♥ 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

[iustaegis]

Whatever you feel within your heart now, [ Her fingers drift from the markings. ] or whatever it becomes... [ So too does the water ripple as she adjusts how she sits. She's facing him, but her eyes are upon the runes. ] It is worth acknowledging. 

[ She raises her gaze slowly-- up his arm, up his body, noting the various scars and nicks from previous battles here and there. To become the King of Light, he has sacrificed much, and this destiny he has was granted to him by the gods and that crystal. It has been thousands of years in the making.

In their previous conversation, he had acknowledged that he knew his worth, but she had never thought to ask what he thought his worth was. He talked then and he talks now about being tied to that fate, led blindly into the future-- that's not how it should be. The future's path should shine for the righteous, growing ever-brighter. ]

So promise me... [ Another ripple of the bathwater preludes more movement, the soft sound echoing within the chamber: she lifts her other hand up to join the other in holding his one. ] Promise me that you will never think of yourself as a mere tool of the gods.

[carbungle]

[A heavy promise, perhaps, and one he has to stop and think about. Does he think that? Not exactly, or at least not entirely. Having very little choice in the matter - in that he can't ignore when the voices of the gods are literally pounding his head from within, or drowning the land in endless rainfall until he caves to their demands - means he's grown far less reluctant to proceed with the trials than when he'd first begun. And if Luna's asking it of him, when she's putting so much effort into helping him, how can he say no?

A tool, though- he doesn't like that. Even if he follows every single instruction that they give him, he's still making that choice. They haven't taken over his mind and body. Like his position, before all of this happened. He was born a prince, and had no choice in the matter. One day he'd be king. That did not make him a tool of Lucis, just a man with responsibilities that have been set in stone.

His hand shifts in her grasp, fingers curling around hers to give them a grateful squeeze.]

I don't know what's gonna happen in the future, but as long as I've got a choice, that isn't in the cards. I'm still me.

1/3

[iustaegis]

[ Him bringing the light to his world-- it sounds as if there is a darkness against which the gods must employee the aide of humans to combat. They've made a sword out of him to suit their designs, or are so desperately attempting to. Yet as refined as his edge might be, as mighty as the powers he wields are, indeed he is his own person. He should never think of himself as a weapon, Chosen or not.

I'm still me.

What is within his heart-- feelings, emotions, hopes, desires, that " I don't want people to die. And I don't want to die, either"--... He should keep them. Even if all is preordained, if choice is but an illusion to those of his world, what lies within his heart is still worth having, preserving, honoring, feeling.

She cannot say for certain that the one who shares his face shares the same sentiments; she hopes that Noctis' smile will be preserved, that at the end of his journey, he will still be... himself. ]

[iustaegis]

[ Seemingly brought out of her thoughts when his fingers curl around her to squeeze them in return, she looks at him for a moment or two.

The steam of the spa rises, condenses, and the drops coolly back into the pools. The resulting splash is no more than a bell.

She opens her eyes, she smiles, and she looks upon his face to see the determination and hope still there. She's in awe that he might be able to wear such an expression despite suffering so much; it paints him in a new light.

He's brave, he's strong-- he's passed trial after trial to obtain the abilities that he has. He wants to bring the light to his world, but that's not enough, no. He wants to make sure that others live to see it, to enjoy it, to bask in its warmth, and he wishes to be there, too, because he knows his worth. He knows that he is loved by them. ]

[iustaegis]

[ She cannot help it; it feels overwhelming to be sitting beside him, suddenly, and her smile slowly widens the more her gaze lingers. It's impossible not to feel moved, seeing such hope and determination depicted so profoundly yet again in someone. Even if he is from another world, she's proud of his existence. It's been five hundred years for her, but she's glad that at least one human contains this light of the future within his heart.

Amazement sparkles in her eyes as if she were watching the sunrise itself. ]

You really are dazzling.

[carbungle]

[ah--

He blinks, eyes wide at the sudden shift in her expression, redness crawling across his cheeks. With an incoherent mumble he slides down against the side of the bath, sinking into the water deeper, deeper, until he's nearly submerged, just a floof of damp hair sticking out and a few bubbles of his breath.

nope noooope can't do that again. He's going to die of embarrassment. Too much dazzle.]

[iustaegis]

[ A floof of damp hair, a part of his face, and the hand she still holds remain above the surface. With sudden worry, her grip only tightens.

i won't let go jack ]

Eh--?

Noctis?

[ What-- ] What's wrong? [ Is it the wall-sickness again ?? She tries to tug him up. ]

[carbungle]

[He can't hear her with his ears underwater, but he only resists the tugging for a moment before he allows himself to be pulled back to the surface. Now his face is flushed because of hot water! Take that, embarrassment, he wins.]

You really have to stop saying that with a straight face.

[iustaegis]

[ Relief washes over her. What would happen if someone drowns in virtual reality? ALSO HIS FATHER IS HERE and that would be too sad--

She blinks, confused as she notes the redness of his face. The virtual reality effects of this place are astounding. "Saying that with a straight face."

