archivalquality

It's September 21. While I hope you'll remember this day for months, it's also time for the monthly activity check! The activity check is due Tuesday, September 30th by midnight, Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-8).

As a reminder, a thread is only eligible for AC or extra SP if:
-- There are five comments from you in the thread,
-- The thread originated in September,
-- and the thread is canon, which means that it can't be part of the test drive.

Yes, this means backtagging an event still counts if you started that thread in September!

If it's your first month, then congrats! Activity check is optional this month, though you will get bonus SP if you submit your threads anyway. Be sure to submit a check-in, regardless, because otherwise that will be a strike!

Once AC is submitted and SP is rewarded, it is immediately available to be spent on rewards. A lot of you have a lorge amount of SP saved up, and the lab is already more than halfway there.

The lab will help us find things, including our own memories...

Timeline ⭐︎ Roster ⭐︎ Missions ⭐︎ Summary/Aftermath ⭐︎ Signups Post
july i event results
EPISODE 5: Makeover or Make Up? The Rumor Riptide Never Ceases!
July 9 - July 16
TIMELINE
7/9-7/13 Aquarium Cleanup II
7/9-7/16 Xenogardening
7/10 Investigate: Verdigris House
7/11 Investigate: Sea & Spray
7/13 Showdown: Lacquerina
7/15 Capture: The Three Sisters

Aquarium Cleanup II Maya Mutsumi Cynthia Natalia Hope Kalim Jamil	Xenogardening Dirk Mutsumi Cynthia Natalia Harley Kalim Jamil	Investigate: Verdigris House Maya Natalia
Investigate: Sea & Spray Cynthia Jamil	Capture: The Three Sisters Dirk Mutsumi Hope	Showdown: Lacquerina Reese Harley Kalim

aquarium cleanup ii

Maya - 15 Mutsumi - 10 Cynthia - 16 Natalia - 13

Hope - 12 Kalim - 4 Jamil - 17

+1 SP to Maya, Mutsumi, Cynthia, Natalia, Hope, Kalim & Jamil
Everyone really pitched in this month! With their combined power and Nautis's help, the Nova Knights successfully use the magic formula to repair the glass pane, and very carefully reinstall it in place, in spite of whatever the hell happened with Kalim here.

The Aquarium is now ready for use! You can start filling it with water and putting all that plumbing to use. You'll have to get fish, food, and maybe some little decorations, but it's a start!

xenogardening

Dirk - 4 Mutsumi - 18 Cynthia - 13 Natalia - 18

Harley - 19 Kalim - 4 Jamil - 11

+1 SP to Dirk, Mutsumi, Cynthia, Natalia, Harley, Kalim & Jamil
With a couple of exceptions, the xenogardening magic experiment is pretty successful. Maomao had each Knight use their magic on a different takes careful note of how each plant reacted to their respective domains.
⭐︎ The Calpican climbing vine, infused with Strings magic, grows but ultimately fails to support its own weight and shrivels on the trellis.
⭐︎ Yellow balmleaf, when infused wtih Death magic, sprouts tiny white flowers that look like miniature chrysanthemums. This plant seems to have general healing properties, and Maomao is itching to test those out.
⭐︎ Feather reed, when infused with Flight magic, grows tall, willowy stalks that need to be transferred to another pot. One of the Library books says the seeds in its pods treat fevers and headaches.
⭐︎ The celestial save flower, when infused with Temples magic, grows to about the size of one's hand, with a tightly closed brilliant blue blossom that only opens when someone magical is in immediate proximity. One of the Library books says that it can help with amnesia.
⭐︎ The Presicean bubble plant, when infused with Whimsy magic, sprouts a couple of curious-looking pods that do pretty much what it says in the name: during daylight, they open and emit tiny, iridescent bubbles. It has no medicinal properties that Maomao is aware of, but it's fun!
⭐︎ The summer lily, when infused with Sun magic, unfortunately wilts under way too much light. What a shame...it looks like the petals would have had some beautiful spotted patterns!
⭐︎ Star lavender, when infused with Moon magic, shows some moderate growth. The star-shaped flowers are supposed to encourage the healing of bruises and small cuts.

investigate: verdigris house
TEAM: Maya & Natalia
Roll 1: Learn information about the loose Constellation - SUCCEED
Roll 2: Resolve the contract drama - FAIL
Maya and Natalia investigate the goings on at Verdigris House, which are abuzz with gossip about the dispute between the madam and Pairin; some of the looser-lipped busybodies there are openly speculating over which pleasure house Pairin will move to if her contract dispute with the madam is not resolved.

With the help of their dowsing machines, Nautis identifies the loose Constellation as the Three Sisters: forever quarreling and reconciling, the three can almost never come to a consensus. Any efforts to direct its reconciliatory energy towards Pairin and the madam fails, and it moves on and seems to vanish before they can get very far.
+2 SP to Maya & Natalia

investigate: sea & spray
TEAM: Cynthia & Jamil
Roll 1: Locate the pocket dimension where the harvested energy is being kept - FAIL
Roll 2: Pick up on mission-related rumors - FAIL
Well, that was a bust. Whether it's because they got sidetracked by the salon's many services or stonewalled by suspicious employees, Cynthia and Jamil simply aren't able to learn anything concrete, though they suspect energy harvesting is happening here. It's not just them, though — Shellustria's energy harvesting plots are becoming a lot subtler than before. People are no longer suspiciously succumbing to weird breakouts of temporary neurasthenia, and Cynthia and Jamil might guess that the relaxing and restorative environment might actually be masking the usual post-energy-harvesting symptoms.

