thenashira | Game Update: August II 2377

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!game update

Game Update: August II 2377

Weather & Recap ⭐︎ By Daylight ⭐︎ By Starlight
🎶 Recommended Listening: Answer - BUMP OF CHICKEN ♪
august ii 2377
EPISODE 8: When You Wish Upon a Spark...
August 16 - 31

NOTE: As a reminder, there will be no event or missions this month while the mod team takes a break. The game update contains prompts for all of August II, so play around to your heart's content!

Star Suite: The Training Room has been unlocked! Special training machines are now available to the Nova Knights, and they now have access to a new Star Suite power, Sparkle of Life. More details about this power are included in the Starlight section. The Rewards page has been updated with information about the next unlockable room, the Portal.
Constellations: 2/7 Constellations captured. The Nova Knights have the Dancer and the Three Sisters.

Weather: Chalra City's hot hot summer continues! While August isn't quite as hot as it was last month, it's a good deal more humid and stickier. Whether it's a swimming pool or a beach, Chalra City residents are flocking to the water to cool off and relax. Sunbathing in the park is a popular activity on cooler days, and local shops and restaurants court young shoppers by offering special services and sales suited to the student wallet. The highs for the month average around 90°F/32C° with lows around 78°F/25C°.

Recap: The Nova Knights got some badly needed wins in the first half of August! Not only did they rescue the Three Sisters from the Harbingers' clutches, but Dirk and Reese escaped from the Abyss more or less intact as well. They managed to foil most of the Harbingers' plans at Littleneck Beach, but the Harbingers got away with their stolen energy, and whatever they were harvesting from the folks consuming Potari Sweet. The Harbingers have since disappeared from Nautis's magical radar, however, suggesting that they're prioritizing their defenses over a proactive attack.

BY DAYLIGHT
⭐︎ Summer break is over — it's back to school for all students. Hope you did your summer homework, or at least copied it from someone else last minute!

⭐︎ As the summer swelters on, the Midnight Diner serves up a Chalra City summer favorite: finger food-sized fried chicken with a spicy yogurt dipping sauce known by locals as pieces and beach sauce. While beach sauce is typically associated with fried chicken, Chalra City residents will put it on just about anything, and everyone's got their own recipe. Master's beach sauce is known to pack a powerful chili kick.

⭐︎ Chalra City commemorates the end of the summer with a fireworks festival on the waterfront running from the 26th to the 28th. Chalra City's artisans take great pride in their craft, and they spend months preparing three consecutive nights of elaborate fireworks displays on the waterfront, each more fantastic than the last, leading up to a truly show-stopping finale on the evening of the 28th. The festival is only active at night, but much like the Smoketree Promenade's midsummer event, there are plenty of food stalls and street vendors to occupy people's time before the fireworks go off. Sparklers are a popular toy for children and adults alike!

In Chalra City, the fireworks festival is about more than just tasty food and spectacle — it's an important opportunity for community togetherness and gathering with friends and family. There's an enduring old custom in this part of Atlace of making wishes on fireworks — if you make a wish aloud as a firework goes off, it may come true, and conveniently, the noise of the fireworks drowns out all but shouting. Of course, most people will agree that it's just an old superstition, but sometimes you can hear a murmur of voices intermingled with the deafening pops and cracks, so perhaps some of the Chalra City folk are a little more superstitious than they'll readily admit. Everyone needs a little something to believe in.

And it wouldn't be a true Chalra City summer event without a little competition! On the evening of 27th, the festival holds a spicy food eating contest hosted by the celebrity comedian Wakaba. Contestants will be tasked with eating a variety of hot sauce-coated foods, with the spicy factor increasing with every round; in between rounds, while the contestants take a brief breather, Wakaba asks them a variety of personal questions, most of which inevitably end on a joke. While there is a small cash prize for winning the contest, the real incentive is bragging rights.

BY STARLIGHT
⭐︎ Hope's Prophecy: Thanks to their past life as a diviner for the Oracle, Hope may occasionally receive prophetic dreams that give the Knights a hint about what's to come. Hope did not have a prophetic dream this time around either, but there's always next time!

⭐︎ Hideout Status: The Aquarium has 20 new quartz shrimp in addition to the four goldfish! The massive tanks are still mostly empty, but it's a start.

The Training Room is now accessible! If you were expecting a classic gym experience, think again — rather than conventional workout equipment, the Training Room holds what appear to be a series of arcade machines with a decidedly Hassalean aesthetic. Apparently, this is how the Nova Knights in their past lives honed their skills! There are currently three working arcade-style workout machines in the Star Plus training series: Star Plus Blazer, a target practice game to help hone weapon proficiency; Star Plus Light Catcher, a Whac-a-Mole style game where you bop cute little star-shaped monsters; and Star Plus Beats, a drumming game with two large drums that helps with magic power circulation.

