May II Event Log

[nashiramods]

Who: Everyone! (That's right, even you)
What: The search for Niangniang ramps up as the enemy closes in. All signs point to the bathhouse...but just where is the ship's cat?
When: May 25 - May 31
Where: Chalra City

🎶 Recommended Listening: Underwater Prom Queens - Omori Soundtrack ♪

may ii event log
EPISODE 2: Bathhouse Blitz! Save the Black Cat and the Golden Butterfly!
May 25 - May 31
TIMELINE
5/25-5/29 Dowsing Machines
5/27 Art Contest
5/28 Investigate: Bathhouse
5/30 Mystery Plot
5/31 Showdown: Vaporpilia & Rescue: Niangniang

The race to find Niangniang has begun! Nautis has given everyone dowsing machines that look like little toys to track Niangniang via magic leak. They beep with increasing frequency when in proximity of the source, which means they're not exactly discreet, but they're the only way the Nova Knights themselves can track Niangniang. Just try to make sure it doesn't get taken away in class! Those who attend Everwave Academy may notice that it beeps a lot at the school, but...there are no cats to be found on campus.

Everwave Academy sends a memo to all faculty, staff, and students' families that the school guidance counselor Optimus Prime has resigned in order to "pursue other professional opportunities", leaving the position temporarily unfilled until they hire another counselor.

On the 27th, final scores from Shelley Lustre's art contest are announced. Maya's little cousin Pearl won first place and Kalim secured third place. Natalia's submission, however, was disqualified.

Even though the Nova Knights' investigation efforts aren't entirely successful, on the 31st, Nautis alerts the whole team with the near-certain knowledge that Niangniang is at the Golden Butterfly and is at risk of being captured by the enemy, and that they've all got to get there quick!

> SOS! SOS! Alert! Alert! We've got a situation!
> I've got a fix on Niangniang's location, but it looks like the enemy does too!
> All Nova Knights, report for action! I'm sending you coordinates now.
> JK, it's the Golden Butterfly Bathhouse ^_^
> The enemy is sure to be sending their strongest monsters to capture our mascot, so be on your guard!
> Normally I'd be kind of OK with letting the enemy get their hands on her, but we kind of need her. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Oh well!
> Which means you all need to get your magical keisters in gear. Duty calls! Time to go supernova!

While Mutsumi arrives a little too late to help, Jamil, Kalim, and Natalia make it to the bathhouse in time to defeat the bathhouse butterfly monster Vaporpilia and save a very drenched black cat. Once the action is over and the steam clears, Niangniang the cat unexpectedly poofs into human form. Niangniang was reincarnated as a human like the rest of them, and her true identity is...Maomao?!

Neither Hope nor Maya made it to the bathhouse, however, nor did they respond to Nautis's messages. Once they've ensured Niangniang's (Maomao's) safety, Nautis tries once again to contact the two Nova Knights who never made it to the battle, only to discover that they're nowhere to be located in Chalra City. Nautis realizes too late that Maya and Hope must have been trapped in the Abyss by the enemy. The situation isn't hopeless, however — unlike Nova Zenith's case, she can still track their magical signatures, even if only faintly, which means they can be saved.

The full mission results can be found here.

Comments

INVESTIGATE: BATHHOUSE

[nashiramods]

Re: INVESTIGATE: BATHHOUSE

[avemortis]

Mutsumi has had her suspicions about Kalim ever since the impromptu jam session in the hideout, and this, she is pretty sure, just about confirms it. Kalim's invited her to check out the very same bathhouse Nautis asked them to investigate, though under some other, non-Nova-Knight-related pretext. She's not sure why Kalim invited her, but presumably the reason they give Jamil the slip at the froyo place after school is because Kalim doesn't want to risk Jamil finding out he's a Nova Knight. And Mutsumi goes along with it for the same reason — it's only fair that she help protect their identities if they're keeping them secret, even if she doesn't understand why. Mutsumi understands...only she can know. Don't worry, Jamil. She'll make sure nothing bad happens to Kalim.

Kalim obviously hasn't mentioned a secret mission but she's pretty sure he's not bringing her there to take an actual bath...right? Is that the real reason he wanted to sneak away from Jamil?? Mutsumi gives him an uncertain look.

"Why this bathhouse?"

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

"Oh, I just wanna take a look around," Kalim says with a smile. "I've never been to a bathhouse! Jamil really didn't want me to come, but I think it oughtta be okay if I don't actually get in the bath, hahaha!"

He looks around cheerfully. He's personally chosen to take, uh, recent threatening developments as just more reason he's got to do his best for everyone, but he might be compartmentalising a bit too hard about how dangerous things are -- he has absolutely no idea Mutsumi is also a Nova Knight and he just asked her to come along because he wanted some company and Jamil wasn't available.

[avemortis]

Take a look around...that's probably something they're allowed to do, right? Like a facility tour before you buy a really expensive membership to a new gym or whatever.

