hugtopia_logs | ♥ November Event Log

♥ November Event Log

a gloved hand places a brick in place on a wall

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?

❥ PROMPT I: Rebuilding Effort

a stone wall with a large collapsed hole in the center

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

a collage of different foods on display: salads, meats, and pasta

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

a spa/water park with large open pools, an enclosed building, a bridge, and a water slide in the background

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?

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It bothers me not at all. I can scarcely think of why it might.

I can't say I would know.

Then why do you fret over it so? Your existing is not a burden.

...isn't it?

Of course not.

[He's going to take your girl out drinking to bond over how incredibly stubborn their SOs are in devaluing themselves.]

Unless you think water is burdened by fish swimming within it? Humans need each other as dearly as that, after all.

I don't...exactly feel all that human any longer. I don't feel like myself, and none of them should have to suffer my presence knowing what I've yet to do to them.

Well, I can hardly be called human by any typical standard, either.

[He lifts his free hand, almost pointedly looking at his long fingers before dropping them back to his lap.]

But to abandon the needs of the flesh makes the needs of the soul all the more apparent, and yours starves as keenly as any other man's.

[More quietly:]

It is for your starvation that I hold no forgiveness. That is the greater cruelty than anything that might be done to your flesh; there is none greater than telling a man he does not deserve kindness and arranging things such that he believes it.

[It was...strange, he knew, to feel quite as secure as he did with this. There could be no doubt Emet-Selch was a monster in his own right, murderous and a form of life leagues past even Ardyn's wildest comprehension. But it was just as he'd said; because of that, there was no ulterior motive to suspect from him; nothing Ardyn could do or give that made him worth manipulating.]

[Unimaginable darkness given form or not, it was hard not to trust him. and even find safety in all of this.]

I am...merely incredibly tired. of all of this, and of knowing nothing of what I should do with myself now. Is it even right to act as though things can ever be as they once were? And how can I ever begin to explain to her that I can't be who I once was any longer?

The truth is usually the best place, I find.

[Perhaps it sounds a platitude, but for him, at least, it is one born of experience.]

And I'd wager less of what you think lost is beyond your reach than you think, if you can find forgiveness for yourself in it. Say what you will for ruthless self-justification, but at least it allows one to move forward.

[...Quiet, again. He looks away.]

Until it collapses, of course. A foundation of paper is better than none, but it does bear such risk of crumpling.

[For a moment, he seems almost to be speaking not to Ardyn at all.]

Forgiveness...I'd not know where to begin. How am I to forgive myself for that which I have not yet done?

[Ardyn slowly untangled himself, pressing a hand to his eyes as if to ward off an incoming headache. He shook his head, looking back up after a few seconds.]

...Are you alright?

How can you be responsible for sins yet to come to pass? Perhaps 'forgive' is too strong a word, in that case.

[He shifts slightly when Ardyn pulls away, then sighs.

To be friends is to share one's burdens, isn't it?]

Truthfully? That the people of other worlds exist as you do, whole of soul but light as feathers... It perhaps makes my own justifications feel paper-thin.

[He could never admit such to Era. Not because she would crow her victory, but simply because it would result in... what? Perhaps nothing. Perhaps a snowball that his tempered mind would not be able to recover from. There are places he does not go in his own mind, thoughts he does not think, for they are too painful to consider the end conclusion of.

And now there is one that he has no choice but to think. Because, yes, while the man beside him is far from Amaurotine, he is a friend, the closest Emet-Selch has known to one in a long time. And yet his candle only flickers in comparison.]

...I admit I still do not fully grasp the measure of a soul as you and Era describe it. I haven't the sense or the sight of either of you, so perhaps such a thing will ever elude my understanding. Yet I would stand by what I have said; horrible or not, forgivable or not, I believe whatever you have done was done in the name of your home and people.

[There was a brief hesitation following that, Ardyn looking away as he tried to form words in a way to accurately convey what he meant. He'd ever been one to speak perhaps too plainly as a mortal, careless in contrast to his brother's measured and too-serious demeanor.]

