Monthly Rundown: February Edition

[hadrielmods]

Almost all the gods are back now, so the city can get back to normal! But was Hadriel ever normal to begin with? And things are starting to get a little dicey anyway. Maybe normal is just a pipe dream.

As always, if you ever have any suggestions or feedback you'd like to offer us mods, remember you can always drop us a line here! Also, please remember to hit up the Current AC post if you have AC for the month! Characters accepted in January do not require AC proofs, but we do require a check-in on the post!

FEBRUARY PART 1: TAKEN

Most of the gods are back - even Delight got dragged back and thrown in her cage. Hadriel is still missing one, though. Where has Tranquility gone, and why isn't he back yet?

On February 3rd, everyone finds out. The Null will break onto the network again, bringing with them a message: they have Tranquility, and they're not going to just let him go. They are, however, willing to make a deal - Tranquility will be returned, but only in exchange for their ally Delight. Shortly after this announcement, the gods will make a post addressing the possibilities of this deal and asking you for input on what to do.

There will be an opportunity for your character to volunteer to go along on the prisoner exchange (if that's the route that's chosen); there is no OOC signup for this as all choices will be made ICly. That is to say, the way to sign up is to tell the gods that you want to be involved, after which they'll choose a number of the volunteers to go along depending on their skills and the gods' opinions of them. There will be minimal RNG involved in this - basically only if we get too many volunteers that the gods would accept. It's all based on your characters' skills, how well they present themselves, and their previous interactions with the gods!

But while all the drama is happening, the Door continues to do as it pleases. On February 10th, it opens again, bringing along a batch of new faces. In addition to the newbies a number of beautiful trees arrive - except of course they're actually Territorial Oaks from the video game EarthBound.

Territorial Oaks are exactly what they sound like: large trees that do not want you around. They can move pretty quickly and hit pretty hard, and they have psychic attacks that really aren't very pleasant. Best (worst?) of all, when defeated they destroy themselves in a fiery explosion, seriously damaging anyone nearby who can't get out of the way fast enough.

FEBRUARY PART 2: SOULMATES

Love has clearly been busy. They tracked down and recaptured Delight, so crisis or not, captured Tranquility or not, Love needs to recharge. Get ready to find your other half!

On the morning of February 14th (wow, weird coincidence) every character will wake up with the name of another Hadriel resident inscribed on the inside of their wrist. They'll feel a pull to that person, a desire to see and talk to them, and when they find them - wow! It's a connection like nothing else. Your other half will have your name inscribed on their arm, and that's how you'll know you're supposed to be together. Haven't you always secretly wanted a soulmate?

And there you are, together forever... or until a few days later, when each of you wake up with someone else's name on your arm. Or no name at all! Maybe you have a new soulmate, maybe it's skipped you this time, but you don't feel that pull towards your previous soulmate anymore. Huh. Wild!

Your characters can have as many soulmates as there are days in the event (which ends on February 22nd), or they could have only one for the whole time, or none at all. The connections can be platonic or romantic, friendly or familial, but whatever they are, while they're intact they feel deeper and stronger than anything you've felt before. What a way to make new friends.

FEBRUARY PART 3: PRISONER TRADE AND EXPLORATION

After some time for planning and deciding what to do, the date for the prisoner transfer with the Null arrives. On February 24th, whatever happens, happens - and it's all up to you. We will post an OOC plotting post on February 20th 21st, summarizing what happens and what the consequences are.

In addition, during this month we'd like to open up the world to more player exploration. We've already seen IC interest in finding the creatures attacking people, as well as investigating the world a little bit more. We've written up a summary of various ways characters can do that - so please look HERE if you're interested in your character doing some exploring. We've got a thread to organize in as well as a place to sign up, and lots of fun things for people to discover!

TO RECAP...

► February 3rd: NPC Post
► February 10th: Intro log!
► February 14th-22nd: Soulmates Event
► February 24th: Prisoner Exchange
► February 21st-28th: Activity Check
As a final note, our schedule for the month is viewable on the calendar!

