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.

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[ For someone who seems as dedicated to the gods at him, she wonders if he will laugh--

......Now that's a silly thought.

No, he may not laugh, but she imagines that he'll think her request odd, maybe even an offense if he happens to be especially dedicated to the gods, or tied to them as Noctis is. ]

If you have time... will show me how to pray? [ Making offerings of bread is one thing, honoring through touch is another. But actually praying? Never has she ever done so. ]

[ It’s an odd request, to be sure, but not one that he finds surprising. The daughter is closer to her father the creator than mortals can ever hope to be, making prayer meaningless.

Yet she wishes for him to show her, for all that his prayers went ignored in his foolish youth. Strengthening his grip around her hand, he leans slightly forward to release the tension in his back from sitting upright. He closes his eyes and explains: ]

Prayer is our communion with the gods. Offer them your thoughts, and they will hear.

[ Just.... thoughts? Could it really be that simple? ]

There are... motions too, correct? Such as-- [ She lifts he hand to clasp both of his in hers, folding them. This gesture might be correct. ]

Or... Kneeling, or singing, or dancing, or... [ Another shake of her head. ] Or burning. [ A pause. ] Incense, I think. [ But why burn it? ]

The motions serve as the bridge on which we greet the gods. There are many. The closing of hands is a single gesture of unification.

[ And the gesture that he assumes when submitting his thoughts to the powers that be. He continues to apply a steady pressure around her hand, as if it were his and he were praying at this very moment. ]

In the end, the choice falls on the god to whom you send your prayer.

[ She feels the extra pressure of his hand upon her, noting how... not tightly he holds her hand, but how respectfully he does so.

Seeking to copy the manner of hold, she provides the same pressure in return, eyes raising to his face as if searching for some emotion of approval, and then back down to their hands. ] Oh— and... there is kneeling, correct?

[ Still holding his hand, she moves from their shared seat to the bath floor. Careful of the towel wrapped around her chest, she lowers herself to a knee before him. Hm. On one knee? Seems too much of a salute. Both knees, then.

Her hands continue to clasp his, and now she lifts her head to look at him. ] Like this?

[ His expression slackens when she drops to both knees before him. He’s no god, and she shouldn’t be lowering herself in this way. His grip around her loosens. ]

See what brings you closer to Rawna when you next visit the temple.

[ It is the fancy of mortals to be closer to the gods by engaging in these gestures. Even if Rawna doesn’t answer, Pyra will have her perception on which to rely, should she offer a prayer. ]

[ His expression's changed.... Is she doing something wrong. Is this not how one prays?? She tries to think of the (brief) time her other had spent visiting the Praetorium. They have their rituals, their practices, their motions and gestures, but maybe what she's getting wrong here isn't these gestures-- but what she offers to them. ]

Closer to... Rawna. [ Meaning, logic. Negative emotions. Apathy. This is a fair reminder to her, that she is doing many things wrong by being here. Yet she remains puzzled still; logic to save this world would mean doing what she can for it, anything for it. Apathy would mean not caring at all-- which, had she been brought to this world at any earlier time, would have been easy to achieve.

She remains on her knees, holding his hand as she looks to him for an answer. ] How?

Pray.

[ He pushes his hand forward, bringing hers toward the crystal on her chest and urging her to rise. Unlike him, the gods are not wont to answer. The majority of mortals will live and die, wondering if the gods had heard their prayers and supplications; faith reigns in religion for this reason. It’ll be up to Pyra to decide if she’s grown closer or not. ]

That is all I can teach you.

[ With her hand brought back to her crystal, she stills for a moment at the closeness of his fingers to it, only to relax after. This is a simulation. In reality, they are only holding hands as they've entered this virtual reality side-by-side. He's not actually close to the crystal itself.

Pray. Pray by sending her thoughts to the gods and expect them to listen. So that is what all of the devoted had been doing within the cathedral and shrines... ] In... my world, [ Normally she would not speak of it, but she feels she must give some context to her ignorance-- her reason for asking all of these questions. ] while others may pray, only the Praetor can claim to hear and speak for the Architect.

[ Pyra rises, retaking her seat beside him. She smiles. ]

It would be wonderful if others might hear the gods' voices, and that they may respond to their prayers.