Truth be told, in that regard--and that alone, mind you--I confess you remind me of my brother in a way. Ultimately, setting aside my own resentment and pain, I know in whatever heart I yet possess that he did what he thought was right. Whether it was 'right' or 'wrong' in any objective sense...I find myself less and less certain such black and white things exist.

Stripped of all the personal injury and circumstance, I...can not fault the desire to save one's own home. Not when I myself gave all I had to do the same.

Most people worth anything do what it is they think is right, and it is always there that lies the problem.

[Once, they all agreed, and things were easy.

Emet-Selch leans back against the couch, his eyes focused on perhaps the ceiling, perhaps the sky, perhaps that thing that Ardyn can never hope to see.]

It is upon what measure makes one a person that we differ in such black and white terms, Era and I. And now I find myself increasingly among the grey, and perhaps it is cowardice in the end, that I seek to turn my face from the full weight of that which I have done.

Even now, I do not regret it. Down the path of regret, there is nothing to be gained.

...But I wonder if I would, if not for His touch.

I do not know that I would call such a thing cowardice. When one is firmly set in their perspective of the world as they know it, to have such a thing challenged by others or even the very world itself is...difficult. So many of you claim it possible the Astrals are less merciful than we thought, and I struggle to even approach the concept. I fear acknowledging a complete and total upheaval of my own beliefs, yes--but I should think that a mark of being sane rather than a coward. And even if it should all be true, even should I have been naught but another piece laid on a board...neither do I regret my own actions. Shortsighted and careless though I was, to regret what I've done would be a disservice to all those I was able to help, however few it may be in the larger scope.

[For someone so often softspoken and reticent, Ardyn had actually begun to talk for a change in more recent memory. It was strange, perhaps, and stranger to none more than the healer himself.]

...Is there nothing to be done for it? Or...rather, I should ask if you would even desire such aid were it to exist.

So far as I know - which until quite recently, was a matter that covered the whole of the subject of the soul - to wash away the stain of a god was quite impossible. Now, I confess, should such a thing occur... I would be surprised, but after the Exarch called Era across the rift in both body and soul, it would not be a world-altering surprise.

[This is a lot of words that isn't quite the answer to the question that Ardyn asked, but he must ease himself into that answer, for it is a difficult thing to face head-on, in ways that Ardyn simply cannot know. Whatever else he may be, the man's mind is his own in a way that his body is not - in some ways, the Ascian's perfect mirror.]

But if it were to exist... Objectively, I cannot know how I would feel about it, for I cannot think clearly about the concept. Subjectively, to be without that unshakable faith would be among the most terrifying things I can imagine, for it is that that has given me the strength to persevere throughout these long, long ages.

[Ardyn sighed quietly, leaning lightly against Emet-Selch's shoulder. As usual, a sensible answer for an utterly mad situation. He envied that clarity, in all honesty.]

I think that an understandable answer, to say the least. Having faith to fall back on regardless of its source is...invaluable, perhaps.

Perhaps. You certainly seem to be having a crisis of it, and I admit I envy you little.

[Say what else one might about the nature of primals, but when you are among those who created one, you can bear little doubt about its motivations. Enigmatic gods such as the Hexathon are an entirely different matter, and he can hardly blame Ardyn for his doubts. If he could imagine himself as a person merely of faith, rather than tempered, he might well think the same.]

It is a foundation upon which we build our identities, after all.

[And to take such a blow to your vision of yourself is never easy. In that, at least, they are the same.]

It...was far easier, before all this. I could believe I was doing the gods' will, that my purpose was set clearly before me. That...I was more fortunate than most in that I knew the reason for my existence.

[He took a slow breath and pressed a hand to his eyes.]

Now, it...there's nothing. I don't understand any of what's transpired or why, much less what to do next.

[Emet-Selch leans back against the couch, with a thoughtful sound.]

It is not easy. The best advice I can give... The future is not set in stone until it has come to pass. I was reminded of that very resoundingly of late, myself.

[Sometimes your plans get derailed by a time-traveller with a crush and that's just how shit goes.]

You did the best you could with the knowledge you had. That is all anyone has the right to ask of you. Where you go from here...

[His lip quirks.]

If you could dream any dream, without regard to whether or not it is possible - hold that in your heart, and work to align the world with that as much as you are able.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

♥ November Event Log

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