Comments

QUESTIONS

[hadrielmods]

DUMB QUESTION TIME

[aroundthecoroner]

okay someone brought this up and now I need to ask: do the visitor and michael count as different people for the sake of the soulmate event? as in, does the visitor get a soulmate too?

[hadrielmods]

That's up to you! You're free to give them different soulmates, or the same one, or give just one of them a soulmate. Whatever would be most fun.

[ghostlocked]

hello mods!! has running water been restored to the housing yet?

[hadrielmods]

Sorry for the delay! Yes, it has been.

EXPLORATION TOP-LEVEL

[hadrielmods]

If you are interested in exploring this world or investigating the creatures that have been attacking people, this is the place to look! We want you to be free to explore and investigate to your heart's content, but we also need to have some basic organization, especially so that we can more easily let you know what you find.

Under this comment is a thread for anyone looking to organize an expedition or get involved with one - we encourage you to do so! Once you've found a group come to us in the other thread to summarize your group and its goals, and we'll let you know what they find.

If you are interested in exploration:

Generally, exploration will involve exploring the bunkers scattered across the world, although if you really want to explore something else, we can arrange that. Once you've organized a group, give us some information about who is going, how they plan to get there, what they're looking for, and how they intend to find it.

(As a note, the answer to these questions can be as complex as 'my character has an archaeology degree and has done extensive research on ancient civilizations, plus they have a magical ability to point them in whatever direction they need to go' or as simple as 'my character just wants something fun to do and is just kind of hoping to trip over some stuff').

Once we are provided with that information then we can proceed with assigning various bunkers to various groups. Keep in mind that it will take roughly a week to get to the mountains on foot and Tranquility's mopeds are not available for faster travel- also keep in mind that since the travel to the tundra planet, winter has now fully set in and you can expect a journey through a frozen, snowy wasteland.

As to what you'll find when you get there- there are several 'bunkers' stretched out along the mountains, the number of which varies based on how many expeditions there would be to try and investigate them. As this tundra planet was originally an embassy between the Null and the gods, there are lots of information and relics of the time that the two species spent in one another's presence. Different bunkers will have different information and things to find, including (but not necessarily limited to):

• The history of the Null, their culture before and after they became a hivemind, their ancient languages and civilization structure
• Potential methods to access the Null hivemind itself
• Locations of the Null planets and armadas
• Detailed information of the previous god hosts, their anatomy, particularly their brain structure and how they provide the gods with energy
• Locations of the god's former planets, technical explanations of the god's abilities and magic

If you are interested in investigating the creatures:

Investigation can consist of anything related to the mysterious host-like creatures that have been attacking the city, whether that's attempted capture, tracking, hunting, or anything else. Let us know who is involved, what they're planning to do, and how they intend to carry out this plan.

What these investigations will involve can vary depending on what you plan to do. For example, tracking the creatures may involve a journey similar to an exploration across the surface of the world, while hunting or attempting to capture one would involve sticking closer to the city and would not need as much in-depth preparation. The information you find out will also vary according to what you're attempting to do - so let us know your plans!

LOOKING FOR GROUP

[hadrielmods]

Do you want to organize an expedition or investigation? Are you interested in joining one, but don't want to organize it yourself? This is the thread to use for both of those things!

