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heartstorage) wrote2023-12-22 02:20 pm
January Event Log
January Event Log
Dominant Element: Water
Waning Element: Fire
Full Moon: January 24th - January 26th
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Did you enjoy the perfect winter during the holidays? Well now it's time to endure true winter. As we move into January, the Spirit vein in the sky will turn to hues of blue as the water element dominates once more. And with it, the weather turns bitterly cold, with temperatures rarely going above the single digits (in farenheit) and often dipping well below zero. There are also regular snow falls that will do a lot to slow up traffic and just make life all around miserable. And don't forget the ice. There is ice everywhere, and salt does not work at these low temperatures. Suffer.
Winter FestivalThe changing seasons bring with it a lot more snow. There are heavy flurries on the regular, creating vast snowdrifts around the city. It's pretty cold, so it's best to bundle up warm! There's plenty of winter activities around the city to keep yourself occupied with. Kami State Park has a pretty impressive ice palace to wander around. It even has a couple of ice hotel rooms and an ice bar for those who really want to commit to the bit. One of the rooms in the palace is hosting a Triple Triad tournament. It's a card game much like Magic the Gathering and as one would expect, there are a lot of hyper-competitive nerds ready to do battle against you. A few tables are set to one side with more helpful people willing to teach newbies how to play the game- and have less...intense rounds of the game. But perhaps your competitive nature will get the better of you - there is a prize of an impressive(??) Golden Cactaur trophy at stake, after all.
Blue Fish Park also has plenty of winter activities to check out. Blue Fish Lake still has ice skating on it, but a section has also been cordoned off for an ice fishing competition. There is a promise that any fish over 4 pounds brought to the judge's table will be rewarded with a pair of magical mittens which create snowballs in the user's hands. FUN! There's also a snowman-building competition for teams of up to four people if you want a more sedate wintery activity. The prize is a box of assorted hot chocolates. Finally, if you wish to do battle, a snowball fight can be found running on the regular. There are no prizes for winning this. Only honor.
The Kitsune who inhabit the park are, of course, trying to run their usual racket with all of this. They have fishing lures they promise will catch only the biggest of fish, and a "magic" shovel that shovels TWICE the level of snow with the same amount of effort! Get it now for the low, low price of your deepest darkest secret or your most precious item. The fishing lures do actually work for once, but the shovels are just basic-ass shovels. They literally bought them from Walmart. People saw them do it.
The Masquerade BallThe Gold Saucer has been a presence in the Entertainment District since year one. This month, however, it is going all out, sending flyers out all over the city, inviting people to partake in everything the casino has to offer. You might even find a voucher for a free turn at one of the many games they have to play to entice you inside. The Casino is brightly lit, noises from games and attractions pulling you in every direction- all loudly demanding your attention. The same awful but earworm-y tune plays in speakers no matter where you go. You can't escape it. You will be humming it to yourself later.
There are all manner of games and rides to keep you entertained here. Perhaps you'd like to test your strength with an oversized mallet? Or shoot basketballs into a hoop before the timer runs out? Perhaps you would like to chop a fake tree with a (worrying real) axe? There are, of course, plenty of slot machines and claw machines too, as you would expect in any casino. All provide tickets for a myriad of prizes- though nothing seems to be all that useful. It's largely fancy hats and stuffed chocobos. A theatre is also found in the casino, with a fashion show held on daily for those who want to win a small cash prize for putting the best outfit together.
The main attraction in the Gold Saucer is the chocobo racing. You will find large, saddled birds in stables, waiting to be ridden. The jockeys are happy to give you riding lessons, and if you're good enough, you can join in with one of the races in the Gold Saucer's stadium- you'll get a pretty nice cash prize if you place high enough. Or perhaps you would rather watch from the stalls, making bets on your favourites. Either way, it's clear everyone in the casino is very into this- and they shall not hear a bad word said about their giant chicken mounts. Maybe you'll be swept up in this chocobo fever.
Looking to get away from the winter cold? This might be a good time to take a vacation in a new stable realm that appeared on Kaisou beach. Through a gate made of rocks, you'll find the tropical resort realm of El Nido, which some long time users of the app might remember from the first summer. Enjoy a day or weekend in the sun in this tropical resort, or go on a dangerous pirate adventure. Hey, even being beaten up by a kraken beats a cold so tough it'll freeze your breath, right?
