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

Bruno never saw coming to the spirit realm as consripting. Everyone came here via their own free will. He doesn't like Zodiac, but they sure as hell have never forced anyone to come here. He's lived here for seven months now, and coming into the spirit realm, doing anything for Zodiac, has always been 100% his choice. They're sketchy, to be sure, and he doesn't especially trust them, but that's as far as his concerns go.

At her question, he snorts in amusement.

"I live in a tower, heights are totally fine, Kiddo."

Luz had no choice but to wonder WHY she was here when she so much did NOT want to be here, had a whole host of things to worry about on the Boiling Isles. She'd been lucky enough to have Eda here who wanted to look after her so she didn't have to rely on them at all. But that being the case, Luz knew that there was going to be a reliance on older and younger people here, because they still all had to protect each other.

That answer catches her off guard though.

"You live in a tower?! Since when??"

"Uhhhhhh since I was five?"

It's a nice, easy answer at least, he rubs the back of his neck.

"It uh- it's my room in our house? It's always been a tower. Dunno why, too many stairs, if you ask me."

"That's a little strange though, to have a tower. Your gift was being a seer, right? What does that have to do with your room?"

She understood Luisa's, but Bruno's? That seemed a little odd, like he was being kept away for some reason. It sounded pretty fun at first, but knowing it was his place since he was five? That seemed a little odd.

Didn't they usually do that to princesses?

"I dunno?" it's a nice, simple answer at least- Bruno genuinely doesn't have an answer to that. "It's full of sand that I use for my visions? So I guess there's that?"

Of course, internally, he knows it was Casita reacting to him drawing himself further inward. The stairs got longer the more he pulled into himself, away from his family. The more he was ostracised. He tries not to think about it, though. It's a slippery slope.

"Fair enough! Who knows why magically things happen anyway? I think that's there for us to figure out!"

It was an honest answer, and one Luz was familiar with. After all, it wasn't like she understood everything about the Titan herself. She wished she did, but well. That was complicated.

Granted, it might also be likely that Bruno DID understand why Casita did what it did and was keeping that to himself. It was a pretty private question.

"Weellll, it's been that way for 45 years now so I'm not so convinced we'll figure it out now, but hey, we might be surprised?"

Or, Casita does what it wants with no rhyme or reason. There's always that, of course.

"Forty-five years! That's a long time. So, you haven't figured that there are any patterns to this kind of magic?"

She had an idea of the answer of course, she already talked to Luisa AND Mirabel: Casita just seemed to do whatever it liked, regardless of what the inhabitants' thought was best, but still wished to work to their benefit.

"That sure is different from the magic...where I come from."

To a point anyway, because who really knew what the Titan was thinking?

"Noooooot really?" he shrugs. "We turn five, we get a door, and a magical room. The room is built to help us with our Gift, sooooo yeah."

Casita absolutely did what it wanted always.

"Yeah? What's the magic like where you come from? Ours is uh...well, it's just in my family."

"Huh. I mean, I do get that on Luisa's end and all, but how did your room help you?"

How exactly would it help someone who saw visions? You'd think it would be, like, a big meditation room or something. At least, that was what Luz would have imagined.

"Ok, so where I come from? Magic isn't supposed to be real, not until I accidentally stumbled into another world. But there, well, most of the people in that world have this bile sac they're born with, and through that they're able to develop and strengthen their magic depending on which one they excel in most. Me, a human in a world full of demons, witches and strange creatures, didn't think I'd be able to do magic at first. One day I was somehow able to see that casting actually involve these glyphs, and if I draw and concentrate, I could make magic myself! It doesn't come as easily as the ones witches can do, but I can do a fair bit, and then I discovered I could do even more once I was able to combine them the right way!"

"Well, like I already said, it's full of sand, I use sand in my visions and need a big open space, so yeah. That's...pretty much it."

He tries not to think too deeply about the physiological ripples the rest of it makes. If he doesn't think about it then he doesn't have to acknowledge it and he wins! He stares at Luz for a little while, taking that in.

"Yeah- yeah, Hunter mentioned the...bile sac. We definitely don't have those. But hey, that's pretty neat! That you figured out how to make the magic work for you."

"Ah, so in a way I guess that IS your meditation space. That's pretty cool! It stinks that people treat your visions like they're these bad omens or whatever. If you think about it, it's just a way to get the person you're telling to be prepared for a big change. That's just something that happens in life, doesn't it?"

It still bothered Luz how the Madrigals, with all of their gifts, were held back because of them too. It was as if they had to sacrifice a bit of themselves for the "good" of the community.

"Right, that is something exclusive to the witches in the Boiling isles. And just about anyone can have the bile sac, not just humanoid people. I was pretty happy the first time I was able to cast my first light spell!"

"Yeah...yeah, I guess that's a way of looking at it," he grimaces, uneasy about the whole bad omen thing being brought up . "It's not my favourite thing in the whole world...no. "

He's gonna start...stepping away towards the brig of the ship, because he hates getting into that and he definitely doesn't want to do it in the middle of a sea battle.