We would prefer larger groups rather than many small ones or characters going out on their own, because we want to allow as many people as possible to get involved and we do have a finite amount of information to give out! So plan accordingly, and be aware that if your character chooses to explore on their own it's likely they will find less than they would as part of a group.

nerd lfg for creature stuff

[completelycrazy]

HELLO so obvs newt is mad interested in these nautilus creatures. IDEALLY, he'd like to capture one? but he'd settle/i'd be down to have him join up with a tracking group too. either way, i'm happy to organize something or have him join an existing group, i don't mind either way!

here are the benefits to having newt in your party:
- 6 phds!!! 3 in biology!! wow! so smart!!
- has been studying hadriel monsters and tundra wildlife for a while now and knows things, things which can be found in his bestiary, which oh yeah he has publication creds, everyone loves those
- has a variety of cages and enclosures that he's built for monster-catching (he'll need to build something Bigger for this but he has the materials and the know-how! did i mention 2 of his phds are also in mechanical engineering??? amazing!!!!)
- is the human equivalent of a raccoon; can sustain self on junk food and zero sleep for days so he is minimally draining on caravan resources.
- pocket-sized (close enough, he's small)

drawbacks to having newt in your party:
- none, zero, he's a joy to be around and will definitely not argue with anyone or complain about the temperature

for real tho, as much as newt can be a pain in the ass to work with, the COOL SCIENCE and fear of danger will distract him enough to make him moderately tolerable, perhaps even verging on pleasant, especially if you're also hype to be doing cool dangerous science stuff. since he'll definitely need help with a project this lofty, he'll be down to work with just about anyone!! and i'm always jazzed for new cr opportunities so PLEASE HMU EVEN IF WE DON'T HAVE CR YET we'll make it work!

you can also reach me on plurk at mippins

[therewillbeorder]

Signing Hux for exploration for the bunkers. No potential teammates yet but anyone is welcome to join him, etc!

Hux has a talent with technology- he has a lot of experience in putting things together that no one else can. Granted, he's used to much more advanced technology but he has created some 'technological terrors' so he'll know what to look for.

His goal is to find out more information about the Null, finding information about the gods that can potentially bring them down, or if he can find a repurpose the technology to turn against the gods.

You can reach me at illuminations to plot.

jerkface lfg

[hot_mes]

Law absolutely wants to investigate the bunkers, he's been making short prep journeys around with Kate and Caedra but once Love starts doing its thing he's outtie for two weeks. Caedra is absolutely joining, Sanji I believe will be as well.

Given his dubious reputation after the ships I won't be surprised if people ICly are wary of partying up with him but that's also a good excuse to go "keep an eye on him" or something. His motive is to gain as much info as possible, and if he runs into any of the locals he's not going to kill them or let anyone else kill them, he'd rather examine them and try to communicate. Because information. He may be able to shorten the journey a bit with his teleportation but will also conserve it for emergencies. Between his medical care and Sanji's food supplies, their party is likely to be well-equipped to only suffer for a bit without dying.

Probably leaving around the 15th so that anyone who wants to get one day of soulmate shenanigans in can do so, but it does mean not participating in any prisoner stuff.

walking powerhouse lfg for bunker business.

[circumitus]

Rey had been making frequent solo scouting trips throughout the months of December and January, so she now has a pretty good idea on the lay of the land for the most part. She's very experienced in survival and exploration, as well as helping those who might not be as adept to harsh conditions learn.

Given that she's already done quite a few background expeditions herself, she is probably aware of some of the bunkers but would know better than to venture down into any by herself and unprepared, hence she would be interested in an organized expedition into one of them.

Rey's knowledge in technology, survival, and currently existing experience with the landscape would make her very beneficial to a group. She would probably not want to go with one bigger than a fireteam (4-6 people) as larger groups tend to make her uneasy. Plus they're easier for me to plot with.

Speaking of which, you can best get a hold of me via discord (revalev#6927). Otherwise, PMs work.

we are all need group

[bythehand]

As someone 1) still too fresh and salty to want to be involved if the prisoner exchange goes through and 2) eagerly hopping from one short-term goal to the next in a bid to stave off thinking about 90% of what's happened in his life, Finn's gonna be down for exploration! Let's hit a bunker!!! And he does prefer to work in groups whenever possible, which works out. Features include:

- instant ride or die, will catch a grenade for any teammate unprompted
- goal oriented
- c o n s t a n t v i g i l a n c e
- good at fighting and running. good at strategy??? i don't feel like they'll need strategy but finn is not dumb and is good at remembering things
- base level 110% intensity, No Chill
- almost always willing to bond and find common ground and talk on life-changing field trips; also high-strung and easy to poke for fun
- used to doing lots of work with little to no downtime

FINALIZED PLANS

[hadrielmods]

If you have organized your group and decided what they want to do, please comment here. We will reply with what they find!

