♥ 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

[carbungle]

[Yeah magic doesn't work in VR. And he definitely doesn't know because he tried it already, no sir.

At her question, he shakes his head with a frown.]

Doubt it- if it's here, I haven't seen it, and as far as I can tell, people only show up with stuff they had with them when they were taken.

[Considering the Crystal was stolen months ago in his time, and the only one who might have had it as a "possession" is Regis... yeah, it's unlikely.]

A friend of mine thought that powers might be fueled by, uh-

[He lifts their joined hands meaningfully.]

-but I wouldn't know how to confirm that. It doesn't feel any different, anyway.

[iustaegis]

[ She had felt it as soon as she arrived in this world-- a limit to her abilities. It's nauseatingly confounding, but a blessing in disguise. She, and her abilities, should not be here anyway. ] So long as your abilities manifest in the same way they do in your own world, I... don't see a problem.

[ A beat. Speaking of-- ]

How do you call upon this power? And how does it manifest?

[ When she had first met him, he hadn't been carrying any weapons. A demonstration would probably be better, now that she thinks of it... But the hot spring is comfy and she's holding his hand so! ]

[carbungle]

How...?

[God, how does he even explain it. It's been so long since those first days of training, since he'd first started infusing power into his possessions and figuring out how to draw them in and out of the Armiger. Was the first time even on purpose or did he just accidentally zap it into oblivion? He vaguely remembers losing a pencil in there for at least a week.

He's not sure there's even an appropriate comparison, but-]

It's kinda like... reaching into a pocket and pulling something out, except the pocket isn't real. Or the pocket is inside me, I guess? And I use magic to move objects in and out of the pocket whenever I need to use them. And sometimes I can put myself into the pocket to-

[He stops, abruptly, and covers his face with his free hand.]

That doesn't make any sense, does it.

1/2

[iustaegis]

[ She continues watching him as he explains, her gaze patient.

Fumbling, puzzled, and unable to describe his power to her on words, she realizes her error in the way she asked question itself. She allows him to continue nonetheless, because there is something oddly adorable for the way in which he tries. He will have to show her. For now, though... ]

[iustaegis]

[ She scoots closer, and the warm ripples of water lap against them gently. ]

And here?

[ Finally her hand leaves his, only reach across the space between them to place her palm upon the left side of his chest. Her touch is light, respectful. ]

How does calling upon this power... make you feel?

[ He describes something that seems... dizzying— warping, calling forth objects, placing himself into that pocket— but he himself doesn’t seem to be deterred at using this power. Maybe each warp has a path. Maybe each object he summons has a specific purpose, an strength. ]

Does it come with the clarity of what you must achieve with it? [ Be that felling an enemy or otherwise. ] Do you feel lost, overwhelmed? Or do you feel as if you can accomplish... anything, so long as you wield it?

[carbungle]

[How it feels… he nods slowly, recognizing the question with more clarity this time. It's probably a more accurate method for how he uses it these days, anyway.]

When I was little, I used to sneak out to watch the Kingsglaive in the courtyard. They could do almost everything my father could, and their sword skills were amazing. I wanted to be strong like them, or like my dad, so… that's what I thought about a lot, when I was training.

[On hard days he would envision them, fuel his own ambitions through those memories- flinging themselves from one side to the other, hanging off the walls as they waited for the perfect time to strike, celebrating their successes and cursing their failures. The stern and succinct instruction of Drautos as he supervised their efforts. To a still-recovering child who had difficulty connecting with others, the camaraderie felt very much like a finish line towards which he should be running. I want to be like that. I want power like that. I want friends like that.

Looking back on that is a conflicting experience, after all that went down with the Glaives and Drautos especially, but he can't just erase those feelings either.]

The first time I saw a daemon, I was powerless, scared, and that was the worst feeling in the world. When I'm fighting now, I think… I never want to feel like that again. I want to be strong enough to fight anything.

[Be it gods, daemons, or maybe fate itself. The Crystal and his magic are the keys to all of that.]

[iustaegis]

[ There it is. I want to be strong enough to find anything, because he has those for whom to fight and protect. As he's mentioned before, he does not want sacrifices, for no one else to die, he said, and then for himself not to die, either. ] That feeling of futility... I'm sorry that you felt it at all back then. [ Yet coupled with the intense desire to protect others-- it is what makes him strong. He fights for more than what those who have come before him have.

He wants it all; and that's a good thing. While hope is ever-precarious and faith is tor the transient, greed is robust, tempered with steel.

Pyra's fingers leave his chest, onto to return to grasp at his hand. ]

Thank you. [ She breathes out, slowly, as if she has come to a conclusion. With his answers, she has a much better picture of just what he wishes to achieve, a glory like no other. ] Let's... overcome it: the past, and what others before you could not accomplish. For the future. [ As long as the future exists, it's worth fighting for in any way. It's enough, that it simply is there. ]

When we meet next, I'll like to see how your power works. I think that would be best.