The Crystal Tower AppearsOn the night of January 4th, the Spirit Vein in the sky will appear to be more active than usual, with the energy crackling and changing. And then, around midnight, there will be a large burst of light over Central Square- and a giant crystal tower will now appear in the once destroyed area of town. Those who come from Eorzea will recognize it immediately as the Crystal Tower.
It's not until the next morning that Zodiac will send out an alert.
ALERT: SPIRIT REALM ANAMOLY DETECTED IN CENTRAL SQUARE.
Element Classification: Unknown
Danger Level: Unknown
Designation: Crystal Tower
A strange tower has appeared in Central Square. Zodiac sent agents to investigate, but were unable to enter the tower as we lacked the proper "key". We cannot say what's within the tower, but we are detecting a number of dangerous lifesigns within. Please come to the Zodiac offices for follow-up.
The mood in the Zodiac office is definitely a lot less festive than last month. While Zodiac is used to dealing with gates and small things appearing in the city, nothing on the scale of the tower has shown up before. For many of them, it's an uncomfortable reminder of November and how close the city teeters into the Spirit Realm. If you ask what they know, they state that they know very little about the tower. What they can tell is that the tower only seems accessible by people of certain energy signatures. They estimate that perhaps the Libra app users will have the ability to get in there and check it out.
As usual, the Professor (fuzzy) is also there. But if you ask him what's going on, all he's got is a big shrug. Crystal towers appearing out of nowhere isn't usually a normal situation in history. He does warn you guys to be extra careful though, since he has a bad feeling about this.
Once you've made preparations, it's time to head towards Central Square. The tower now takes up most of the area where Orochi had appeared. It's huge and made entirely of luminenscene crystals. At the front, is a massive golden gate. From appearances, it looks to be sealed. However, if an app user touches the door, it will respond to you and open up. It seems that it will only open up for people who are on the Libra app. Well, that's convenient. Here's hoping you guys can handle whatever lies in wait.
The EntranceAs you enter the Crystal Tower, you find yourself in a great hall made of stone and the same shining blue crystal. It's clear that wherever this tower came from, it was a remarkable feat of engineering. There are two pathways. The first pathway leads down to the basement, which seems for now to be completely sealed off no matter what you try (it's probably fine and won't come up later). The second pathway, that is open, leads up the great tower. They'll need to head up this second pathway if they wish to clear out this tower and get to the bottom of it's appearance.
So onward you go, up a set of crystal stairs. It's not long before you encounter your first room and obstacle. This room is massive and cluttered, full of books and broken down computer-devices that look like the out of a fantasy novel than any electronic store. At the far end is a locked door, with only some strange spherical indentations on either side. Before it, on a pedestal, is a singular sphere that's glowing with magical energy. Looking around, you'll find other indentations that you can try to put the sphere into. Sometimes it'll cause no effect, and sometimes it'll cause lights to glow and hidden walls to open up, granting you another sphere. Other spheres may be hidden behind puzzles, and there is one hidden in an old computer monitor. Your job is to find all the sphere's possible and put them in the door, unlocking the door. The catch however? There spheres are enchanted so that only one can be carried at a time- even if you have multiple people. So unlocking everything in this ancient escape room will take awhile.
Once you're past the door, you'll enter a small corridor with the only thing inside, off to the side, is a person-sized crystal. Touching the crystal will heal any injuries you might have acquired and help you feel more rested. There is also some kind of magical sense of security when you touch the crystal. Like as long as you touch crystals like this, everything will be okay. Surely there is nothing worrying past this room.
Well no, turns out that's a lie. Once you leave the corridor with the crystal, you'll enter a big, open room with a draconic corpse in the center. Approach it, and the corpse will jerk to life as an undead dragon. Behind you, the door magically seals itself and traps you in the room with the dragon. You're left with no choice but to fight for your lives. Try to avoid the dragon's lashing tail and sharp, deadly claws, and make sure you stay out of range of its breath attack. If you're not careful, it'll paralyze you with fear.
Thankfully, this particular dragon is not especially difficult to handle if you manage to dodge its attacks. You could beat it up the old fashioned way, with swords and fists and elemental magic, or you could just cast a healing spell on it. A few of those and this dragon will fall without much fanfare. Once it's dead, the doors will open up and you can proceed.
However, should luck not go your way and you fall to the dragon? If you had touched the crystal, you'll find yourself waking up right next to the crystal with your injuries all healed. Glory to the save crystal.
