kaisou | July Event Log

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July Event Log

July Event
Dominant Element: Water
Waning Element: Fire

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Summertime in the city continues! Throughout the month, the daytime hours will be scorching hot. Not only that, but due to the water element being in effect- everything will be miserably humid, making everything feel much worse. Make sure to dress for hot weather, or hide yourself away in an air conditioned building. The nights will be cooler and give some reprieve, but even then the humidity will be sticking around. About once a week, the city will experience a heavy thunderstorm. More on those in a bit!

Freedom & Fireworks

As June ends and July begins, the Pride flags are put away for an absurd amount of red, white and blue ones. Like any American city this time of year, Kaisou has plenty to do for the national holiday. All over the city you will see the classic red, white and blue. Blue Fish Lake Park is having a summer block party to celebrate the holiday. You can go there to hear some live music or play some games like cornhole (where you stand at a distance and try to throw beanbags into the hole), three-legged races, or tug-of-war. There's also plenty of delicious grilled and barbequed food to be had, such as hamburgers, ribs, shish kabobs, potato salad, shaved ice, and of course the coveted mac and cheese.

If you're truly brave enough, there's a chili cooking competition you can enter. Just about every other entry comes from an ancient secret family recipe and they are insistent it is the best. At some point, the competition will get so heated a large fist fight will break out over whether beans should be in chili. The goose will attempt to knock over your pot of chili before it can be judged. There are tears shed. You suspect the grand prize winner bribed the judges. Regardless of your behavior, you manage to make several enemies.

Of course, no Fourth of July is complete without fireworks. And boy, are there fireworks. So. Many. Fireworks. The city will have its grand firework show over Blue Fish Lake, which is an impressive and professional display of pyrotechnics. But the fireworks don't end with just the professional show, as there's plenty of private residents playing with their own sets of explosives. While Kaisou has some laws on the books about many types of fireworks being banned, it's obvious that a lot of people completely ignore that law. Smaller fireworks and sparklers can be purchased in normal stores, while the bigger grade stuff can be found in more shady shops. Some vendors in Undertown will even sell enchanted fireworks that'll do more specialized imagery and movements than normal fireworks. Grab some fireworks to blow stuff up for freedom yourself, or find some earplugs - it's gonna be a loud weekend.

Stardew Valley and the Kanto regions can still be visited throughout the month, though there isn't anything new going on with them. Still, sometimes it's nice to retread some familiar ground.

Storm Season

With the spirit vein's summertime shift to the water element comes Kaisou's infamous storm season. About once a week, Kaisou will be hit by a heavy thunderstorm. Shortly before a storm arrives, storm sirens (warning: loud alarm sound) will sound off to warn citizens of potential danger. From there, characters will have a few precious minutes to seek shelter if they decide to do so.

True to their name, these storms will feature constant heavy lightning that can strike you if you aren't careful. Sudden heavy downpours will immediately soak anyone still outside and cause flooding in some areas and basements. Be careful not to drive into any standing water on the roads, as some flooding spots can get deep enough to submerge a car. While there's thankfully no tornadoes this year, there are strong straight line winds that can get up to 100mph, meaning they're strong enough to knock over trees, throw around lawn furniture, and damage the sides of buildings. And if all that wasn't enough, there's baseball-sized hail that'll easily take out a car window or cause some serious damage if it hits you.

These storms will only last a few hours, but they can cause plenty of damage. Power outages caused by down powerlines are common, causing blackouts in numerous neighborhoods from several hours to a full day before the lights come back on. The Zodiac building where otherworlders stay will also be susceptible to these blackouts, and anyone who decided to take the elevator during a storm will find themselves stuck in there for a half-day. Beyond that, there's plenty of volunteer and odd job opportunities focused around cleaning up fallen branches and other debris.

Commence the Beach Episode

On the morning of July 8th, Zodiac will send out an alert:

ALERT: SHIFTING GATE LOCATED ON KAISOU BEACH.
Element Classification: Water
Danger Level: Low on the mainland, high on the sea
Designation: El Nido
A new gate has been detected off Kaisou Beach. Initial scouting reports that the mainland is a peaceful beach resort, with plenty of amenities and less humidity. There are rumors of more dangerous elements should you take a boat and sail away from the mainland. Zodiac is unable to confirm what those dangers may be, so take precautions should you decide to do so. Zodiac is not liable for any injuries or deaths that may occur if you leave the mainland.
That said, Zodiac will provide compensation for any investigation reports or valuable items obtained in the realm.

