♥ 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

[rewritten_history]

[He is well aware that he doesn't quite fit the description of what may or may not be considered normal in this world, even among the local populace that no longer carries a heartbeat or flesh and blood. Most of the sundered citizens more closely resemble hyurians than any of the other races he has known. His connection to the Crystal Tower and his eyes make him an oddity out of those even still; he is used to the staring, the curiosity.]

[His smile is not unkind, and his patience with his disfiguration is infinite. He lets her stare, lets her come to terms with the sight of him on her own time.]

It is beautiful, whatever it may be or do. But in the here and now, while I lay my sight upon it, I cannot help but see it for its function and not aesthetic or intellectual appeal. Modern arts are a luxury I have learned to appreciate after all else. Perhaps when the danger has passed, that will change. What do you think?

[iustaegis]

[ What precise words, as if they are spoken by a scholar. She imagines that he's thought much about this particular subject-- of beauty itself, as well as the barrier. He also has the insight to know that his view might change, given the circumstances.

Yet as he says, art is a luxury; he prides functionally, purpose, over aesthetics.

Pyra brings a hand to her chest, keeping her eyes upon him, alight with wonder. What does she think, indeed. ] ....Is the opposite true? [ She asks this quietly. ] If something has no purpose, is it ever beautiful?

[rewritten_history]

[And a scholar he once was, or perhaps never stopped being, if she might peer into the Umbilicus or any of his other private chambers in the Crystal Tower. How many surfaces had he left without a tome or two or pages upon them? Likely none.]

[Her question might have surprised him, but it only seems an inevitable conclusion. There are, after all, two and more sides to any discussion. His smile is easy, the conversation just such.]

I leave that to the beholder. Beauty is an ever changing concept, given to the whims of opinion. What is wondrous to one person may not be so to another. For my own thoughts, 'tis not necessarily true. Nothing is without purpose, or was or will be.

[iustaegis]

[ With his words, her eyes seem to catch on with another flash of excited light, as if he had said exactly what she had wanted him to say. Following the criteria of his answer— ]

That makes you beautiful, you know.

[ Ever more than the gem-like design of his flesh, the vibrant way it seems to refract the light, and the wisdom in his words. ]

Because you have a purpose here— to protect this world. To save it.

[ For the gods brought those like him here to give touch for that purpose. If he is receptive, she will reach for his hands to take. ] Here and now, it’s as if you’re passing that beauty into the world... restoring it to the way it must have been.

[ A pause, and she draws a quick breath as if inspired, or perhaps in awe. She must know who he is. With the lightest tilt of her head, a strand of hair crosses her cheek, and she asks: ]

What is your name?

[rewritten_history]

[He hadn't expected the words that followed, the compliment that it was, though he had brought it upon himself in a way. It makes perfect sense - his efforts in this world have been all to help it, to save it so that he might return home with the others and continue his journey there. Many things, he is, but humble and hesitant to accept praise will always be two of them.]

[In that, his gaze diverts, away from her and and to the ground and then back to the breach where it remains until her hand catches hold of his. Then, and only then, does he look back down, toward where her fingers hold his, but not directly at, ears shifting uncertainly, once. It has been a long, long time since someone last touched him out of more than necessity, more than spur of the moment and relief. It just is the way of things, but he will not reject her. This world needs it, if nothing else; they are helping still.]

That is my understanding, yes. By my own definition, I am beautiful. I had not thought of it in that way. It sounds... strange to my ears, when I myself am the subject. Anyone else...

[He let himself trail off, not needing to explain further, and it seemed good that he did. The smile returned easily enough then.]

I have been called Crystal Exarch for long enough now. What might I call you?

[iustaegis]

[ He continues to sound reflective, pensive even as he regards himself. When he mentions that the words sound strange to his ears, she can't help her gaze traveling upward to the two upon his head as they shift-- cute, she thinks privately to herself-- but her eyes are back to his face a moment later, when he asks her of her own name. ]

Pyra.

[ Except his name seems more than a title. Far more troubling is the clause that follows. ]

..."Long enough"? [ She repeats his words, peering at him as she continues to hold his hand. She feels as if she must, his expressions are so subtle... and fascinating, in the way it makes the crystal scars shift ever so slightly with the light. Now, her thumb runs along his knuckles with concern. ] Do you not remember your name?

[rewritten_history]

[He'll have to get used to people asking after his name, he thinks, in this world where no one knows who he is because he hasn't been here longer than many of them have been alive. It doesn't bother him, not the way it might have when he was far younger and more hasty.]

'Tis good to meet you, Pyra.

[He might even find himself relieved to drop titles once he is used to it, one day. The touch to his hand is unexpectedly deepened, an ear shifts ever so lightly with it, almost imperceptible. Something else he will have to get used to, something else he'll need to come to accept if he's to help save this world, if this touch is what the gods need.]

[It's the almost concern in her that bothers him, he knows. How strange this must sound to her, he realizes, to have nothing more than a title to identify him. His voice softens, hushed.]

My true name is G'raha Tia. Few know it anymore, and fewer still use it. But it is only a name now, a reminder of who I once was. You may call me what you wish.

[iustaegis]

[ Not one to shy from touch, she takes a step closer. ]

G'raha Tia... [ Repeating it with a respectful murmur, she feels as if she’s just been told something far more personal than just an actual name. ]

If it is a reminder of who you once were.... [ She lifts her other hand to her chest. ] Then it is a treasure of history.

[ This, she says earnestly despite the way he sounds so detached from the name himself. Why does he sound detached, she wonders. How long has it been since adopted the title and abounded his name. Why did his forsake it in the first place? ]

Jeweled, just like... [ Her eyes sweep over the crystalline pattern upon his skin, and her eyes seem to reflect the glimmer of his shine. ] you.

sorry for so late!

[rewritten_history]

[In a sense, it is far more personal than an actual name. For far too long, people have known him by a title, not a name, and he had needed it to be like that. It hurt - a casualty of the greater war going on around them - but it was another price he paid, knowing full well the necessity.]

[He didn't move away from her approach, ears twitching lightly at her near reverence for him, his name, and what he assumed were simple physical realities of his being, though the smile he offered remained warm.]

I suppose I cannot argue against that. The young man I once was played his part, and I could not be more grateful. [In truth, he had distanced himself so far from who he once was, it was as though he and his past self were two completely different people. By comparison, they may as well have been - he was little like the younger G'raha Tia he had been.]

[He glances down at his crystalline arm, as if an afterthought, then back to his companion again.]

A side effect of my reality now. Nothing to be concerned about, I assure you.

[iustaegis]

[ Oh but from the look in her eyes, it is clear that she will certainly be concerned about it regardless....

The young man I once was played his part, he says, and she wonders back to the beginning of this conversation-- about purposes. ]

...Do you... no longer have a part to play, as you are now?

[ A pause, and she wonders again. With hope does she amend her previous query: ] Or... is it that you have made your own part?

[rewritten_history]

[He blinks, momentarily confused until it occurs to him his wording could have been better made. For someone who has had to carefully choose what he says for the past century, it's quite a mix up. But for all outward appearances, he is only apologetic.]

Ah, I apologize. The gods of this world have brought me here, and so I must have a reason for being in this place. Whether or not it is as I was told upon my arrival, I will do all I can to help this world and her people.

[It is, if nothing else, in his nature to reach out to those in need.]