The Room of MirrorsThe path continues, leading you up what must be a thousand crystal stairs. Along the way, you'll run into a number of monsters. From pesky flying beasts with one eye, to floating fireballs that'll grow and size and denonate if not taken out fast enough, to... produce gone rouge? None of these are too difficult if you're skilled at combat, but be sure to protect those in your party that may need it. Remember, teamwork is how you'll get through this
.
When you reach the top of the stairwell, you'll be faced with another puzzle room. This time, instead of a clear door at the other end, there's a set of four full-length wall mirrors. Above each of the mirror is etched a giant roman numeral that marks each door: VI, VII, VIII, and IX. The way onward is through one of these mirrors. On upon examination, you'll find that two of the mirrors are just ordinary mirrors. One of the mirrors, the correct answer, will disappear and expose the door to the next room.
However, if you're unlucky and pick the last mirror? Your reflection will step out of the mirror, taking physical form. This mirror reflection of you will have all the abilities and strengths you have, but at the forefront of them? Are also all your weaknesses and flaws that you don't like about yourself. They will speak out thoughts that you rather keep unspoken, as they launch into an attack. Attempting to attack your own reflection? Will only increase the onslaught. Rather, you'll have to rely on your friends to beat back this foe. As I said, teamwork is key.
The answer of which is the real door will change every time a new group enters the room, so you can't tell others coming after you what the answer is. Though there are clues on the side wall of the room in the form of a mural which also changes. Depending on what the right door is, the mural will cycle between four paintings: magitek armors, seven meteorites, eight warriors wielding gunblades, and a girl summoning nine different monsters. Observe the mural and count the number of objects in the mural, and that'll show you which door to take each time.
Once you're past the hall of mirrors, you will find another corridor with a yet another lovely save crystal. You've been through the ringer so far, so it's best to take a quick rest and touch the crystal. Folks may be recognizing a pattern to this now, and may want to prepare for whatever fight lies ahead.
Sure enough, past the corridor is another large room with a monster inside. This time? It's a... a giant, walking cactus. Unlike the undead dragon before, this guy moves fast and is surprisingly agile despite its size. He'll easily dodge a lot of attacks, so you'll have to coordinate to make sure you get hits on him. Sometimes, he'll slow down but that's only to unleash his own barrage: 10,000 cactus needles that shoot towards a person from its head. Should get you get hit by the full brunt of the attack? Well, you best hope you touched that crystal in the previous room, because you'll be waking up next to it after being made a pin cushion.
When the giant Cactuar is finally defeated, it'll spin around and fall to the ground before disappearing into light. Now, it's time to move ahead to the next section of the tower.
BetrayalAs you enter the third stratum, you'll be faced with yet more stairs. These stairs, like the previous set of stairs, are crawling with monsters. On top of the monster types from earlier, there are now strange green lizard guys that are slowly coming up the stairs after you. They look fairly harmless--they just seem to be carrying kitchen knives--but don't let one catch you. If you do, they'll stab you and send you right back to the last save crystal. Survive this gauntlet, and the way will be clear to the next roadblock.
Or, maybe not a roadblock? By now you're pretty familiar with how this supposedly goes, but instead of a puzzle or anything awaiting you there is just a familiar corridor with another familiar save crystal. Should you approach it, eager to heal yourself after your latest ordeal... it'll turn red and spring to life- attacking you with strong magical attacks. This thing is no save crystal, but a crystalbug, and it is here to make your life hell. It'll dance around and cast spells at you, informing you that it's hungry for payment. Toss it of something of high value, such as a lot of money or a precious item, and the crystal bug will consume it before turning blue and becoming a regular save crystal.
Or, if you rather not give up your valuables, you could beat the shit out of it for this great act of betrayal. That works too.
Once you've recovered from the betrayal and healed up, you can progress onto the boss fight room. A giant behemoth stands before you, blocking the next set of stairs. Once you walk in that door seals behind you, it rears up on its hind legs with a roar, shaking the room and causing massive boulders to fall from the ceiling. Other than it's massive size and ferocity, this fight seems fairly straightforward as the behemoth stomps and gnashes as it tries to attack you. Fairly straightforward, that is, until it starts to draw in magical energy in the center of the room and shooting out magic attacks. Hopefully you didn't let it destroy all of those boulders, because you need to take cover and fast.
Defeat the king behemoth, and your way is clear.