If you swing by the Zodiac Headquarters, the mood of the office is rather relaxed. Some of the staff are talking amongst themselves visiting the realm to get a free vacation - it's not often you get a realm with few things trying to eat your face! If you ask about what happens if you leave the mainland of this realm, they will say that reports are full of untold dangers and bad luck. But what else can you expect from a high sea adventure? Professor Willow doesn't have much to offer, other than speculating if there's sea monsters in the water. Mostly he's occupied with data he's been gathering from the Kanto Realm. Seems pokemon are his first and always love. But as usual, you'll be able to rent out weapons and equipment from Zodiac.

The gate is a hard one to miss. While Kaisou Beach is packed this time of year with regular folks that are trying to cool off in the summer heat, off to the side there is a very noticeable rock formation that wasn't there before. The passage underneath the arch glows a tropical blue color and seems very inviting. Sure enough, that must be the gate. The normal people on the beach don't seem to notice its presence in the slightest, and it should be easy enough to slip past them to head into the realm.

El Nido: A Tropical Paradise

Upon entering the gate, you'll find yourself on a white sandy beach. While it's still warm, it's not the stifling humid heat that blankets the city. Instead, it's an ideal summer temperature, perfect beach weather. The skies and oceans are both an intense blue, the kinds of shades you see on postcards, with white fluffy clouds on the distance horizon of the ocean. Something about the entire scene already feels like a wondrous reprieve compared to previous realms.

As you walk along the beach, you'll come across a village resort. Rather than humans, the village is populated primarily by anthropomorphic birds of various types that are no bigger than waist size compared to a full grown adult. They welcome the visitors warmly, with happy chirps amid their words. They're used to humans visiting their place, so they have set up human sized lodging for people separate from their village to stay if they like. Payment wise they don't ask for much, mostly just things like birdseed, fruit, small rodents, interesting sticks, and other things birds enjoy. Overall they're a friendly and kind flock of birds, mostly interested in making sure your stay is a great one. However, if you do anything to mistreat the birds- you will quickly find yourself being swooped at and attacked by multiple birds.

The lodging is what you'd expect from an idyllic beach vacation. Despite this place being run by a bunch of small bird people, the human rooms are surprisingly modern, with proper indoor plumbing and electricity. There's a restaurant with all sorts of delicious tropical dishes and drinks (no bird meat though) and you can get room service for some extra birdseed. It's an extremely comfortable stay with varying room sizes, though due to the number of people visiting, some of you may end up getting roomed with another person. Or two.

As for activities, there's plenty you can do. You can go swimming in the ocean, even borrowing scuba gear so you can do some scuba diving and check out the gorgeous coral reefs around the island. You can go hiking and survey the breathtaking flora and fauna the land has to offer. You can stay close to the resort and treat yourself to a spa day by getting a relaxing bird-given massage or sitting in a hot tub. And don't forget fun beach games, like playing volleyball or making sandcastles. Or if you venture a little farther, you will find an amusement park situated on a pier over the ocean. You can ride the Ferris Wheel or the small roller coaster, eat carnival food (again, no bird meat), or play carnival games for fun prizes such as stuffed animals or t-shirts.

This is truly an idyllic, wondrous vacation. For once, you guys are getting nice things!

Yay a Pirate Adventure!

Too bad some of you refuse to just have nice things huh.

While you're staying in the resort, you may hear rumors floating among some of the birds, especially if you ask what lies beyond their island. They will say there's rumors that there's amazing treasure out there, if anyone is brave and strong enough to seek it out. However, if you press more about it, you'll find out that no one's actually ever returned from sailing out into the sea, so it's impossible to know if the rumors are true or not. They do try to caution you that it is very dangerous to go out there. Also, to try to avoid the pirate ship that sits on their shore, because obviously a pirate ship must have dangerous pirates aboard.