[nonscriptum]

Nate wants to head up an expedition to the mountains as soon as the new cycle begins. He's reached out to a number of individuals he trusts to contribute research skills, experience in survival and combat, and magic.

The full team consists of the following:

Nathan Drake
Elena Fisher
Staci Pratt
Agent Washington
Kyna Midha
Agent Maine
Poe Dameron
Taako Taaco
Lup Taaco
Peter Parker

Regarding accurate locating, there are several proficient wizards/magic-users in the group, at least one person extremely familiar with bunkers, military personnel with all the requisite training, and Nate has 20+ years of archaeological experience finding things that don't want to be found.

They plan to travel on-foot (this will suck) using simple sledges to transport goods and supplies. For reference on the expedition intent, this is a boiler plate letter Nate sent to prospective party members. The primary impetus for Nate's interest in this endeavor is research purposes, but if they came across any artifacts or relics he would be absolutely thrilled. While they'd be happy to get into one bunker, there are enough people in the party that if necessary, they could gain access to two.

[therewillbeorder]

Team line up:

Rydia
Kylo Ren
Armitage Hux
Anakin Skywalker (tentatively)

They'll be exploring a bunker. Rydia and Kylo Ren will be providing protection against any danger they may find (Rydia with magical ability, Kylo with the Force) while Hux will be the one inspecting the technology of the bunker. He has decades of military experience and is used to working with very advanced technology. Hux's tools are simple, whatever he's managed to find but he's resourceful. If Anakin goes, he also has experience with technology and putting things together (and taking them apart).

Hux's goal is to find out more about the Null and perhaps find something that they can use against the gods. Or, at the very least, find parts to make other things.

Re: FINALIZED PLANS

[marmoron]

Hello sliding in a bit late with a group for exploration! (Hope this isn't too late, we just wanted to wait and see if Alllura would be joining us this month or not!) The entire Voltron cast would like to go and explore Null territory/bunkers. The team includes:

- Allura
- Keith )+ teleporting space wolf)
- Lance
- Shiro

All of them are experienced fighters and have completed various stealth/recon missions and can handle combat if it comes to that. They're also familiar with many different kinds of aliens, space travel, reading star maps, etc so they'd know how to interpret any information that might shed light on what history the Null have with this planet / if they have history on other planets and how spread out they are in the universe. They'd be looking for any ways to try and communicate with them as well to see if diplomacy is a viable option. But baaaasically, this group is just taking a look around to see what they can see in any bunker that looks like it may be in an important strategic location.

They'll primarily be traveling on foot, but they have the teleporting space doggo to get them across any particularly hazardous terrain / any fatal pinches. Lance is a sniper and will be neutralizing any sentry/guards posted around any bunker. If that doesn't work, Keith'll be using his power to make explosions to create a diversion and have the wolf teleport them all inside. Allura's got heals on board if things get messy.

[hot_mes]

Looks like it's Law, Caedra, and Sanji. Fortunately they're all really tough, highly experienced in living off the land, and hey Caedra doesn't need food or sleep. They'll go mostly on foot but Law and Caedra both have teleportation abilities to jump them across great expanses of nothingness. He wants to head to whichever bunker he can reach without dying of cold, searching for literally whatever Sorrow promised them was on this planet.

[bythehand]

Rolls in late to the game HELLO THERE

The team we have assembled so far includes: Finn, Rey, and Poe Dameron (+ open for extra teammates in case anyone in the new app round, etc. could use a group to join up with)!