Torn From the HeavensSomehow, this tower is not yet done throwing stairs at you, though these have fewer monsters to fight on the way up. Still, it's a long, long trek up this last set of stairs to the top. There is one final save crystal. This one is a perfectly normal, trustworthy save crystal. Honest.
At the top is a throne of crystal and gold, and on it sits... not a king, but a bard. He sees you come in and with a flourish of his cape you are whisked off to... somewhere else. Once the dizziness from the bard's magic settles, you're able to see that you weren't actually transported anywhere. Instead the top of the tower's been changed from a throne to an auditorium filled with inactive mechanical dolls, and no sign of the bard.
Then, the spotlights come on and focus on you, and the dolls sitting in the chairs all start to clap and cheer and talk excitedly about how this performance was going to be the best yet, with so many wonderful actors. One doll comes over to shoo you out of the audience and over to backstage, handing out scripts and costumes as it goes. You need to put on an opera to appease the rambunctious dolls in the audience and fast.
The opera itself is a fairly classic tale. A love triangle, kidnapping, dragons, things blowing up--nothing too complicated to follow. You can even improvise as necessary! With a few exceptions. There are some scenes that the audience expects to be done a certain way. Mess it up, and they'll get rowdy and loud until they're reset and you're told to do the scene again, correctly this time. If you attempt to attack the dolls or refuse to perform, the performance will get reset all over again. Eventually, though, you'll reach curtain call and be free of this particular hell.
Once you finish your curtain calls, the platform will return to its previous appearance, bard and all. The bard stands, applauding, before introducing himself as Amon.
With bravodo, he'll give a monologue:
"My, my, what a fantastic show you've put on… with a little encouragement, that is. It brings to mind a story.
"Once, in an ancient land forgotten by history, there was a great empire. Its emperor was a mighty god, mightier than death itself. But who could grant him such power? Who, indeed… The man named Amon, his most loyal servant, at first sought greater meaning in the world. He searched for meaning in his emperor's actions, in the pursuit of his own science and the limits of life and creation. And do you know what he found?
"Nothing. There is no meaning in life or death. This world is a hollow and pointless endeavor. It is only a cruel play, its actors drafted by the gods, so we might fail at their leisure. We are all destined for destruction—yes, even you, heroes! All will turn to ash and be nothing more than a ghost of a memory. At the end of the universe, our lives are but a dull, dying gasp.
"You may struggle against your fate. You may even kill me, a laughable clone of the man who walked in the shadow of the sun. But you cannot change what is to come."
And with that, the battle begins.
Amon is perhaps the most difficult fight you've had in this tower. While not hard to hit, he's sturdy and will take many really hard hits to take down. As you fight, he'll sometimes summon strange platforms before causing the tower to quake. If you get on the platforms, you won't fall down and can keep hitting him. Other times he'll turn people into frogs or giant snakes just to cause you more difficulities. Sometimes he'll do both! Have fun with that.
Sooner or later, though, you will defeat the clone of Amon. He lets out a weak sort of laugh before dissipating entirely. Those who were transformed by Amon will revert back to their original forms soon after, and all the mechanical dolls will cease to work. There's a calm stillness in the air. The tower is now finally safe.
After all of that, the tower is cleaned out and safe for anyone and everyone to explore. Unlike previous spirit realms, there's no indication that this place will go away at the end of the month. Rather, it's here to stay and still only accessible to Libra App Users. So, now comes into the question of what one could do with it. Now that the monsters have been cleared out, there's smaller side rooms that open up within the hall- perfect places one could convert into residental dwellings, if one so chooses. Not to mention, there's the fact that you now have an entire civilization's worth of technology and information you can study and experiment with. Studying the place will reveal the tower was one built to harvest energy. Perhaps if you could get that part activated once more... who knows, maybe it could be put into good use in the future.
There's a lot of options to consider, and a lot of work to be done. But still, at least you've made some good progress for now.
The dominant element this month is Water! Anyone with an affinity to the water element will find themselves boosted throughout the month. This could mean a boost to their power, having more energy, feeling more inspired with creativity, having better luck on different attempts -- the boost can manifest in all sorts of different ways. By contrast, anyone with an affinity for Fire will be experiencing the opposite. Perhaps their powers will be weaker, they have less energy, they're having a creative block or general worse luck - again it can manifest in all sorts of way and players are free to play with this mechanic as they'd like.
The original OOC plotting post for this event can be found here. Another Zodiac Post will be going up January 15th to serve as an intro post for new characters and allow characters to react to developments over the network.