwell has all of you offworlders to thank for its survival, and the fearful citizens make sure you know just how much they appreciate you by stopping you on the street to say their thanks. Your new home still needs your help to recover from their ordeal though, so will you lend them your strength once more?

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❥ PROMPT I: Rebuilding Effort

The magic barrier over the hole that unknown monster punched through Havenwell's wall is repaired, stopping the onslaught and encouraging any other nightmares that lurk outside to move on and away, but the hole itself remains. Throughout the month of Malom, robot natives are working tirelessly to gather bricks and stone and patch the breach, but they could use some help. Work together with other offworlders and natives alike to repair the wall and be rewarded with a handsome bump to the Dora in your bank account. They need all sorts of help, from clearing away the dead bodies of the spider-like creatures for cremation, to retrieving and hauling stone for the wall, to actually slotting the heavy blocks into place to cement them back together.

Outside the barrier, now clearly visible through the hole, a storm rages on, obscuring the view of the world beyond it. Gray and black clouds whip against the invisible barrier, and occasional debris slams into it, causing the impact site to light up with silver, pink, blue, or white hues before it fades away again. It seems even without monsters, the world outside is as inhospitable as was rumored.

Work together or take a break along the base of the wall and get to know your fellow offworlders a little better. It's going to take a while before this mess is cleaned up.

❥ PROMPT II: Air Sickness

Those who worked at or were near the breach in the wall for any extended period of time will notice that, over time, it gets harder to breathe. Then they begin to feel feverish, even if they don't have flesh bodies or are immune to disease. Their bodies ache and groan and it gets harder to move about without help. Once the natives notice, they set up a recovery area away from where the breach occurred: a giant tent with cots and pillows, thick rugs and blankets to keep the chill away. Unfortunately, they don't have medicines available to treat flesh bodied people, so they're at a loss of what to do otherwise. The priests gather anyone who is ill and brings them here...which is when a curious thing occurs.

While conventional medicines and healing spells seem to have no effect on the illness, staying in contact with another person alleviates the symptoms. After a period of contact with another person or persons, the fever breaks and it's like you were never sick at all.

Return to the wall, however, and you'll notice your symptoms coming back with a vengeance after a few days. It seems that making regular trips between the wall and this recovery tent is the only way to keep working. At least it's an easy fix so long as you're not a germaphobe.

❥ PROMPT III: A Tasty(?) Reward

Toward the end of the month as the hole in the wall is completely repaired and the risk of illness declines, a message is sent to all the offworlders' communication devices. Those who choose to open it will find a very official looking message from The Havenwell Council that reads:

Greetings, Saviours of Havenwell!
We of the Havenwell Council greet you and wish to express our eternal gratitude for your valiant efforts to keep our wonderful home safe. Without you, we would not have survived this terrible onslaught. As such, we wish to express our gratitude in a more concrete form. Your emissary, Magolor, has been in contact with this venerable Council and has brought to our attention that your greatest concern is for the food available. We apologize that due to our inability to taste we have been unable to supply you with satisfactory meals.

To that end, we invite you to work with our scientists to improve upon the taste of currently available offerings from our replicators. Please come to the Northern Research Tower (map included) at any time this month to sample what our replicators can produce and give us feedback on their flavour and textures. We ask that you be as specific as possible in your criticisms so we may improve upon your general quality of life. Please feel free to bring as many friends as you wish.

May the Gods Protect You,
Havenwell Council, Community Liaisons

Those who take the invitation will arrive at the Northern Research Tower and be taken directly to the 40th floor, where a large banquet hall has been laid out. Five rectangular tables, over 5 meters long each, stretch down the room, creating aisles for people to walk down. At the far end are several high round tables, covered in white cloth, and high round stools for those who wish them. The tables are overflowing with food, much like the welcome dinner, but at each table and scattered throughout the room are scientist robots with arm bands that read "Experiment 73" in that peculiar Aellyn script you saw during your time at the Archives. They invite you to taste the foods - both raw and cooked - and to give your very honest opinions.

Enjoy the food, help them improve the flavours, and walk the room to talk with the others who have come. Those who participate will receive a small synthetic fruit basket to take home with them on their first visit. Feel free to come back as often as you like, however! Each time, they'll be changing and adjusting the food available so your first and last visit may be very different. Perhaps that strawberry actually even tastes sweet, finally.

❥ PROMPT IV: A Virtual Spa

The VR cafes are uncharacteristically quiet while the rebuilding effort goes on, but there are still those who come to plug in to unwind after a day of intensive labor. And what better way to unwind than with a hot bath, right? Since the people of Havenwell can't actually submerge themselves in water, they're doing the next best thing: going to a virtual hot spring. There are several types to choose from and despite being digital, their calming and soothing effects on the body seem very real. Choose from:

• The Classic Outdoors: a rock lined hot spring with natural rock floors and steamy mineral infused waters nestled in the mountains. All around you is beautiful greenery like a sweeping pine and low fragrant bushes. The serene air and the calm forest is only occasionally broken by the sound of a wooden pipe thudding hollowly against a rock at a steady interval or the sound of birdsong off in the trees. The relaxing atmosphere is enough to set even the tightest wound nerves at ease.
  