There's a lot of military/exploration experience to go around between the three of them. They're all versed in combat with firearms and hand-to-hand, and Rey and Poe have a lot more experience on the survival front. Poe went out on the Nathan Drake expedition and Rey's been doing a lot of IC scouting of her own (and has an idea of what to be on the lookout for), so they'll be looking to head towards another bunker on foot! (press f to pay respects to the memory of what being warm ever felt like.)

The goal is ideally to pick up information about the Null specifically-- what their deal is, possible weaknesses to exploit, potential hiding spots. The three of them also have a vested interest in learning anything they can about the gods or the Null, though, as far as history/culture/how they work all goes.

I don't think they're genuinely expecting to find all that much ICly, but they all sure will want to be out there trying their best regardless.

[abyssalarcana]

In the first half of February or however long it takes, Caedra and Ivar set out to try to find and kill one of the nautilus creatures. When Ivar was attacked, his knife was left embedded in a nautilus' eye. Based on Ivar's description of the knife, Caedra can scry on it to try and find where the creature might be now.

Whether they find that particular one or not, Caedra still wants to kill one of the creatures and Ivar would be there to help since he too loves fighting and killing and wants to take this thing down. Caedra has multiple spells that would aid in this, including casting flight on herself and Ivar so that Ivar would be able to move more freely and quickly than usual; hex to allow her to not only curse the creature and slow it down or make it physically weaker but also so that she can teleport to it repeatedly if it tries to escape; fireball to deal massive damage; and she can empower her sword with an eldritch smite which deals massive damage and causes a brief stun.

If they succeed in killing a creature, Caedra wants to try to consume its soul. This is something I have not allowed her to do with player characters since the destruction of a soul would probably be an instant perma-drop; however, she would be very pleased if native creatures were not protected in this way. It gives her no mechanical benefit, she just likes to destroy and it would warm her black little heart.

[completelycrazy]

HEY MODS Newt has put together a team to... catch a nautilus. For science. Sorry in advance that this is long as shit, we wanted to be Thorough...

The general plan is this: The group is gonna build two portable nautilus cages, and then they'll patrol Hadriel and the surrounding area. Once they find a nautilus, they'll try to herd/bait it into one of the cages.

The goal here is to study and communicate with a living specimen, and maybe eventually turn it over to the gods. The group isn't out to kill or even hurt the creatures.

THE GROUP IS
Newt Geiszler, Alphys, Shigeru Miyata, Michael Munroe, Cashmere, Scott Ryder, George Lass, Steak, Lee Rosen, Cecily Trevelyan, Sora, Riku, and Red Wine


And the plan in detail:

Newt and Alphys will design two large, strong cages cages for capturing and holding the things. They'll construct the cages with the help of Steak, Red Wine, Rosen, Scott, and Sora. The cages will be constructed using some scrap material the lab's been hoarding, and Newt's other, smaller cages/traps will be broken down to use for materials too. So, mostly the cages will be made from wood and scrap Null parts. They're designed to be strong and portable, which means two things. One, the cages are solid walls with no door (Shigeru will operate the traps later) for maximum holding potential. Two, the cages have wheels along the bottom and handles for easy maneuvering.

Once the cages are constructed, it's time to put the plan into action. Everyone in the group will help with this part in some capacity. To start, the group will split into two groups of six, with Alphys staying behind at the lab to conserve her body heat to play mission control between the two teams. She'll be in charge of tracking their location and communicating between the two teams during the plan.

Starting in the center of town, the two groups will spiral outward to cover as much ground as possible. They'll continue until they run into a nautilus or until they hit the outskirts of town. They'll be trying this pretty much every day until the manage to find a thing, so this isn't "oh we tried once guess it didn't work bummer the end" type operation.