Still, she's trying to find a more plausible line of conversation that doesn't end in any unwanted reveals. Unfortunately, she sucks at conversation. And then an actual thought occurs to her.

"What if they don't let us?"

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

He turns around and blinks at her. This possibility has apparently Not occurred to him.

"Huh? Why wouldn't they?"

[avemortis]

Yeah, the possibility only very recently occurred to Mutsumi. Sure, facility tours are definitely a thing, but the kind of thing she's always been brought along for the ride with her parents. Isn't that kind of, like...adult stuff?

"We're just kids."

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

For just a moment, Kalim frowns.

"We're not, like, little kids, though," he says. His smile returns at full force, and he holds his hand out to Mutsumi. "C'mon, I bet it'll be fine!"

[avemortis]

Yeah...he's right. There's no sense in overcomplicating it...besides, she reminds herself, they both need the same thing here: samples of the bathwater and the new bath salts. It'd be better to just focus on helping Kalim, and she'll let him come up with whatever excuse he thinks he needs to get her to go along with it.

Granny Chocho herself is at the front desk when they arrive at the Golden Butterfly, a diminutive little grandma with a large poof of hair partially held down with a kerchief. She squints at them through massive, thick spectacles and breaks out into a toothy grin.

"Well, look at the two of you! Here for the baths? We don't get a lot of kids your age here." She's clearly delighted to have them, though, and she's already preparing a couple of baskets with folded towels.

SHOWDOWN: VAPORPILIA

[nashiramods]

Re: SHOWDOWN: VAPORPILIA

[theriflespiral]

It's a surprisingly quiet day in the Golden Butterfly bath house. Gleeful exchanges of words do not echo in the showers; the rattling of buckets and bath kits are silent; the oppressive humid heat of the bath in late spring fills the nose.

In the distance, the drip of a faucet into an unattended tub shows a strange scene; people who scrambled out of the water, huddled together, old women shushing young men.

Our heroes know nothing of this, yet. Before we begin:

Who's already Supernova?

[snizier]

Crescent is definitely already Supernova, because if Kalim/Sunbeam ever finds out who he is he will go into Eclipse and die ❤️

[theriflespiral]

Cool great cool great

Nova Crescent steps in. It's... Eerily silent. The entire world seems coiled and ready to spring.

In the distance, there's the THUNK of an emergency exit opening, and then all hell breaks loose. Dozens of small water centipedes erupt from two baths near the exit; right next to Nova Crescent are several more.

And there, herding some people out, is--

Natalia fucking Koutolika! Armed with a bucket and a brush! Using them as knife and shield to ward off the water blasts and roll out of the way while one or two more people escape, barely.

Not that Nova Crescent knows Natalia is Nova Neos, of course, but she's making her way for the lockers with defensively responsible purpose.

and Nova Crescent sure has his own problems...

[snizier]

There are no bugs there if Crescent pretends he didn't see them. He is striding across to the other side of the room for purely coincidental reasons that have nothing to do with the appearance of centipedes.

Great, and the last thing he needs is a civilian getting in the way when he's already feeling late to the party. What the hell does she expect to do with cleaning supplies? His instinct is to melt into the shadows and out of sight (like a character in a bad action movie), but here he makes his appearance obvious in order to address her. Might as well do this the fast way.

"Get out of here," he barks. He has no obligation to be polite or helpful with his identity shielded, after all. "If you know there's something dangerous in the bathhouse, surely you can tell you're no match for it. Leave before you get yourself killed."

[theriflespiral]

"I'm trying, you--" She interposes the bucket between herself and another water caterpillar, then rips it out of its fluid mandibles, pieces of wood scattering to the floor. "Gah!"

She's getting soaked to the bone as much as if she'd had hours in the baths herself. As much as she hates running in this bad footing, it looks like she's going to have to.

She hears the rush of a caterpillar as she's only a few feet from the door, pushes herself upwards, turns, and throws the cheap bath kit bucket into its face, where it shatters, stunning it just long enough for her to get into the locker rooms, albeit having to roll up from that dive.

Now she just has to hope Nova Crescent can hold them off long enough for her to transform and rescue everyone else.

[snizier]

Nova Crescent is not going to be holding them off at all! From his perspective, he has no idea why Natalia suddenly ran off into the locker rooms, but he isn't sticking around a bunch of monster bugs long enough to find out. As far as he's concerned, she did a great job holding them off even as a normal unpowered person, so she should be fine by herself. He does not need to be here.

So he's gone. Bye!

The most obvious place to go, and the one people seem to be mostly fleeing from, is the central bath area, so Jamil tells himself it makes the most sense to ignore everything else and go straight there, taking the men's locker room route instead. Once he's inside, it's eerily calm, no presences apparent in the mist coming off from the steaming water, the only sound the occasional drip of a faucet...