  
• The Marbled Columns: white and painted marble columns lead to a series of different shaped baths with statues of the gods pouring water into them. Each bath has a different healing property, which is clearly marked with a plaque at the rim of each: good for your circulation, your bones, your aches and pains, even acne and metabolic rate. The columns support a beautiful open ceiling that shows the perfectly blue sky overhead dotted with the occasional cloud.
  
  
• The Steamy Sauna: though seemingly austere in their white tile and deep blue bath basins, the air here is thick and steamy and the baths are deep with hand-rails leading down steps to help you enter. All around the basins are stone or wooden benches with towels laid down for those who wish to simply sit and let the warm air open their lungs. If you get too hot? Grab a bucketful of cold water from one of the freestanding tubs and douse yourself to get a shock and cool off.
  
  
• The Milk-and-Honey: a beautifully tiled bath with a large shallow rectangular basin. The surrounding walls and ceilings have blue, white, and gold geometric designs laid out with loving care in pleasant designs that ease the mind. The bath water here is filled with a concoction of milk and honey to soothe and smooth the skin, filling the air with a pleasing sweet scent. The effects of these baths on a person's skin is said to make them glow from the inside out for at least a day after bathing.
  
  
• The Theme Park: the first thing to greet you is the comically oversized bottle of red wine tipped to pour a continuous stream of red liquid into the large crystalline bath basin. The smell of wine is heavy but pleasant in the air and the crystalline basin is round and shaped like a wine glass. Climb up the glass steps and give yourself a good old soak in the red water. You might even find that taking a dip here gives you a heady happiness that lasts all day. And if it feels like you're a little drunk while there? That has to be your imagination! ...Maybe.

Hot springs are great to experience with friends to deepen that feeling of skinship you have with each other, and several Havenwell natives are doing just that. But what about those who don't have a friend to log in with? Don't worry! The game will randomly select another player from this or another facility and match you together. Isn't that nice? We're sure it is! Who doesn't want to talk to someone else while naked, right?

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This event will run from November 14th to the 31st. 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 here.

Comments

so are these nerds

[carbungle]

[For a long moment, there's no reaction or movement. Then, without preamble, one blanket mound wiggles closer to the other, seeking the warmth.]

Re: so are these nerds

[pinkmin]

[This looks absolutely absurd but everyone was probably jealous of how cozy these piles looked. If only the coziness could be truly appreciated and not overshadowed by the chills and the dizziness residing inside them. For a little while, they stayed exactly like that.

Then the little one startled with a sad whine. A moment later the blankets shuffled again and Vianca burrowing her way under Noctis’ blankets so she could sleepily curl up against him proper. This was extra forward of her, but being sick was weird and bad and she didn’t have the capacity to actually worry about how greedy it was.]

[carbungle]

[If two people are being greedy at each other and it ends up mutually beneficial, is it really a problem? Not that Noctis really notices or cares. Still definitely half-asleep, one of his arms shifts and winds around her, gently holding her there as if hugging a pillow. He's not the most practiced of cuddlers, but she's warm and small and that's just unfamiliar enough to him that it doesn't register as a person yet.]

[pinkmin]

[There's the briefest moment of surprised clarity when he shifted to hold her. The feeling was quickly overshadowed by how warm everything finally was, and how less dizzy everything seemed to be when he was so sturdy against her. It was how she wished sleeping in the earth could always feel-- safe and warm. Hiding her face against him, it didn't take long for her to actually join him in his nap like this. Zzz.]

[carbungle]

[...zzZz....

And to the surprise of one (1) crown prince, a pretty good sleep is had after that. The longer she's there, the more his chills subside, replaced by a cozy heat beneath layers and layers of blanket nest. It's so soft and warm...

....warm....

...hot--

-until eventually, the temperature becomes too overbearing, and Noctis begins to stir, using one foot to try and kick the blankets off and get some cooler air flow so it isn't as stifling under all those layers, his voice mumbling sleepily,]

...too hot...

[pinkmin]

[The jostling got Vianca's sleepy attention. Hands curled up in his shirt, she tried to stretch and poke her head up but-- ah? A fortress of blankets.

Was there always a fortress of blankets? Vianca wrinkled her nose, reaching up to part these blankety seas. There just needed to be a crack in the surface so their faces could peek through and breathe in all this refreshing oxygen. Here it was! Wow, was it day time? It seemed so bright out here! Wow.

Job complete, Vianca sat up for all of a moment before she tilt forward and plopped her head back on his chest.]