There's only one way to find out, right? As luck will have it, if you wander past the amusement park, you'll find a seafaring vessel next to a dock. It's a large pirate ship, one that is surely large enough to sail out on the ocean. It's the ship that the locals told you to stay away from, but surely it wouldn't hurt to have a look right? Characters who are 15 years or younger will find themselves unable to board unless they're accompanied by another older character - which also might be a telling sign. If you go on the pirate ship, the ship is somehow fully stocked and ready to go on an adventure, despite no clear sign of any crew. In the captain's quarters, there's a treasure map with a route that'll take them to some marked treasure as well as a small chest full of golden coins and gems. Below deck, they will find that there is plenty of food and drink to be had, as well as an entire wardrobe full of classic pirate clothes.

But be warned, trying to take anything from the ship will seal their fate. As they do so, they'll feel a burning sensation somewhere on their body as a skull-and-crossbones tattoo appears. They will also now be magically unable to leave the ship. After about 12 hours from the first person to try to take something, the ship will begin to set sail out into the ocean that so many people tried to warn you about. Looks like you signed up for a pirate adventure, whether you wanted to or not.

Oh No a Pirate Adventure

The pirate ship voyage will last about a week. Characters with the pirate mark will be forced to see it through to the end, even if they attempt to teleport out of there. The ship is enchanted to run itself, but there's books and guides in the Captain's quarters to teach how to run a ship in case you don't trust the ships autopilot. It might be wise to read up on that. Characters can still connect to the Libra network, but any other internet access will be cut off. Also you should take care not to waste your battery - as there's no electricity on the boat.

The trip will play out as followed:

Day 1: Smooth sailing! Characters will have time to adjust to their new sea life.

Day 2: The characters will make landfall on their first island. It's a barren dessert island, full of caves and quicksand. Near the shore, they will hear the call of sirens (img cw: nipples). These siren songs will be alluring to anyone who are attracted to women, making them fall into a trance. If you get too close to the sirens, they will attempt to drown and eat them.

Day 3: More sailing! The sailing is going through some choppy waters, with fog causing the visibility to get worse and worse. Halfway through the day a ghost ship tries to attack yours with cannon balls. Work together and fight them off before they sink you to the bottom of the ocean.

Day 4: You arrive at an island covered in bones. As in there are bones everywhere. Of course, there are many living skeletons here who will come out of the bone piles and try to murder you.

Day 5: It's smooth sailing until late into the day, when a kraken appears and tries to take down the ship. You can try to fight it off to buy time for other crew to make it to the lifeboats, but the sheer size and strength of the beast will eventually prevail- snapping the ship in half and dragging it down into the ocean. Try your best to survive by grabbing a lifeboat or using some ship debris to float.

Day 6: By morning, the now-shipless crew will wash up onto the shores of a new island. Unlike the last two islands, this is a tropical island that's full of life. It's the island that the treasure marked to have the treasure. Spend your day trying to gather what you lost and recovering. Traveling around the island is impossible to do all in one day. They will get halfway around before they need to camp for the night. You'll also have to be mindful of food and water, as all of that was lost with the ship.

Day 7: On the final day, they will finally make it to the other side of island and the spot of the treasure. Luckily there's some shovels nearby. Do some digging and they will unearth a treasure chest. Inside, there's various types of fine jewelry that is enchanted to give the wearer underwater breathing, and plenty of gold that when split among the crew - will give them each about $500 worth. There is also another ship on the shore here, one that looks just like the one you lost. This ship will sail once everyone is aboard, and take them back to the mainland by morning.

Aftermath

Those who were on the pirate adventure will find themselves returning safely to the resort. The bird people will be thrilled of their return and excited to hear of their stories. The tattoos appeared may begin to fade once the adventure is over, freeing them from the curse. Or if you rather, they can keep the tattoo on them for the memory.

The resort itself will be open for any and all visitors until the end of the month. Zodiac as well will be happy to pay you in compensation for any items you bring them. All ends that ends well, it seems.

OOC Notes

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.

This event is meant to be a low-key fun event! Have your character go on a very dangerous pirate adventure, or just relax in the resort! Anyone who goes on the pirate adventure will get a piece of jewelry that lets them breath underwater, and $500. Totally worth that level of danger right? Totally....

The original OOC plotting post for this event can be found here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Storm Season - OTA
Luca has been making sure to take an umbrella with him everywhere he goes since storms had been popping up, but even that isn't enough to protect him from the torrential downpour. Whenever he hears the siren, Luca races to the nearest cover, but it's not unusual for the rain to start before he can manage to get under an awning or into a store. He does his best to keep the rain off him using his umbrella, but with the force of the winds he's had several retreats that left him standing in the doorway of a store, frantically trying to wipe off any water and desperately hoping his scales would fade.