Saying... ]

That you're dazzling?

[ She said it again!! ]

[carbungle]

[no!!! stop!!

He ducks his head in an unsubtle sign of defeat. Really...?]

Or at least wait for me to do something before you say it. I could just be filling your head with crazy stories, you know.

[iustaegis]

[ YOU KNOW... Saying that he's dazzling is making her think why she believed so in the first place. His strength of heart, his bravery, the want to help others, the way he called the sunrise beautiful, etc etc etc and oh gosh there's that same blush all over again.

She. Is. Moved!! And so happy someone like him exists!! Pyra is far too easily swayed by the virtues found in others.

Pyra breaks away one hand, lifting it to correct a damp strand of hair to be behind her ear. ] Mm... No. [ She replies, fondly, quietly. ]

I don't think I'm wrong on this.

[ The markings of the gods upon his hand are proof enough, even for an ordinary person to be impressed. ]

[carbungle]

[why is this his life now

He exhales a sigh and scuffs a hand through his hair, leaning back against the side of the bath again. He's meant to be relaxing in here, not floundering about and getting flustered, so rather than responding directly, he opts to deflect.]

Hey, can I ask you something? About you?

[iustaegis]

Mm, Your Majesty?

[ KING OF LIGHT. HE SAID IT, not her! And anyway, she's just throwing this out playfully. ]

[carbungle]

[...........dammit, he sure did. He opens his mouth to retort, closes it again. Thinks better of it.

Gonna just... circle back to that one in a bit.]

Can you sense this kind of stuff? Magic, I mean?

[iustaegis]

[ Canting her head, a droplet of water falls from her bangs to the pool. ]

Do you need someone to sense something for you?

[carbungle]

No... [Maybe?] Just. The way you looked at the marks kind of gave the impression that you could feel it. Or feel something, anyway. I didn't see that coming.

[He doesn't really go around flashing his bare arm in front of people, so he has little experience when it comes to reactions to them, but still, it stood out. The bracer is a convenient thing he's worn for years, and it's something of a relief to have a natural way to conceal them. Back home there were enough connoisseurs of the Cosmogony that the Astral marks might be recognized, and someone would absolutely have said something about Titan in Lestallum. This is the first time he's had to explain himself.]

1/2 right journal

[iustaegis]

[ Her response is delayed. ]

[iustaegis]

[ Then, a sigh. ]

I... don't think you will enjoy my answer.

[carbungle]

[Huh. Not... what he'd expected.]

Try me?

[iustaegis]

The markings you have... [ He won't like it.

Because it involves another compliment.

Her tone is soft, humbled, and quite possibly reverent, as if they were within a cathedral instead of a hot spring. ] They are magnificent.

When I feel them... [ Indeed, she's feeling them once more, palm brushing over runes slowly. ] It's as if I feel someone that has been touched by three different stars.

[carbungle]

[.....

Okay. He did walk a bit into that one. Though in this case the compliment is more towards the Six than him. At least, that's how he's choosing to interpret it, for his own peace of mind.]

I mean... they're called Astrals.

[So she's not wrong? But also:]

That means you do feel something.

[iustaegis]

Do you... [ Her brow knits. ] Not feel anything from these markings?

[carbungle]

I do, but... not a lot. Not until they come calling. I've never been all that great at magic, so... this is kind of a first for me.

[He can... throw elemancy bombs! Yeah that's about it. The Lucii powers could technically be called magic, but to him it's more technique. Warping and weapon summons are a much simpler science than shaping and commanding the elements.

It's why he's so genuinely curious about this.]

[iustaegis]

[ Now she tilts her head the other way, as if trying to piece together what she’s gathered so far. ]

But.. you... [ She begins slowly. ] Mentioned a crystal that powers your magic. One that your family has been guarding for years...

[ Possibly for over millennia, considering who she lives with. She would think him intricately tied to it by now. Is that not magic he can wield? ]

[carbungle]

[Sorry, Pyra. His family exists to be complex in every way, and that includes powers, apparently.

He leans back, brows furrowing as he considers how to explain.]

The Crystal's magic has two branches- one for weapons and one for spells. I'm good with the weapon stuff, but the magic is... complicated? Let's stick with that.

[He'd likely have had a hard time with it even if a daemon hadn't tripped him on his way out the starting gate. His fighting style is very charge-in-and-smash at this point. Thanks, Gladio.]

I know by watching my father what the line of Lucis is capable of. He can create shields, he can move his weapons in the air with crazy precision, he can command the elements, he fed his power into a whole line of soldiers to protect us, so they'd be able to do all of that too. I can't do that- that's what I mean.

[His shoulders lift into a helpless shrug. He doesn't know for certain how much of that is thanks to the ring, but he should be capable of anything the Kingsglaive could do. The fact that he can't means the flaw lies with him.]