"Let's- uh, get inside," he gestures. "But that's...pretty neat! Makes you pretty unique, huh?"

"Right," Luz said, feeling like she failed to at least try to get Bruno feeling like his gift wouldn't be bad if people didn't assign it to mean something sinister. She should have figured that this would also mean Bruno wasn't exactly itching to talk about it.

Poor Luz. She was already used to the ship and had missed it, but she didn't want to alienate Bruno further.

"Sure, ok," Luz said, looking over at the skeleton army and the others going to fight it. "Oh, yeah! There's only one other human who could do something like that, and he's totally not worth talking about!"

Just the absolute worse.

Unfortunately, forty-five years of trauma takes a while to deal with. He's working on it. Slowly. He's got a few people here he's spoken to who have managed to scale his walls over the last few months with time and patience. It's definitely a...slow progress sort of thing.

"Oh," Bruno grimaces as he moves further to the bring, slowly, trying to make sure Luz followed him to the relative safety there. "Is that the emperor guy Hunter mentioned? Because yeah wow, he sounds like the literal worst person alive."

Luz was still trying to see exactly how bad things were for the family of the Madrigals. She got some of it from Luisa and Mirabel and knew enough from Bruno's personality that his gift had been a very mixed blessing. T

So she was probably going to make sure not to mention that too much.

"You have no idea," Luz said, sighing. "And even more annoying, neither does Hunter. For some reason he was brought here before certain things that happen back home. He found out exactly what the Emperor was doing, and needless to say, he didn't take it well. But he has no idea about any of that here. I have no idea WHY this place does something like that, and I sure can't tell Hunter about it."

Bruno heaves a sigh of relief as he slips under the decks- the fighting is more muffled here. He can almost pretend it isn't happening at all. He moves to a darker part of the space, almost vanishing into the shadows- it's what he's good at. Maybe his Gift should have been disappearing.

"Yeeeaaah, I noticed he's very..." he pauses, trying to find the right words- it reminds him of how he felt about his mother but...worse. "He's very keen on making the Emperor proud. He doesn't seem to get that he's obviously like...the worst person alive. But I don't know why he came through here from that time period. I happens. Not everyone falls through here at the same time."

Luz was all about the dark as much as she could (she was more of a sun person herself really), but it was still strange to not be a part of the action in a situation like this. It was a little less nerve wracking though, so she tried to focus on that.

"He's the closest he has to family," Luz answered. "When you're that impressionable, of course you want to please that person as much as you can. I wanted to please my mom once about something I didn't agree with, because I love her. I get it...now."

She sure didn't when it came to OTHER people though.

Welp. That sure did confirm some feelings Bruno had about the guy. Bruno hums softly, uncomfortably. He always knew the way Hunter spoke about him felt way too much of an echo of his feelings towards his mother, and now he knows the feeling was absolutely justified. That sure makes him feel...some sort of way.

"Yeah...I can understand that. It's not the best thing to do, but you...just do it anyway. For their sake."

Look, at least his mother LOVED him. Luz had witnessed exactly what Philip needed from Hunter, and it sure wasn't love. It was enough to make her sick to her stomach. She was sure that Bruno has his own complicated feelings about his family.

"There's a lot that Hunter is going to need to think about. It might be better if he learns it from people like you. Me, he just sees as a nuisance, or an enemy, so I can't tell him anything. Which stinks, because last I saw him, he actually saved me."

"Yeah?" Hunter, as obnoxious as he can be, is a good kid. "Well, if he saved you, then maybe he doesn't think you're a total annoyance- why would he save you otherwise, huh?"

There's a pause as he heard more scuffling above deck.

"I don't know if I've been that convincing, honestly."

"It was a really different situation. Both of us were super emotionally compromised. But yes, you're right. I was lucky he was there."

Luz knew very well she could have died there were it not for Hunter, but boy did he get the worse end of revelations there. Still, Luz would love if they weren't at each other's throats. She just wanted a friend in Hunter, if she were honest with herself.

"Trust me, given the adults he knows on the Isles? You could be so much worse."

"But he still saved you, if he hated you, he wouldn't have done that, probably."

He guesses. He's not the best when it comes to understanding How People Work.

"Yeah? I thought the worst was Belos- did he have more who mistreated him?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say he hated me before then, but it was different. I was 'the criminal' then. By that point, what we thought we knew changed a LOT."

Their situation was a very...messed up one.

"He lived in the castle, with the other coven heads and more people under Bellos. I don't know if they treated him very well."

"Oh. Given how he is...I'm gonna guess you were a criminal for...not actual crimes?"

Hunter tends to be very much into following the Emperor and his doctrines. What he was against might not be what...anyone else would call criminal acts. Bruno's seen Hunter's future- he did a vision for the boy and...it's so much worse than he could imagine. But he doesn't go into it, confidentiality and all that.

"It doesn't seem like, huh? He liked one...Raine? They were here for a little while."

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