The second he sees anyone, Luca desperately tries to hide his arm or leg or any part of himself that's still scaley and fishy, all while desperately trying to act like nothing is wrong and divert attention from it. After all, Alberto had worked so hard to keep their secret and had made it very clear that letting everyone know was not a good idea. Luca doesn't want to throw all that away.

El Nido: A tropical Paradise - OTA
The second Luca hears from Zodiac about possible sea monsters in the water, Luca knows he must go. If there are sea monsters here (other than him and Alberto), then he wants to meet them but, more importantly, he wants to make sure they’re not hunted.

When he goes out to the beach, he doesn’t bother to change into proper swimming attire. Not only does he not have any proper swimming attire aside from the seaweed shorts he left at home, but he can’t wear swimming attire. Not now that he knows humans have some kind of weird ‘button’ in their belly that he doesn’t have. So he’s wearing a polo shirt, shorts and, as usual, no shoes as he goes to the beach and starts looking around. As he goes, he shows no interest in volleyball or any of the other recreational activities going on, instead he just keeps walking, focusing on the water while refusing to go near it.

As he works his way down the beach, whenever he finds a spot that doesn’t seem to have anyone around, he makes his way down to the water…but every time, he continues to look around nervously as he nears it, afraid of getting caught, and every time he takes so long that someone walks into sight before he manages to get in, so he ends up frantically scurrying back from the water before laughing nervously.

Eventually, after passing all the refreshment stands and hotel rooms and the amusement park, Luca comes across a dock with a large, foreboding ship tied there. Thinking that might be an excellent place to start, and that he can, at the very least, eavesdrop and see if they intend to hunt sea monsters, Luca walks up to it and tries to sneak onboard…only to hit an invisible wall.

“Oh, come on!”

This is that kid thing, isn’t it? It’s so unfair! There aren’t any adult sea monsters here, who’s he supposed to ask?

Pirate Adventure! – OTA (He’s got several threads planned including one with an adult, so if your character’s a kid feel free to assume at least one adult is present
On the first day Luca’s pretty relaxed, and he honestly doesn’t understand why this pirate adventure was age restricted. He can be found looking around the ship and exploring, dodging any water that gets splashed around and generally being curious. Eventually he ends up holing up in the captain’s quarters with an apple, snacking while reading the books.

On the second day, the ship ends up encountering sirens and Luca’s not sure how to feel about it. He’s not terribly surprised when their song has no effect on him, though naturally he assumes it’s because he’s a fish person. He’s wrong, but it doesn’t matter, since no matter the reason when he sees his crewmates trying to go overboard he’ll desperately try to stop them, fully intending to evade any questions as to why he’s not affected. He feels a bit conflicted, though. He and Alberto had been talking about wanting to find the sea folk of this world and now they finally had, and he desperately wants to meet them but…well, the fact that they’re trying to kill his human friends makes that kind of awkward. Still, he remembers how his mother firmly believed humans were only there to do murder, so he figures they just don’t understand that this humans aren’t there to kill them. It’s not long before he decides he needs to talk to them no matter what.

On the third day when the ship is attacked by the ghost ship, Luca doesn’t even try to be helpful. He’s not even sure of anything he could do that would be helpful. He doesn’t know anything about ghosts or how to survive them and he doesn’t have any special powers that would be useful here. Terrified, he runs to the lower deck and cowers in a corner, waiting for the booms and cracks of cannonballs against wood to stop.

On the fourth day he doesn’t do much better, and when the skeletons rise Luca runs and hides behind the nearest adult.

Throughout all of this, barring incidents that fill him with sheer terror, he’s feeling pretty good about things. Sure, there might have been things that were way too much for him to deal with, but he still feels like he did a pretty good job of sneaking around and keeping his sea monster nature under wraps. And then, on the fifth day, the kraken happened. At first Luca tries to keep a pretense of being human, rushing to one of the lifeboats and trying to dodge water as the Kraken’s tentacles splash around and attack the ship, but the lifeboat he’s in is only half lowered before a tentacle throws a giant wave of water onto everyone in the lifeboat, completely soaking Luca. He stares at the humans around him with sheer terror in his eyes before turning and diving into the water.

