♥ 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

[astralera]

Then what is it that differentiates you from mere friends?

[scourgingstars]

It's...difficult to explain. Love for one's friends is different from romantic love, yet it is entirely possible--encouraged, I would hope--for the former not to cease should it become the latter.

[astralera]

I suppose what I do not understand is how one's interactions are meant to change once you have decided to ... be with someone as something more than mere friends.

[scourgingstars]

I fear it just isn't something with a single objective answer. Such matters lean heavily on intuition and determining the right course of action for oneself.

[astralera]

[ She frowns, gives a small resigned huff, and promptly shoves some more food into her mouth. If weasels could shrug Ardbert would do so now, but as they can't he instead wanders nearer to Ardyn and makes himself comfortable a few ilms away from the man's hand. ]

[scourgingstars]

... [Ardyn shrugged and held out a hand for Ardbert to acknowledge or ignore as he would. Fine, so it was complicated. Or worse, Complicated.]

[astralera]

[ With much and more on her mind, Era occupies herself with her meal for the moment, trusting that Ardyn won't take offense to such a thing.

Ardbert, meanwhile, decides it is about time to inform Ardyn of something he may find rather important to note: ]

{ I am a representation of her soul made manifest. } [ Clearly spoken for Ardyn alone in that odd way of his. His tail wiggles in amusement, not unlike Era's does, and the golden glint in his eyes seems a touch brighter. ] { We don't mind your touch, but I thought it might be prudent for you to know the implications of it now. }

[ Era had never cared about it before, for she wasn't aware of how deep the connection between her and her dream guide ran. She still doesn't care overmuch for such a thing, as there are few people Ardbert is inclined to interact with so, but now that Aera is here the soul-creature is aware that things are slightly different. ]

[scourgingstars]

...I'm flattered. I rather suspected it was more complex than Carbuncle, but it was scarce my place to question such things.

[He didn't take back the extended hand, glancing to Era and Ardbert both.]

I have no issue with it, and Aera knows enough of where I stand with her to be less than prone to envy over such matters.

[astralera]

[ Era looks at him, confused, until realization dawns upon her and she sends Ardbert an unimpressed look. ]

I know not what you've said, but I'd appreciate you not gossiping in plain view, Ardbert.

[ She can hazard a guess, but ultimately it is not something she knows for certain as of yet.

Ardbert, meanwhile, flicks his tail at her as he gets up to shove himself into Ardyn's hand. Immediately a visceral shiver runs up Era's spine, blatantly obvious even from a distance, though she is quick to settle back down. ]

{ Hades is not prone to such envy, either. }

[ Because if Era won't just say it... ]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn made a soft sound not unlike faint laughter, gently petting Ardbert and looking over to Era.]

Are you alright? I'll stop, if it troubles you.

[astralera]

[ She can't very well begrudge Ardbert what he's doing if it prompted a near-laugh from the ever-reserved Ardyn. She withholds a sigh, glancing to the creature, and supposes there is a reason her dream guide took the form of a weasel of all things.

The gentle petting resonates, effectively distracting her from her food. Her tail twitches against her on the chair. ]

It is not a bother. [ Like the difference between romance and friendship, it is hard to explain precisely what it is his touch upon Ardbert feels like to her. ] I hadn't noticed before how very different your touch felt compared to his.

[scourgingstars]

Is there something wrong with it? I know I'm...not quite as warm as a living human, does it bother you?

[astralera]

This touch has naught to do with the physical, Ardyn.

[scourgingstars]

While my senses may stretch somewhat beyond that of mortal humans, I can not sense as you do, and neither can I read souls as our mutual friend. With that in mind, do forgive if I ask an explanation.

[astralera]

I... Haven't an explanation. I know next to nothing about such matters. [ She gives a small, apologetic shrug. ] Even if your body is cold, it does not mean the rest of you is.

[scourgingstars]

I...suppose even that much is good to hear.

[astralera]

[ She rolls her eyes at him, though the gesture is fond. ]

I can tell you with utmost certainty that you will know, without question, the very moment you become a monster.

You have yet to reach that threshold, and so you are not a monster, little shadow.

[scourgingstars]

...

[Ardyn looked more to Ardbert than Era, hesitating to answer at first.]

I...still fear I might cross it before long.

[astralera]

[ She gives him a scrutinizing look, and sighs softly. Ardbert offers a quick lick to his palm, quick as a flash and easy to miss save for the warmth it exudes. ]

You still have some time yet.

[scourgingstars]

It is not the physical state of things which concerns me, but the emotional.

[Even though...honestly, contact with Ardbert was calming on that front. As though merely touching the odd little creature quieted some sort of white noise he'd almost begun to grow accustomed to hearing.]

All of this is...exacerbated or restrained by my own state of mind. And regrettably, the mere presence of my brother tends to bring out the worst in me--which is more literal a phrase than I wish it were.

[astralera]

[ There is that worry again. That the misfortune that plagues those around her may have infected Ardyn as surely as it did so many others... ]

Surely Aera is a suitable counterbalance to your brother?

[scourgingstars]

I would like to believe that to be the case. But...at the same time I fear she does not yet grasp the full scope of the matter. How things have changed--how I have changed. And I lack the words to describe it or the heart to begin to explain.

[astralera]

Perhaps she does not wish to grasp the entire scope, for in the end it would not matter beyond how it hurts you in the present.

I would imagine what matters most is that you are still Ardyn, even if you have changed. If her focus is on learning about the things that are different it would be understandable. She has missed a great deal of time with you, and would need catching up...

I also imagine that someone needs to remind you of how you are the same, and who better to do so than your dear heart?

[scourgingstars]

I...don't know if it's truly so simple.

[astralera]

I could not say. [ Another shrug, because. Well. At least Ardyn is very aware of her own limited scope of such things. ] To me, were it someone I loved in your position, I would wish to know the entirety of things in time, but my first priority would simply be to be there for them in what ways I could. To remind them that despite what has happened or what they have been forced to do, I love them still, and they are still worthy of that love.