♥ 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

Lance | OTA

[the_tailor]

[I - Rebuilding]

[As always, Lance isn't about to sit back when there's work to be done. He's incredibly grateful that the horrors of the last month (and in some cases, longer) are finally over. Couldn't they have just had a normal Halloween like anyone else? Either or, there's much rebuilding to be done after the giant spider attack, and Lance finds himself at the front lines of it hauling rocks, clearing rubble, and putting things back together. He steers clear of the spider corpses, finding them still kind of terrifying and disgusting even if they're dead.

Feel free to join him in helping, chat him up, or otherwise.]



[II - Sickness]

[Being at the wall often to help rebuild means it isn't long before Lance comes down with the mysterious illness. He's been in the medical tent once before, before he himself got too sick, when Keith was in horrible shape. But right now, it seems as if it's his turn. Lance currently occupies one of the cots, looking very much worse for the wear, alternating between sitting and laying down in various positions as he tries to make himself comfortable. He's a little hesitant on asking for help, for whatever reason, so one might have to reach out to him...]



[III - Tasty Reward]

[After all the crap that happened in October, and the illnesses in the earlier part of this month, Lance was desperate for something to go right. Something good to happen. And although not exactly perfect, this "experiment" takes the cake. Pun very much intended. Even if it's still replicated food, he's eager to try whatever they've come up with. Even if it'll be nowhere near as good as taste testing Hunk's cuisine.

Lance flits from table to table as he samples everything there. He's always had a pretty good metabolism and he's still incredibly active, so he has no qualms of wolfing down as much as he's able. Throughout the time the experiment is going on, he finds himself making a few visits there.]



[IV - Virtual Spa]

[It's as if all his namedays birthdays have come at once. Spas are Lance's absolute jam, okay? He loves the relaxation, the hot tubs, the saunas, the face masks, the massages... Though he hasn't gone to all too many in his life, they'd always been an absolute treat. Even though this is just VR, it doesn't mean Lance isn't going to absolutely enjoy the everliving quiznak out of this, and he finds himself strapping in several days in a row to experience all the place has to offer.

One can find Lance in each and every part of the spa. He lounges about in the baths and springs, sits in the sauna, and walks around the outdoors. The theme park as well--there's no short amount of giddiness he feels throughout. Join him in any of them?]

IV LET IT BE KNOWN THIS IS AGAINST HIS WILL

[needmyspace]

[It's been a rough few months, but Keith is finally feeling better, and Lance is too. It's not a surprise that he gets dragged along with the other paladin to the virtual spa, though he grumbles and fusses about it all the while.]

Why are we doing this? It isn't even real.

keith pls

[the_tailor]

[Since when doesn't Keith grumble and fuss over something that isn't fighting or knives? Lance huffs a little as they fully appear in the virtual world, giving him a little shove.]

So what? It feels real. And right now, I'll take that. Best we got. And we deserve a little R&R after all the stuff we've gone through lately, y'know?

[He hums as he makes his way towards a directory.]

Log out and I'll drag your mulleted ass kicking and screaming back in here if I have to.

[needmyspace]

[It's true, Keith tends to kick up quite a bit of fuss, especially considering how he regards Lance as the more dramatic of the two. If Keith isn't happy, he'll make sure to let everyone know.

Though it's not always because he's unhappy, at least, not today. He has a reputation, after all. Can't be seen enjoying himself at something that doesn't involve knives.]

Fine, but I'm not letting anyone put makeup on me or cut my hair or...whatever.

[That's a salon, Keith, but good try.]

[the_tailor]

[Ffs, Keith.

Lance just rolls his eyes. After glancing through the list of amenities, he reaches out to grab Keith's hand, forcefully pulling him along.]

Let's start with a nice soak in one of the baths. There's one that's supposed to be for aches and pains, and considering how big a pain in the ass you are, I am totally down with hopping in that.

[needmyspace]

I'm the pain in the ass?

[Keith scowls, following after him. He really doesn't need to be pulled along, Lance. He's coming.]

Says the guy who literally watched me get sick, then went and did it to himself.

[the_tailor]

How is that being a pain in the ass? I needed to help! I didn't think I was gonna get almost as sick as you did...

[Grumble, grumble. Thankfully, it isn't long before they reach the bath in question. Lance glances around before finding a set of lockers nearby for them to stash their items. Without thinking anything of it, he begins to strip, socks and shoes going in the locker before he tugs off his shirt and shimmies out of his jeans.]

[needmyspace]

[Keith is about to shoot back a retort when Lance starts to undress. The scar on his back always makes him feel..things he doesn't like, and he glances away, only to glance back a moment later and--]

Hey, woah! Do we need to get naked? [Ever seen Keith turn this pink before, Lance?]

[the_tailor]

[Lance has his fingers hooked in the waistband of his boxer-briefs when he glances over at Keith, raising an eyebrow at him.]

Dude, it's a bath. Do you take baths with your clothes on? And c'mon, it's just us two right now. We're both dudes, it's not like you don't have anything I don't too. Unless you're packin' some weird Galra genitalia down there.