[carbungle]

[He... has no idea what she's thanking him for, but he does manage to nod. Whatever it is, he doesn't mind; she's the one going out of her way to help him. And even if he isn't all that confident that this method will work any better than any other he's tried over the years, they have time to spare here. If she doesn't mind sharing some of her free time with him for this, he'll accept it without complaint.]

Sure, that's fair. [He looks her up and down briefly - there's no real subtle or polite way of taking in the shape of her body or muscle structure, but it's kind of necessary - and purses his lips thoughtfully.] Do you know how to fight? With weapons, or unarmed, whichever.

[Or magic, though he doesn't ask since she's been so squirrely with that.]

[iustaegis]

[ She cuts him off. ]

Hold on.

Aren't you forgetting something?

[carbungle]

[Oh god, what now.]

Am I?

[iustaegis]

King?

[carbungle]

[kjhfksjdhf gOD. He is equal parts relieved and concerned, because that probably could have been worse but also he gave himself away didn't he.]

...R-right. There was no coronation, though, and no one actually calls me that. I'm still just a prince.

[He pauses, though, because he knows that is insufficient.]

Sorry... for lying about it, before. I didn't want to spread it around until I talked to my dad.

[iustaegis]

[ She waves a hand, laughing softly. ]

Oh, no, no.  It's alright. Later that day, I happened to hear about it from... your, ah, "Oracle"? [ Luna! Seems like everyone has important titles in his world.

Unlike him, though, she won't be apologizing for playing ignorant during a conversation. ]

[carbungle]

[Seems like she said the magic word- the moment he hears Oracle, he perks up immediately, any guilt or uncertainty vanishing like it was never there at all.]

You met Luna? Hah, no wonder.

[Technically there are two Oracles in town now, but only one of them would call him a king. The other is more likely to coo about her "dearest nephew" instead.]

[pyrafect]

[ The change she sees in him is immediate. ]

She’s beautiful...

[ Watching him remains fascinating. Look how he lights up at speaking of her, as if he cherishes the sounds that make the name itself. It makes her wonder... ]

Have you told her you love her yet?

[ DIDN’T THEY TALK ABOUT THIS LAST TIME. He has to hug those he cares about and tell them that he loves them!! And now that she knows Luna is among those, she’s up there on his hug-to-do list with his father and Ignis. ]

[carbungle]

[He finds himself nodding unconsciously along with her assessment - of course she's beautiful, she always has been, inside and out - but at the last part, his fluster returns. Telling people how he feels is difficult for him in the best of times, but saying that to Luna? While they're still figuring things out together, when she's only just met him again after over a decade? That's...]

Wh… what I say to Luna is nobody's business.

[And it has nothing to do with how he's especially shy about her in particular…!]

[iustaegis]

[ ...Looks like Luna is not up for discussion. She moves on. ]

Then... your father? Have you told him yet?

[carbungle]

[Well, Luna is not up for love discussion, anyway. Most else is fair game. At her next question he half-nods, his expression non-committal. Not so much told him that, but.]

We talked, yeah. Actually, when I told him who I was, he's the one who hugged me. Does that count?

[He thinks it should totally count.]

1/2

[iustaegis]

[ ....Oh. Actually-- ]

[iustaegis]

[ Her eyes light up with the proud smile she gives him-- because this must mean... this must mean...! That he did tell his father that he is his son! ] Noctis! [ She exclaims, and scoots with a bounce towards him, tugging at his hand excitedly. ] It absolutely counts!

And? Well? How did it go? [ Because he had seemed very nervous and sad beforehand...! ]

[carbungle]

It was... good, actually. It was really good.

[He looks down, his expression shifting- shy again, but not unhappily so. It's a quiet, bewildered sort of joy, the recipient of surprising good news.]

I don't know what'll come of this, or if it's going to affect anything in his future, but he was happy to know it, and... it feels good to be honest with him.

[iustaegis]

[ How warm it must feel, she thinks, to feel the embrace of a father. How enviable; she's incredibly relieved that he had not missed this opportunity.

She smiles coyly, as if to say I told you so. ] You were so nervous. [ A pleased giggle follows, and she relents in the imposed-upon space between them, settling back in her seat. ]

Going forward... I think you'll only find saying what you feel easier. And showing it, too.

[carbungle]

[Yeah, yeah. Lots of people have told him, and they were all right. In his defense it isn't as if he ever thought it would go very badly here, more that knowing the future might affect things in a negative way later. And he kind of didn't want to undo his own birth somehow.

Regardless, the secret's out now, and he's pretty okay with the current situation.]

You're probably right. You were right about the rest of it, so.

1/2

[iustaegis]

[ In this case, she appears pleased that she is right. Smile small but fond, her fingers shift in holding his hand to interlace with his.

She is right, therefore she must leave. He has people he cherishes to be with; every moment she spends with him takes away from more chances he might have at telling others he loves them, of taking them into an embrace.

Considering that: ]

[iustaegis]

[ Pyra sighs, announcing, ]

This... is enough bathing for me.