♥ 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

[pinkmin]

So strong.

[That one was more hushed than usual, just a little comment to herself. She started to tilt her head out of habit before she caught herself, lightly tapping Lup's knee instead as she spoke back up.]

That sounds like very many...! Do you have favorites?

[necromanswers]

Oh, sure. Mongoose or cat is always fun. Sometimes I get antsy with people touching me, but they make it very profitable to get over that here, right? So I'll Polymorph and wander around town once in a while. You'd be amazed how many people will stop to pet a cat.

[Well, maybe it wouldn't amaze her. This kid seems like the sort of person who would do just that.]

I like dragons, too. Now that's real power.

[pinkmin]

[Vianca hummed along instead of nodding. It made perfect sense that cats and such would be conducive to mad profits. Small animals were always the key to easy affection. She'd seen enough of that at the academy to know! ... And yeah she'd definitely stop to pet a cat she knew, if she knew many cats.]

... A dragon? [That came out a little squeaky in her surprise.] A full-sized dragon?

[While she was very aware that there were so many things that were stronger than dragons, a dragon was still kind of really huge to someone so tiny and easily squished.]

[necromanswers]

[Lup laughs, not unkindly.]

Not a full-sized dragon! They're huge, I can't think of a single spell powerful enough to turn someone into one of those. But something a little smaller can be done, depending on the kind of dragon. From the little ones in the temple here, up to maybe the size of a house.

[Still pretty huge to a little girl - or a plant-bug-thing - but not the gargantuan monstrosities that ancient dragons are when fully grown.]

[pinkmin]

[Definitely still big enough to accidentally snort her pikmin form up its nose by accident, which was Very Very Big, and thus still Very Very Impressive.]

A whole house! [Oh hold on, she wheezed a little. Let her just cough out this excitement for a moment.] ... That's-- very exciting.

[necromanswers]

Whoops! Don't strain yourself, kiddo. You're quiet enough as it is, wouldn't want you to lose your voice.

[Seems as if the placid cuddling isn't enough, though, so Lup draws back a few inches to lift her hands and begin brushing gently through the girl's hair in a way she hopes will be soothing.]

The trick of Polymorph is holding on to who you are while you're doing it. You don't want to turn into something and then forget how to be a person.

[pinkmin]

[We won't talk about the time she stopped talking. It wasn't a very pleasant time. And yet, it was a time when EVA had still been at the school. She hadn't minded how quiet Vianca was at all, and used to brush Vianca's hair just like this. It had been such a long time since then.

Vianca was still feeling just enough under the weather that she didn't have her reservations about the touch, finding it both comforting and just a little bit sad. It's doing its job though, and Vianca relaxed even more in Lup's lap.]

That makes sense... You're just borrowing it for a little while. Is it hard to remember sometimes?

[necromanswers]

[Lup hums a soft affirmative, fingers deftly weaving as she begins a little braid. She's starting to get ideas, now that she's closer to the flower in the girl's hair, though she's careful not to disturb it as she works.]

Sometimes. It's usually a problem when I turn into things that are really small- things that aren't very smart. Dragons are as wise as people, they can talk and cast magic of their own. A cat knows right from left, can understand speech, follow directions- that's all well and good. But turning into a moth is a gamble on whether you do what you plan on doing, or if you'll fly right into a lantern and end up on fire.

[pinkmin]

[Should Lup's fingers happened to stray that close, she'd be able to find slim, sturdy pink stem that was carefully hiding beneath all that other softer pink. Hello there.

It felt really nice, as much as Vianca kind of wished it didn't. It'd be easier not to miss it that way. For now, she just closed her eyes and let herself enjoy it.]

Ah. That would not be very good. And a caterpillar might just want to eat, or an ant could get caught up finding its colony... Not the most helpful things to do.

I guess if you wanted to be small, you'd want to aim just a bit bigger.

[necromanswers]

[Hello there, indeed. She does not miss the flower, and it's easier to recognize it since she saw it on her miniature form as well; since it looks like a living part of Vianca, she carefully keeps her fingers from straying too close and pulling on it by accident.

Instead as she weaves the braid in place, there's a soft and subtle tingle of magical essence around her fingers, and as she finishes it a tiny green flower vine twists around the end, following her finger as she trails it up the length, ending in a tiny, pale yellow flower bud to compliment the pink already there. Satisfied, Lup moves to do another.]

If size is important for what you're trying to do, rats are intelligent enough to handle most situations. Spiders, too. The spell allows for a lot of creativity.

[pinkmin]

[It's not very intrusive magic, but there's just enough of something there so close to something so sensitive to give Vianca a light, pleasant shiver. Of course, that might have just been from all this delicate play with her hair. Something was going on back there, but Vianca was content with the mystery for now.]

It does sound very versatile... Can you turn into things from other worlds too?

[Since she'd been to so many places!]

[necromanswers]

Sure, I've done that. It usually takes some work, though. I have to know what the creature is, how it functions, some details about it... it's not just by sight, I have to understand what it is.

[Deftly she threads another braid, adding a new flower to the set. She's making a crown, it's going to be hella cute.]

Sometimes if it's close enough to another creature I know, though, I can fake the rest and just have it look the way I want it to.

[pinkmin]

[The cutest she would ever be.]

That makes sense, it needs grounded in something... Would it work if you made up your own creature?

[necromanswers]

'Fraid not! Polymorph is literally changing your body into something new. If it doesn't exist, you can't make it real. That's kind of like playing god, y'know?

[She considers the question for a moment longer, though, then adds,]

You can do that kind of thing with illusions.

[pinkmin]

[She made a soft affirmative sound. Playing god usually... did not go well.

But then--]

Illusions? Can you make those too?

[How strong is So Strong!!]

[necromanswers]

[So very strong...!]

Sure. Remember that thing I put on your hand when we met? It disappeared pretty soon after, right? [Like, oh... an hour later.] That was an illusion.

[pinkmin]

Oh, yes, the flower.

[Vianca held up her hand to look at it, as if talking about it was going to make it come back. She knew it wouldn't, but she could still see it there in her memory.]

I see... [She paused, thinking about this. These were so many things that one person could do.] Are there things you can't do?

[necromanswers]

Oh sure, loads. Most of my spells have limits, I can only cast a certain number each day. And I can't do things that don't fall under the spell's specific ability- one called Burning Hands can't give me fire breath, for example.

[She delicately brushes out a little knot, long nails stroking like a massage as she works.]

And I'm squishy. Wizards can't take a hit worth beans, so I have to be careful not to pick fights that I can't handle. I can't heal, and I'm not very good with making shields.

[pinkmin]

[There was a little shiver that followed those gentle strokes, but there wasn't any move to pull away from it. 'Squishy' earned the tiniest little poke on Lup's leg, as if that was what she had meant and it needed confirming.]

Not a lot of people like to admit the things they aren't good at.

[At least not at fight!school. That probably would have been a useful class.]

No wonder you are very strong.

[necromanswers]

Oh, believe you me, I know that well.

[She used to live with a bunch of rowdy boys- and more importantly she grew up with Taako, who would be good at everything if he could have it his way.]

Downside of claiming to be good at everything is that people expect you to follow through with it, and then you just make a fool of yourself.