[ Claim, she says. The credibility of the divine message that’s been relayed is up for debate, then. Perhaps the Praetor claims revelation to control those who would listen.

Somnus watches Pyra return to her original spot. His hand closes purposefully around hers once more. ]

It is a matter of faith. The gods’ voices are not meant for mortal ears.

[ It's far more comfortable sitting than kneeling, although she can no longer shift back to the relaxed state she had been in before. Pyra glances at him. Knowing from Luna that calling upon the gods takes a physical toll on her, it makes sense.

She recalls, too, how the man who awakened her had been so reluctant to wield her...

Slowly, she repeats: ] ...They are not meant for...mortal ears? [ Her eyes shift away from him. ]

How so?

All too often, we seek answers that will undo us.

[ Mortals, particularly men, are fragile. They’re shortsighted and bound to a fleeting existence, whereas the divine are anything but. Prayers are as dangerous as they are humbling by providing humanity with an intangible venue to speak freely. ]

The gods’ designs are beyond mortal comprehension. To bear their words is a heavy blessing—one that comes with a price.

[ She needn't even ask what price. Whereas she would never consider herself a god herself, her brother certainly did. Whereas she is no god, she certainly demanded a heavy price from the unworthy who dared to touch her crystal. And even for the one that did become worthy... the price was far too great in the end. Indeed, she took everything from him.

Internally, she struggles with the answers he gives. Externally at most, her brow knits with complex guilt.

She chances at glance at Somnus. He's an envoy of sorts, he says. And his descendant is blessed by multiple gods in his world. Knowing this and associating what information she's been fed piecemeal to the circumstances of the man who had awakened her... it must have been excruciatingly difficult for Somnus as well. She does not know if he's paid the price in full yet, either. ]

[ She smiles gently, surmising that given the above, she's going too far with her questions. ]

...Ah. This... must be difficult topic for you. [ It must be, whether or not she's projecting the hardships and tragedies that man went through onto Somnus. ]

I'm sorry for questioning. [ She exhales. ] A spa trip... it's supposed to be relaxing, mm?

[ No more difficult than the last or those before it. Inhaling through parted lips, he exhales in tandem with the fall of his shoulders as he looks forward. If she questions, he can only answer.

It isn’t his place to speak, but he offers this: ]

Your thoughts need not wander here. Even in silence, you are not alone.

[ She wishes to experience the springs, and she’s brought him along to ensure that her thoughts don’t run rampant on their own. Questions or no, he’ll be here while she releases any built-up tension into the waters. ]

[ From the way his shoulders fall slightly, it seems he did have a tension from those questions. Why did he not tell her that she had prodded enough? This is something she'll have to keep in mind in the future.

His words are kind, still. ]

...Not at the cost of being too [ Curious. Questioning. Intrusive. ] nosy.

[ And for as much as she observes others, she is not a mind-reader. She can only guess when she's asking too much, if he says nothing. How will she know if she has hurt him, if he keeps everything to himself? Hence, her apology for not realizing sooner of just what she was doing. ] Aah, [ She cringes lightly, weaving a joking tone into her voice. ] now I'm the one without manners!

[ Divine beings aren’t required to have manners. Those are a social construct, and to expect them from beings who rule above mortals is absurd. Not that he can say this, nor does he.

For Somnus, the easiest way to indicate that no offense has been taken is to move on. She came here to relax, so he steers them toward the subject of their environment. ]

How is the water?

[ She recognizes the subject change for what it is worth. ] ...It's wonderful. [ Saying this, she sways their joined hands together, creating a ripple that expands throughout the surface.

And then she goes into guiding their conversation into mundane, but pleasant matters: the quality of this virtual reality, the realism and sensations she feels-- see here, it's actually as if she's truly holding his hand!-- and how impressive their technology is. Of course she doesn't speak all at once, but seeks his input (and opinions, if he may give them), but this time she refrains from prodding too much.

Eventually the conversation will diminish, and she will settle into a comfortable rest against the back of the seat of the springs. She encourages him to do the same: to close his eyes and breathe, relax, and... simply hold her hand.

Then, and only then, they will leave afterwards. ]

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♥ November Event Log

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