There are more workout machines, but the rest are all out of order...who knows, maybe you'll find a way to repair them someday!

⭐︎ Star Suite: Another Silver-level Star Suite power has been unlocked! The Nova Knights can now use Soul Flash, a Silver-level finishing move that cleanses ordinary people who have been temporarily possessed or changed by the Abyss. The overzealous beachgoers who had drunk Potari Sweet, for instance, would have been cured in an instant by Soul Flash!

Star Suite powers cannot be alone; they must be used in concert with at least one other Nova Knight, and the more Knights who participate, the stronger the attack. It can only be used once per supernova transformation. Characters in eclipse lose access to Star Suite powers for the duration of their eclipse.

⭐︎ Maomao's Garden: If Maomao has made any crucial progress, she hasn't shared it with anyone. Instead, she's just fully taken over the Lab and relocated the entire hydroponics garden there for better study. Trespassers will be hissed at.

⭐︎ Nautis Updates: Late in the evening of the 15th, Nautis informs everyone with unusual gravity that two more of their number have been claimed by the Abyss: Sunbeam and Crescent. As far as she can tell, they're not in one of the more surface-level pockets of the Abyss like the last few Nova Knights, but somewhere deep and as of yet unreachable like Nova Zenith. The Harbingers have gone to great lengths to hide themselves from Nautis, so it'll take time before she can find a way that deep into the Abyss. She urges everyone not to lose heart — their friends aren't dead, only captured, and the Nova Knights are coming for them.

> I know it's hard to think about having fun at a time like this, but... > I just don't think it's good to dwell too long on what's already happened! You've got to take all that emotion and let it drive you forward! ( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ > Besides, you know they wouldn't want you giving up at every setback! We'll prove their faith in us and rescue them for sure! > So you have to make sure to take care of yourselves, OK? > We've got some of the training machines up and running if you want to feel productive about your emotions ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ > I hear this city's got some great fireworks...I know! You should all go take pictures for me! ^_^ > After all, it's not like I can go myself... Don't you want me to enjoy the fireworks? Don't I deserve to witness beauty too? > I've been hard at work trying to put together what the Harbingers did to the Three Sisters and everything... > The Constellation will recover, but yikes, those clowns really did a number on it. What they did was basically sacrilege! Don't they know these are precious artifacts of Hassaleh's Ocean Temple?! > It really fries my circuits to see those good-for-nothing villainous losers abusing priceless pieces of our history (｡•̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ꐦ) > The Constellations' magic was never meant to be used so directly...I don't think they have any idea what they were tampering with. > Thank the stars they didn't! They could have done much worse than mess with some drinks. We can't let another Constellation fall into the Harbingers' hands again! > But it seems like they're laying low for the time being... So I think it's time for everyone to take a load off! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

⭐︎ Intel: Although it's still unknown as to how the Harbingers' ship managed to disappear itself from Nautis's sensors, a conversation overheard by Dirk and Reese during their escape strongly suggests that while Mistiluxia clearly has dealings with the Abyss, the other Harbingers may not even know of its existence.

That doesn't mean all is quiet on the Nova Knight front, however. Even though there doesn't appear to be real any Harbinger activity on Earth these two weeks, there is an uptick in drinks monster sightings — more specifically, slushie monsters. While many of the monsters the Nova Knights face are directly summoned by the Harbingers, some, like the drinks monsters, are a byproduct of the Abyss's influence on Earth. So while there may not be a bigger Harbinger plot to foil, these monsters still need defeating! It is really hot out, though...would getting hit by just one frozen slushie attack be all that bad?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Damn it. Damn it all. Damn it all!

Neos, like Natalia, steadies her heart as she pounds away in the training area. It's one part rubble clearance and one part grim and terrible purpose.

Natalia, like Neos, examines her frustrations on heavy bags and park equipment.

She hears the shouts and the fleeing.

She steadies the bag and runs towards the danger.

1: Like Some Kind of... Secret... Identity... Rider
"O ancient and present beacon, Shine Forth!" It's a call that's been repeated on several videos on sites Chalra citizens frequent, and while no one has captured Neos's identity on film, people have definitely noticed that when trouble arrives, she arrives not long after, on a green cycle that takes any punishment she gives it, whose whole heart sits on her breastplate, a shining emerald awash with color and light.