Ultimately, despite being afraid of how his crewmates might react to what he is, he does swim along in the same direction as them, watching in case any of them need help. Once everyone gets to the island, though, he shies away from any human members of the crew that didn’t already know what he was, wary and nervous about how they’ll react now that they know what he is.

Sirens – For Alberto
Luca is determined to meet the sea folk from this dimension. Sure, they’d been singing and trying to lure their human crewmates into the water, but Luca remembers how tense things were between sea folk and humans in his own world and he’s certain they’re only doing that because they think the humans are only here for murder. Maybe if they reason with them, these sea folk will see that the people on this ship are nothing to fear and will let them go. Besides, while the sea folk in this universe are clearly different than the ones back home, this is still the first time Luca’s seen people like them since they got here, and he wants to learn more about sea folk in this universe.

When Luca brought the idea up to Alberto, he seemed to be on board with the idea as well. Luca had read the books in the captain’s quarters, so he feels like he has a pretty good idea where they can find smaller boats on the ship that are meant to get them to shore if the big boat sinks, and he’s pretty sure he understands how to lower them into the water. So, during dinner, Luca signals to Alberto that they should slip away.

“Come on, this way,” he whispers while leading the way to the lifeboats.

Dinner with Luz – For Alberto and Luz (Takes place before the pirate adventure)
Luca’s excited to have Luz over and can’t wait to show off Alberto’s cooking. Sure, the recipes might seem simple by human standards, but Luca doesn’t have much of a concept of human standards. Besides, considering Alberto didn’t even know how to eat pasta that long ago, the fact that he knows how to cook it now is amazing.

Besides, it’ll just be fun hanging out with a new friend. Eager to help get things ready, Luca replaces any broken jars and sweeps up any broken glass, and generally looks around for anything out of place to fix up before she arrives just to have it looking nice, completely oblivious to how much the apartment looks like it's being lived in by aliens with little concept of human culture. Whether it’s the toaster that’s being used as a utensil holder or the coffee table made from an old wooden cheese box, a giant metal bowl filled with seashells and topped with a piece of glass, the small, overly cluttered apartment just generally gives a sense of being just a bit off from what most people would expect of a human

[Katsuki is hating this crazy weather. It comes on so suddenly that he feels like he's always running. And he's been tired constantly lately. It's one of those days when he's not quick enough. He's soaked when he gets under the awning, cursing his bad luck.]

This is getting fucking ridiculous...

[He shakes his head to get the water out of his hair, not paying any mind to the other person under the awning with him. Might want to scoot away there just a bit, Luca.]

[Some of the water from Katsuki's hair splatters Luca, and a small patch of scales rise up. Luca jumps away with a small yelp, frantically brushing off his arm and hoping to get it dry before this guy notices, not even realizing that there are a few scales showing on his face, too. He then shifts his position, trying to angle his body so the stranger next to him doesn't notice his scaley arm.]

Um...yeah, the weather's pretty bad...heh.

[The yelp draws his attention and he peers at Luca, taking note of how he's standing like he's very obviously trying to hide something.

Weird kid. Kaisou is full of them. His gaze drifts to those few scales on Lucas's face and then away. He has a hunch about who this is based on that. He doesn't have a name. He just knows Alberto had a best friend from back in his world who 'almost went to the deep'.

How in the hell did these kids evade detection this long? They're so careless. Running around outside with the weather like this?? He takes a breath and tries to keep his tone casual, if a bit annoyed. Last time he dealt with this it went bad, but he's not just going to let him stand there with scales on his face in case someone else comes along.]

Your face, kid.

[Luca reaches up to his face and...oh. Oops. Luca wipes his face off with a nervous laugh.]

I...um...guess I got something green on my face.

[An excellent and very convincing lie.]

[...don't call him a bad liar, Katsuki. Don't. Avoid the mistakes you made last time. No repeats of that, thanks.]

Wild guess. You're Ni--Alberto's friend?

Luca Paguro | Luca | OTA (With some closed prompts)

Storm Season

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Dinner with Luz!

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<-this icon is Luz's little artistic heart right now

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Pirate Adventure Day 5/6

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El Nido

Re: El Nido

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Sirens;

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