[Long pause.]

...Wait, are you?

[needmyspace]

What? [Keith is very red, sputtering now in embarrassment and indignation.]

No! What the quiznak, Lance? I would've noticed I was alien sooner if I was obviously... different there!

[the_tailor]

I don't know, you could have hit Galran puberty at some point!

[Lance just...can't help but grin at him.]

Seriously, though, you don't have to get naked if you want, but I am. Avert thine eyes if you think you can't handle my glory.

[And with a shrug, he shimmies right out of his underwear. Once everything's nice and neat and packed away in the locker, he pads over to the bath, taking the steps in.]

II

[wannabethehero]

[Kiwi had been in the tent for most of the day themselves, having collapsed from fever fairly early that morning. They were a few rows away from Lance, the cots between the two of them unoccupied for the moment. They were trying to rest, but stirred restlessly, an occasional soft whimper coming from their side of the room.

Then suddenly they cry out and jerk up onto their elbows, waking up with a start. They're not upright long though, dizziness making them fall back onto their pillow with an arm splayed over their eyes.

After a moment, they turn their head and peek out from under their arm, noticing Lance sitting up in bed.]

Oh...did I disturb you?

[the_tailor]

[It's hardly as if nightmares were anything new to them all as a whole. He notices Kiwi a few cots over, and frowns when he sees that they're in the throes of one. Maybe if he can... Before he can do anything, though, he sees Kiwi awaken.

Asked the question, Lance shakes his head. He gets up on shaky feet before making his way over, sitting on the edge of Kiwi's bed, giving them a little tired smile.]

It's cool. Guess you're not having much fun here either, huh?

[wannabethehero]

[Kiwi doesn't move as Lance sits down - it's hard to even move their arm to be able to look at him properly. But the company is very much appreciated. They try to offer a smile, not wanting him to worry.]

I'll be okay, it's just the fever.

[It's the partial truth, anyway. Fever dreams tended to make anything more intense. They manage to at least reach over to rest their hand on Lance's arm in an amiable gesture.]

How's the wall coming along?

[the_tailor]

[Lance gives him a sympathetic look, resting his own hand on Kiwi's.]

I've had a bit of one too, but it hasn't gotten too bad. Sorry to hear it's kicking you in the butt, though, those are never fun.

[He's had his share of illnesses in his life, and fevers are pretty much tied for first with being so congested he can't breathe. The worst.]

Slowly but surely. It's running into a bit of a snag in that a lot of us working on it are getting sick, but honestly, once I heal up, I'm gonna go back there to keep on working. I want to make sure this place stays safe.

[wannabethehero]

[Kiwi smiles appreciatively at the reciprocating touch. They listen and nod in agreement.]

I saw what it looks like outside the wall. It's scary...just being close to that is making people sick. Everything outside dying like that just because the residents can't hug each other anymore.

[Goes to show just how important touch is. They honestly hadn't even thought about it until they realized saying goodbye to Miriam was what they thought would be the last time they ever hugged someone...before coming here anyway.]

I don't want to see anyone else getting hurt like that.

[the_tailor]

I know exactly how you feel. Looking out there... It really makes the gravity of the situation sink in, y'know? For all ridiculously sappy the whole hugging to save the world thing seems, it's legit serious here. Makes me not mind getting stuck here for a while, if it means helping this place out.

[Lance gives Kiwi's hand a little squeeze, thumb stroking against his knuckles.]

I don't wanna see that, either. We'll just have to keep helping out best we can.

[wannabethehero]

At least we're making a difference. Or...at least it feels like it.

[It's been hard to measure if anything was happening. But...at least protecting the city when it was attacked by those spiders wasn't nothing. And already their head feels slightly clearer, just from Lance holding their hand.]

[the_tailor]

I think we are. I mean, it's kinda hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure the natives would have told us if we were mucking things up.

[He nods, giving Kiwi a little smile.]

[wannabethehero]

I hope you're right...

[They stare up at the ceiling vaguely.]

Sometimes I wonder if they know, themselves.

[the_tailor]

I mean, you have a point, but... They haven't had any complaints yet. And aside from the attacks, which I don't think we had any part in triggering, I think they see things as getting better. I want to believe we're making a good difference.

II

[onebadapple]

[Unlike Lance, Snow White is very good at asking for help, or noticing the stubborn sort who struggle to ask. She comes over to him and smiles, clasping her hands in front of her.]

Why hello there, is everything alright? Do you need another pillow? Or something to eat?

[the_tailor]

[Lance makes a noncommittal sound at first before realizing that he's being rude. Even if he feels like crap, he shouldn't brush off someone trying to help him. And come to think of it...]

Actually, uh, I am a little peckish. I feel bad asking you to go out of your way to get me something, though.

[And he gives her a little hesitant smile.]

[onebadapple]

Oh, it's not going out of my way at all! I made a stew for everyone here. I'll have to make more soon, but this is the second batch. Would you like some?

[the_tailor]

Wow. You're an angel.

[He coughs a little, but takes a deep breath and nods.]

Yeah, I'd love some.