Hugtopia Logs

When you awaken, you're in the last outfit you remember wearing, and (up to) three of your belongings are laid nearby or your animal friend curled up beside you, waking up as you do. A stone slab is not the most comfortable place to sleep, but once you're awake, a humanoid-looking robot enters the room and explains that you're in Havenwell, then leads you out of the room and into the main portion of the temple where a welcoming committee of similarly humanoid-looking robots hand over a clear smartphone-sized tablet, some starting funds, and explain their dilemma. Then they release you into Havenwell to pick your new home from free housing in the city and give you the chance to settle. It might be a bit disorienting, but thankfully there seem to be a lot of robots and even some non-robots around. Maybe ask them for help? Strike up a friendly conversation, get to know your neighbours! It seems as if you may be here for the long haul.

After you're given an explanation of your situation, as well as your communication device, the priests are busy or shorthanded enough that there is little further guidance offered. Instead you are set loose to explore the city on your own, to take in the sights or find your own lodgings. The city is yours to discover! Go forth, and enjoy!

However, newcomers and current residents should beware: the arrivals are… sticky. Not noticeably so, of course, and they find no trouble moving place to place, but should they brush up against another person, or shake hands, or collide in any way- they will find themselves… stuck. Magically, inexplicably. The hold is not painful unless they pull too hard, but no amount of tugging will release them. However, should the initial point of contact be too awkward, switching areas can release another. Characters attached at the hip can swap for handholding, glued chests can trade to shoulder-to-shoulder. They have to figure that out first, of course, but it may ease some awkwardness out of the encounter.

This effect can last up to half an hour before characters are released for good. There is a cooldown period in the aftermath, a few minutes perhaps, but further contact will repeat the process all over again. Best to duck and run once you're free, unless you're into that sort of thing.

The weather within the city's barrier may be artificial, but that doesn't mean that the culture is fake, too! A full rotation around the sun has concluded, bringing with it their own year-end celebration. And as they've come to know their visiting residents, they have begun to recognize many similarities between seasons, calendars, and even some holidays, too. With your arrival, they know that their world has a chance of recovery, and they want to continue to show their appreciation for your efforts. The changes have been subtle in the months since the gods started to draw in their saviours, but even with such hiccups as the broken wall in recent times, there have been improvements in ways that may not be apparent to the non-natives. A new year will surely bring new changes, recovery, fresh starts.

From within the temples, priests are beginning to march out with various decorations, tassels, lanterns, and fresh new colours to decorate the area with. Not only is it a new year, but something else is coming, something loud and celebratory, though the residents themselves are keeping mum about what, exactly. To incorporate their visitors' cultures and designs at the same time, however, residents are encouraged to visit any temple at their convenience or pleasure and join in the design process. There are craft tables, ranging from basic (for the younger or less skilled, such as kites or papercraft) to intricate and advanced designs (like glass lanterns or embroidery). Those less creatively-inclined are welcome to use their various skills, magics, or just ladder-balancing talents to help with the decoration installations around town. Many hands make light the work, after all.

Come hang out, do some art, form a knitting club! It's a great way for new people to meet their neighbours, perhaps share a little bit of their own culture with this world that is to be, at least for now, their new home.

The limited edition drink selection has been so popular (weird side effects and all) that the priests and the scientists of Experiment 73 have carried on serving it, though as the month begins the promo booths around town have mostly been taken down in favour of allowing for the town decorations, hence they are more sparse than they were last month. However, in exchange, these drinks are now temporarily available in the at-home replicators as well! There are five drinks in total to choose from and you should certainly try them. When you take a sip of these exquisitely delicious (honest! For once they're good) beverages, prepare yourself for a little trick with your treat.

• Ginger and Honey Tea: A hot, thoroughly warming drink with the bite of ginger and the sweetness of honey. Drink this and you'll be shored up against the cold, but also feel compelled to tell or blurt out the truth. Whether you're asked a question or trying to tell a little white lie, you find you can't say anything but the truth. This effect lasts for up to an hour after drinking the tea.
  
• Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie: A cold sweet treat of vanilla smoothie topped with sweet strawberry pieces and whipped cream. At the bottom, you'll find a layer of sweet sponge cake cut up into pieces. Drink this with its own special thick straw and enjoy the taste of cake; and the effect of a personal miniature snow cloud that appears over your head. The cloud dusts you and your immediate area within a foot of you with beautiful multicolored snow - and that snow leaves splotches of color behind that last for up to an hour after drinking the smoothie.
  
• Hot Cinnamon Apple Cider: A deliciously steamy beverage that tastes of apple and cinnamon and comes with a cinnamon stick stirrer for effect. This beverage smells as delicious as it tastes and the aroma wafts around the area more strongly than the others. Drink this penultimate holiday drink and you'll find yourself heating up so much that you'll want to stay cold by giving your heat away via holding someone else. You'll want to be everyone's personal heater for up to an hour after drinking the cider.
  
• Gingerbread Latte: A nice piping hot latte with the hint of gingerbread threaded through the coffee, topped with whipped cream and dusted with gingerbread spice. Served in a tall red cup that seems to transfer the heat uncannily well through its thin walls, sip this and you'll find yourself painlessly sprouting an animal's appendage at random. You can have one functioning or non-functioning, cosmetic animal appendage like a cat's ears, a dog's tail, a duck's beak or whatever else you can think of for up to an hour after drinking the latte. They can replace your original body part (e.g. your ears become cat ears) or grow superfluously (e.g. you have regular ears AND cat ears). You can move the appendages or talk with them as if they are your own, but they don't confer any special magical powers with them. So you can fly with those griffin wings, sure, but you're going to need to put the effort into it.
  
• Hot Mulled Wine (alcoholic): This one isn't for children - and in fact, under 18 people might find it hard (but not impossible, be industrious, little ones!) to get their hands on this drink. Red wine is heated with spices and citrus fruit over low heat for several hours - or it would if it wasn't all synthetically created. The effect is the same though, a delicious adult beverage that's a nice way to spend an evening with someone special. And you'll want them to be someone special because drinking the hot wine makes you inclined to get a little steamy with people. Kisses, both chaste and passionate, seem to alleviate the urge which you'll be under for up to an hour after drinking the wine.