Where could the monster be?

[theriflespiral]

She holds out the star in the palm of her hand, and whispers, as the star itself seems to resist her closing her hand upon it. "O ancient, dimming star, at last, shine forth!"

Her armor is already starting to dim, as well, from white to black, from green to a muddy shade.

And then she sees that Nova Crescent has abandoned her.

Fine then. She will be strong.

And continue to help others. What else can she do? It seems to be the only way to not be alone.

With sickening noise, she approaches the main baths, the crash of water in her features and heart.

And where Neos sees herself as a pillar of strength...

Vaporpilia senses weakness.

Emerging from the bath itself, comes a water nymph, at first, until the antennae, the wings, the extra pair of arms, the purple, poisonous, shining dust.

RESCUE: NIANGNIANG

[nashiramods]

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Re: RESCUE: NIANGNIANG

[theriflespiral]

The air... Is different, now. It's heavy. Wet.

Looming.

When the three of them arrived to the emergency call, they hadn't expected things to be quite this bad. They hadn't expected an explosion of chaos almost as soon as they walked in the door.

And they certainly hadn't expected something strange and formless to stalk them through the pipes and the drains.

Now, worse, they've got to save one person, in particular.

Kalim: Did you arrive in Supernova?

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

It's an emergency, of course he showed up in Supernova! And of course he was on board with going to look for Niangniang while the others went to take on the monsters -- sure, the whole sun/moon thing makes for a more intuitive teamup, but Nova Neos really seems like she knows what she's doing. She and Crescent can definitely handle this.

The problem is... his look around the bathhouse with Mutsumi really didn't prepare him for searching this place for a cat. By the time Neos catches up with him, he's seriously struggling to hold off a gang of steam caterpillars who have him cornered near the sauna. His sunlight powers at least make it relatively easy to figure out where he is -- the shine streams through the surrounding corridors as if it's pouring through the windows of a greenhouse. But he's just one guy, and he doesn't have any attack powers. Currently he's hoping he can stay out of their reach long enough for the heat of Mirage Flare to evaporate them, but they do keep slipping back into the drains to recuperate...

[theriflespiral]

Neos has been fighting for some time, now. Earlier, she was caught with her pants down, taking a soak in the baths themselves when the call went out to protect Niangniang.

Now, she's making up for lost time and the very near death experience she had fighting off the caterpillars to reach Vaporpilia.

But there's something... different, about the grind of stone on stone that heralds her approach.

She's barely keeping her hands up, defensive out of habit rather than genuine feeling. Where before her outfit was broad white and green jade, now the gems are amythyst and the somewhat heavy armor evoking a shining, polished basalt.

She walks forward. One steam caterpillar strikes, and her eyes flare with fury, and she seizes it. Her hands burn with brilliant purple light and it dissolves into motes, writhing like it can no longer breathe.

Neos... Has an attack spell?

The assembled mass of creepy-crawlies move to attack her as the larger threat.

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

It takes a moment for Nova Sunbeam to even recognise her -- the distinctive outfits they all wear have been doing a lot of heavy lifting for him when it comes to keeping his comrades straight, and at first these new colours have him assuming this must be some new ally he hasn't met yet. After a moment, though, he puts the shapes together...

"Nova Neos--?"

He hurries towards her, clubbing a caterpillar aside with a swing of his staff and a splash but otherwise relying on Mirage Flare to make it hard for them to follow him.

[theriflespiral]

Now several come diving out of the drains, and she backhands one into non-existence, barely pausing her advance. A casual side thrust kick does for another. "Sunbeam."

She snaps a straight right inches from his ear to catch a third, whistling steam and pain as it dissolves. Her contempt for these small-fry wasting her time is plain on her expression, but her eyes dart this way and that, tracking motions. "What news?"

[istandwithmycancelledwife]

"Oh, ah -- I haven't found Niangniang yet but I think we're close! Thanks for the save!" He weaves out of the way of a scalding stream of water and grabs Neos by the arm. "This way! Ah, wait, no -- this way! My bad!"

[wood_sorrel]

Maomao is not having a very good day.

When the monsters bubble up from the water and everyone else flees the baths, Maomao gets stuck hiding in a corner of the bath behind a half-destroyed folding screen, lying low until she can escape. And while Maomao is not the type to freak out, she is nonetheless, kind of freaked out. What The Fuck Is Going On. Why are there giant caterpillars made of water, and why do they seem to be coming for her?

She doesn't really have a lot of time to think about it, though, because as soon as Nova Sunbeam and Nova Neos enter the scene, something strange happens. She hears the whisper of a familiar voice and then, before she knows it, a beam of light shoots out from her forehead and surrounds her in a warm yellow sphere. When it fades, in Maomao's place, there is a small black cat, and in blind confusion, she tries darting away from the one the monsters and lands...right in the bath.

MYSTERY PLOT

[nashiramods]

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