Neos has, in fact, been seen often enough that people are starting to duplicate her poses. Someone might, in fact, be making a theme song.

a... You know, maybe. Someone should give her a talking-to.

B -- or join in! There's room for one more on that bike, if you don't mind putting your life in her hands.

2. Awash in Oceans and Shrines

As before, with the Dancer, Natalia is making a shrine to the Sisters. Unlike the last one, which is a simple shrine one could stick in, say, the corner of the Training Room, where one could take joy in all forms of motion as a method of worship...

This one's going up in the Library; marked with scales and images of the three sisters, all three dressed as magistrates, all three arguing with one another. Everything is carefully carved out of wood, appearing as Neos makes the individual pieces and joins them.

It's a good thing Maomao's cleared out, huh?

Of course, if you're trying to read...

3: Wild Card?
((hmu on discord or plurk))

Edited 2025-12-04 19:27 (UTC)

1: Well, I'm stuck here counting scars
Natalia goes to town in the school gym on the heavy bag. She knows that she's not actually allowed to do this-- it's not on the lacrosse workout list-- but she needs to do something, dammit. Too many people...

She's already lost too many people.

A vicious kick breaks the chain and sends it crashing to the floor. Her hair still suffers from that terrible impromptu haircut she got less than a week ago.

She's sure making a scene. Maybe ask her something.

2: Lots of leads but no cigar
Despite everything, despite the practice, despite the drain of a schedule on her life, a used cruising motorcycle and a leather jacket feels like it suits Natalia. Especially with Sunbeam and Crescent gone, she doesn't have much reason to not go and spend fuel learning about every district she can, roaring down the road and burning daylight.

But today, she has an extra helmet, and is handing it to someone, probably you. "Wanna take a ride with me?"

3: Cast pearls before the swine
Ivenka's... Changed, recently, in the Verdigris House. More open about her scars, but no less interested in maintaining a conversation or playing games or anything but the past two weeks.

Stranger still, she's shifted to a more obviously butch look, more reminiscent of a military uniform than a costume. When asked, she will say she "felt like a new change. Do you not like it?"

The way she takes up space with calm confidence, it's hard to dispute it's a good change, but...

Edited 2025-12-07 20:27 (UTC)

Begging desperately for any chance to not be Pandora has driven Hope to some extremes, but this is probably the first one that has a capital X when they spell it. They pick up the helmet and secure it over their head like they've done it before, even though they haven't, but they can figure things out. With the visor flipped up, they smile at Natalia.

"I'd love to. Just, you know, anything and anywhere right now." They try to smile, but they think Natalia's feeling pretty much the same pain and would be able to recognize just how fake it all is. "The further away from all that stuff, the better."

"Scenic route it is. Hold on at my waist, and lean with me once we get up to speed, or bike won't turn." How, exactly, Natalia learned to ride in such a short period of time is something she hasn't discussed yet, but knowing her, some mysterious butch lesbian monk or something was involved.

Still, she opens all the vents on her gear to let the wind handle as much as it can in the sticky August air, and heads off at speed, she's clearly got as much on her mind as Hope does.

For a while, there's nothing that can be heard over the wind and the roar of the engine.

It's nice like this. The wind rushing past them, the relative quiet of everything else, the closeness of another person who's just as deep in the shit as they are. Chalra City can be so beautiful when they're allowed a moment to actually let it all sink in.

"I've lived here my whole life and there's so much I feel like I haven't seen," they muse, hopefully loud enough to be heard. It's the first time they've ever been on a motorcycle and it's hard to tell how to regulate their voice, but they're gonna try to have a conversation. "Do you know anywhere nice to just go and talk?"

She nods, and turns north, past the pleasure district, up into the hills and out of the buildings, away away into the mountains.

For all that, it's not far. Off the road a tick, into a dirt parking lot, the opposite direction from a train station whose line winds over the hills into parts distant.

But. She pulls away her helmet. "From here, short walk to some benches. It's a bit high up."

How... Did she find this?

It's truly gorgeous here. They look at it all through the visor, the colors dulled and tinted, and then pull the helmet off and the beauty of the world around them strikes them all at once. It's like they forget how to breathe for a second the way they inhale deep and sharp, taking in the air and the sights all at once.

"Is this what you've been doing with your summer break?" they ask as they begin walking, just shy of bewildered that Nat's been able to find a place like this at all. It's like Hope has been living in a cave their whole life and is only just starting to see the real sunlight.

QUESTIONS

A Restless Interlude

Salt-Wound Routine (Daylight)

2

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backdated to 7/30; closed to maya

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What Good am I?

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