Tragically, they also hear no rumors relevant to their mission whatsoever, only local gossip. It sounds like the chick seller has been really down on his luck lately, based on a conversation overheard between a couple of Midnight Diner regulars.
+2 SP to Cynthia & Jamil

capture: the three sisters
TEAM: Dirk, Mutsumi & Hope
Roll 1: Tune in to the Three Sisters - FAIL
Roll 2: Capture the Three Sisters - FAIL
Ohhhhhhhh you guys.

This mission is a crushing failure. Not only do Dirk, Mutsumi and Hope fail to work together well enough to let the spirit of the Three Sisters inhabit them, Prince Shellustria swoops in and captures the Constellation, laying the Nova Knights low in the process before he makes his escape back to the Dark Ocean. Not only are the three of them worse for the wear both physically and psychologically, one of the Constellations they need to seal away the Abyss is now in enemy hands. While all is not lost, it means they'll have to mount a risky mission to take it back at some point.
+3 SP to Dirk, Mutsumi & Hope

showdown: lacquerina
TEAM: Reese, Harley & Kalim
Roll 1: Defeat Laquerina - SUCCEED
Roll 2: Minimize injuries and collateral damage - FAIL
Reese, Harley and Kalim ultimately locate the pocket dimension where the harvested energy is being kept is accessible through the steam room, where the dimension's guardian Lacquerina sees to its protection. Lacquerina's humanoid form is enameled in a glossy scarlet, and she'll usually attack by raking her opponents with her wicked claws and temporarily trapping them in a quick-drying polish.

The team successfully defeats Lacquerina, ensuring the rest of the harvested energy doesn't make it back to the Harbingers. It's a messy fight, though — even with Dance of Light as a finishing move, all three leave the fight with minor injuries, and some of the shiny new fixtures in the steam room are damaged.
+3 SP to Reese, Harley & Kalim

summary/aftermath
The Nova Knights manage to finish cleaning and repairing the Aquarium without further incident. It's clear from the decoration around the glass panes and some etchings into the walls and floor that this was a place of spiritual significance, and often a source of calm and peace. Though their Ocean and Whales were lost to them, the Hassaleans could still find solace in this place. Adding some fish to the Aquarium might really liven up the place!

Maomao's xenogardening experiments are a modest success so far thanks to the Nova Knights. While it'll take some time to fully test the properties of each plant, Maomao seems confident that she'll be able to make entirely new pharmaceuticals from them. The delirious cackling coming from the Library is a sure sign of progress.

Maya and Natalia investigate Verdigris House at a fortuitous time, and while they identify the present Constellation as the Three Sisters, its presence vanishes before they can help resolve the dispute. Pairin's future at Verdigris House is uncertain, but given that she hasn't made any overt move to actually leave it's unclear just how serious the threat to leave is. Perhaps only time will tell.

Cynthia and Jamil are not successful in discovering where the Harbingers are keeping their harvested energy at Sea & Spray, nor do they hear any rumors that would help help them with their missions. The chick seller who is often spotted on sidewalks around Chalra City seems to be falling on hard times, though. Though their mission may be a failure, they come out feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. That steam room is really something else!

For whatever reason, Dirk, Mutsumi and Hope cannot come to an agreement on anything long enough to coax out the spirit of the Three Sisters. In the midst of their attempt, Prince Shellustria appears on the scene and, by some feat of magic, uses their strife to his advantage and captures the Constellation out from under them. A struggle ensues, but the Nova Knights are overpowered by his Abyssal magic and laid low.

On the other hand, the new Nova Knights help make quick work of Lacquerina. The Harbingers' strategy has been evolving in response to the repeated foiling of their plots by the Nova Knights, and they clearly have no plans to stop trying to harvest energy, and instead have found subtler methods, trying to get away with as much as they can before the Nova Knights intervene. What is unclear is exactly for what purpose are they harvesting the energy — all they know is that it is for the Abyss, but the Nova Knights do not know to what end.

Damage control, however, is perhaps not this team's strength. Even with the healing side effect of the Star Suite power Dance of Light, the three of them still come out of the fight with some minor injuries. It also leads to some unfortunate damage of Sea & Spray's shiny new steam room.

Win some, lose some — even though they prevented the Harbingers from harvesting any more energy, the loss of the Constellation is arguably much worse. It's unclear to the Nova Knights how much the Harbingers know about the Constellations, or even if they know how to tap into their magic — and even Nautis has no idea what will happen if they try. The Abyss has never had possession of the Star Map before. They will need all seven Constellations to reassemble the Star Map and seal away the Abyss, which means that somehow, they'll have to get back the Three Sisters from the Harbingers. But with a few new Knights in the ranks, perhaps this doesn't feel like such an impossible task.

+5 SP	Mutsumi Hope Kalim
+4 SP	Cynthia Natalia Jamil Dirk Harley
+3 SP	Reese Maya

Please comment if you have any questions! The event log will have a top level for each limited mission, and if you're curious, here are the rolls for this event. All rolls are d20 unless noted otherwise, and the skill ratings of 1-4 are converted into modifiers of -1 to 2. Other modifiers such as the headcount for each mission, combat type, and eclipse are added to the total modifier.

Don't forget to take down your new SP! As of this post, event SP is immediately granted and you can go hit up the rewards page if you so choose.