The teams are:
Newt, Shigeru, Cashmere, Sora, Riku, Cecily
Michael, Scott, George, Steak, Red Wine, Rosen

Michael will be able to track any nautilus creatures within about a mile of him (he'll make them the Visitor's target, which allows him to know their location), and ideally, he'll get a read on one of the creatures so then both groups can gang up on the nautilus as Alphys directs traffic. Newt's group will mostly just be keeping a sharp eye out for any signs of tentacle tracks or shellfish delinquency. If one group runs into a nautilus or two unexpectedly, they'll notify Alphys who will send the other group in their direction as fast as possible.

ASSUMING THE BEST CASE SCENARIO HAPPENS and Michael gets a ping on a nautilus and both groups are able to join forces, everyone in the group will try to herd a single nautilus into one of the traps. Newt, George, Cashmere, Shigeru, Rosen, and Michael will be responsible for moving the cages around while Scott, Steak, Cecily, Red Wine, Sora, and Riku will fight/herd the nautilus into a cage. Steak, Red Wine, Sora, Riku, and Cecily are all experienced fighters, so they're the brute force of the operation. Cashmere is too, though her job is specifically to protect Newt's nerd bones and will be protecting him as he tries to coordinate everything. Scott can move stuff around telepathically, so he will either be maneuvering one of the cages or moving around rocks and any large debris around to try to barricade the nautilus and corral it in the right direction. In a pinch, he can telepathically move living creatures too. Shigeru is capable of altering matter, so he's in charge of opening and closing the cages as needed. George can heal very quickly, so she's kindly offered herself up as bait to try to draw the nautilus into the trap, plus she can temporarily pull the soul out of a nautilus, which will stun it briefly to allow the others to wrestle it into the cage.

Once the team actually catches a nautilus, they’ll take it back to the lab for science time. First thing’s first: Gotta figure out how to communicate with it, if that’s possible. The crew wants to find a way to determine whether or not these things are the actual original hosts of Hadriel, along with why they’re attacking us, what they want (ideally to like get them to stop attacking us???), and how they ended up here/survived the Null. From there, there’s probably other stuff the crew will want to ask, but those are the main things.

IF THIS IS POSSIBLE… We’d also like to have Alphys build a small GPS tracking device/app that they can use to tag the creature if they end up releasing it (maybe the gods want to keep it as a pet we don’t know). The idea here is that the tag could lead to the colony or whatever, which could lead to further sciencing. We super get that this is a stretch so nbd if it’s not gonna work.

After everyone is satisfied with the communication attempts and after Newt is done studying its biology, they’ll turn the nautilus over to Sorrow to see what he thinks.

AAAAAAND here's our planning doc that we've been using which goes into a little more detail on everyone's particular qualifications in terms of building/hunting/doing science/whatever. No pressure to delve into that since it's way long, but in case y'all wanted more specific info, there it is!

THANK YOU MODS <3

[bloodbathing]

This is the most ridiculous exploration thing, I'm sorry in advance.

Agent Maine and Sal Fisher want to go exploring! Specifically, they want to see if they can find ... train tracks. Yes, train tracks. Probably by stepping on them, since there's snow everywhere. This is very much a 'sure, sounds fun, let's go' sort of thing on their part rather than a dedicated expedition. They'll be leaving on the 22nd and returning on the 26th or 27th.

Again, this is ridiculous. I just wanted to make sure I commented JUST IN CASE two guys wandering around within a 2-3 day walk from the city might stumble across ... train tracks.

THANKS MODS ♥

[unfollowing]

Having trouble posting to plurk atm so—

Emily will be available for platonic soulmates. She's already gonna have Steak be one. Happy to plot for a few more!

She will not be exploring etc. Somebody has to supervise the coffee cart if she gets it, right?

Hmu here, via pm, or @punnyinpink on plurk o/

[battlebound]

it's gonna be a disaster and i cannot wait.

[deviledlegs]

Taking unfollowing's lead and commenting here! I'd love to plot a soulmate thread or two for Sanji, platonic or otherwise. Seems like a great way to get new cr or strengthen old cr. Either way!

Let's go nuts.

[unfollowing]

Since we're both here, let's platonic soulmates? They can bond over food and possibly coffee!