[carbungle]

[Noctis mumbles something unintelligible as she moves, barely stirring, as hard to wake up as ever. Now that the heat isn't so uncomfortable, his leg stops kicking and he settles back down, ready to go right back to sleep. Hope she's ready to hang out for the long haul, she's officially being cuddled by a very sleepy boy now.]

[pinkmin]

[She was r e a d y . All this intense cuddling was definitely making things easier to exist and sleep through out, but her head had still been swimming during this blanket arranging interlude. That was more than enough reason to keep sleeping on. This was a sleeping marathon now and they were in it to win it.

At least until Vianca actually did wake up. Even then, she just stayed right there, because this.. was helping, wasn't it? This was a good thing for helping him feel better, so it was alright to close her eyes again and pretend she wasn't stealing a really long hug.]

Are you still sleeping? [Just in case.]

[carbungle]

[There's a long pause, and for a moment it might seem as if he is definitely still sleeping. Then, almost as quietly as her:]

...Yep.

[So no, he isn't, but he's very, very close. His eyes aren't even open yet.]

[pinkmin]

Oh.

[That had been a surprise. She hadn’t expected an answer at all. There was a moment there where Vianca froze, but everything was still so warm and nice that a moment was all it was. She was giving his chest a fond pat with her little hand.]

That’s good. You can keep sleeping.

[carbungle]

Uh-huh... don't have to tell me twice.

[Another long silence, where he seems to doze off again, but as his breathing doesn't change and his brow wrinkles a little, it becomes apparent that yep, his body's telling him it's awake-time. Ugh.

Reluctantly his eyes open a slit, and it registers at last who he's even talking to.]

...Vianca...?

[pinkmin]

[On one hand, it was really curious when his breathing didn't dip back to that deep, even pace when she knew how quickly he could fall asleep. On the other, it was comforting to find that this wasn't the shallow, constantly out-of-breath kind either.

But ah. Oh. Discovered...? She peeked up at him.]

... Correct.

[carbungle]

[He blinks blearily at her. Waking up, waking up, waking up...

...nope, there's a huge yawn.]

Morning...

[It's like mid-afternoon, but okay.]

[pinkmin]

[Wow, what a yawn. She has to hide a tiny one behind her hand in response. The Yawn Effect.]

Good morning. [It was probably morning when they started sleeping soooo close enough.]

Um, how are you feeling?

[carbungle]

Mmm...

[He slides one arm up to rub at his eye, trying to shake off his sleepiness to take stock of how his body feels after their rest. He'd gone to sleep wracked with chills, a terrible fever, the sniffles. He'd expected to be down for the count for at least a day if not more. Yet here he is...]

...fine? I feel fine. [He glances down at where she's cuddled up to him, and- oh.] Guess that was you then, huh.

[pinkmin]

... Um. Maybe. You looked very cozy.

[She sat up a little, peering at him a bit closer. It seemed like he'd made an honest assessment. His color looked good and-- Vianca helped herself to reaching up to feel his forehead-- his bangs were understandable sweaty, but his temperature was just the regular kind of warm.]

You don't feel feverish either.

[carbungle]

[He doesn't pull away, though his hand lifts from eye to head to start fiddling listlessly with his hair, as if that'll fix the inevitable bedhead.]

Yeah... big shocker, getting close to someone fixed a problem this place caused. They're not that subtle...

[Unpleasant, sure, but it's probably for the best. He would never be doing this - at least, not nearly as much if he did - without the added incentive. Just not the norm for him.]

Were you sick, too?

[pinkmin]

[A nod.]

Yes.

[She moved her hand to test her own forehead, pleased to find that as far as she could tell, her own fever had broken as well.]

I'm sorry I didn't ask first. I... didn't feel comfortable with someone else. [Strangers weren't a big problem when she felt well enough to string sentences together, but there had been a particularly strong desire for something even the slightest bit familiar.]

[carbungle]

It's okay, I don't mind.

[Far from intrusive, her presence had helped him be a lot less miserable. Even if he did mind, he'd have no real cause to complain.

He glances around them, realizing just how buried they'd ended up.]

Plus I kind of asked for it, hogging all the blankets.

[pinkmin]

[She crossed her arms over her chest.]

It was sooo many blankets!

[Was that a pout? It was almost a pout! It was at least one of the most childlike things Vianca had said in a long time.]

[carbungle]

[You see the shame on his face? No? Because there is none.]

I didn't hear you complaining before.

[pinkmin]

You were asleep! It was more effective to infiltrate.

[carbungle]

Can't argue with the logic, I guess, considering its effectiveness.

[She is after all exactly where she'd wanted to be.]

[pinkmin]

[She nodded sagely.]

Sometimes you have to be proactive if you want the cozy spot.

[carbungle]

Looks like somebody's gotten over some of that shyness, huh.

[And he's going to... boop her nose! Yes. He would pat her head but he knows she's leery of that.]