[F27-EVENT-2024] Diwali

[Acanthus 0]

Acanthus took a different path to Hiten today. She wasn’t sure what had sparked the deviation, but to Acanthus, it felt nearly criminal. She’d already measured out the shortest path; doing anything else cost her time in the game. By her count, it was about 47 seconds longer.

And the time was about to stretch even further. One of the festival NPCs approached her from a purple marquee, drawing Acanthus to her with a gentle, enamoring voice. "Hello. How might I be of service today?"

“Nothing, thank you.” Despite her rush, she felt compelled to stay and chat just a little longer. She didn’t want to be rude. “What is it that you do?”

“I am Sarasvati, and I deal in hand-crafted traditional clothing. I have a beautiful blue saree that would look wonderful on you. Or perhaps I could interest you in some henna?”

“No thank you. My brother got caught with some once, and he was grounded for a month.”

“Well, hold on one moment then.” Sarasvati disappeared inside, returning with a gorgeous royal blue saree, filigreed with dark golden details. “Please, give it a try.” Acanthus paused to take in the stellar craftsmanship of the gown. “I wouldn’t want to be rude.”

Item Name: Aarti
Profession: Performer
Quantity: 9 (Total: 45)
Craft IDs: 237160, 237150–57
Post Links: 

 

[3ulogy 0]

Eulogy ducked out of sight just as Acanthus disappeared into the marquee to try out some weird dress thing. The less they interacted, the better off they would both be. After a few moments, Eulogy popped back out into the crowd, whistling nonchalantly. Again, he’d rather drag his feet over hot coals than deal with too many people, but stuff like this was always a good way to get good items and experience.

Eulogy flipped through the sporadic info trickling out of the various info brokers—some of these people were fast. Unbelievably so. Eulogy wouldn’t be surprised if they were here right now, gathering information. But he was grateful for people to do the boring parts of adventuring so that he could get right to the fun stuff.

He read that lighting of the diya, while supposedly a gratuitous act, actually provided some small benefits to the user. So he ran over to Dayanita and snatched five lights out of her hand before she even started to talk. “Thanks, sure, self-reflection, yada yada.”

No one said it had to be genuine. How could a program know, anyways?

Eulogy jogged over to the first station, where he dropped the light in front of a lamplighter NPC. The lamplighter waited expectantly. It wasn’t seriously waiting for him to respond to the prompt, was it?

‘To our parents who guide our journey, we grant of you this blessing.’

“Starting off weak.” Eulogy glowered. “My parents were shitty, stuffy human beings that didn’t know how to be parents. Dad just wanted a smaller version of him, and worked his hardest to cut away any part of me that didn’t fit inside his vision. And mom was the opposite—hated any confrontation, so she just wilted in the corner while dad did his thing. Ugh,” Eulogy spit on the ground. “You actually got me reflecting, didn’t you?”

The lamplighter merely lit the diya in response.

***

‘To our parents who guide our journey, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our friends who walk alongside us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our siblings who stand with us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our partners who stay with us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To those who will come after us, we will owe to you this blessing.’

Edited yesterday at 12:25 AM by 3ulogy

[Mishiro 0]

they break for food at a secluded corner then resume their appreciation of the festivities.

mishiro, in search of more unique items, methodically goes from stall to stall to try each one's offerings. perhaps fermata had missed something in its initial sweep. it is not impossible. there are vanity shops wherever one looks, selling street food, outfits, tattooing services, and a half hour with a rented mount. more games. from a simple ball toss, she wins a feather. she immediately knows what she wants to do with it. the problem is sibyl, who jealously curls a hand over loth's gift. ("one more for your hair." "do the two of you fancy turning me into a bird?") and after a round of bickering, it ends up in their pocket with the false promise of wearing it in the future.

other than a table of crafting schemas in front of the library, nothing quite stands out the same as gyan chauper. mishiro reviews the route they had taken around the festival in her head and concludes -- the process of arriving at this answer was not entirely devoid of fun.

she ends up following the lights again eventually.

they cluster thickest at the base of the nameless statue, and among them, a woman in blue prepares even more. it greets her when she passes, and courtesy brings her to acknowledge it and draw closer to listen to its request.

"this lamplighter that you speak of, is he still on the other side of ronbaru?"

"yes," dayanita responds, "it is a quieter walk, perhaps an opportune moment to reflect on your journeys thus far under the guiding lights of our festival. would you like to help again? in the process of understanding oneself, retreading old paths bears numerous spiritual benefits."

sibyl pauses by a set of lights, noncommittal. "i'm not so deep as to need the reflection twice, to be honest. but i can still help. mishiro?"

"i'll take the lights, too," mishiro says.

 

-> diya lighting: receiving the lights

Edited 20 hours ago by Mishiro

[Acanthus 0]

This was a bad idea. Acanthus returned with another set of crafts. The beautiful saree she wore seemed much less beautiful with her in it. She felt clumsy as she stepped on the hem of the garment time and time again. And people kept staring. Everywhere she looked, people were staring at her, only to quickly glance away. I’m wearing it wrong. I must be wearing the stupid thing wrong. And everyone here is too nice to say something.

She met with Hiten one last time. “As much as I’ve enjoyed making all of these songs, I don’t know that I have many more of these in me. I’m spending a lot of materials on this, and the payout won’t be anything other than a little experience, as I understand it.”

Hiten nodded. “I understand. But aren’t you having fun?”

“I shouldn’t be.”

She passed Dayanita on her way out. “Traveler, would you please help me—”

Acanthus nearly collided with the poor girl as she left Ronbaru as fast as she could walk without drawing attention to herself. “I’m sorry, I—I have somewhere to be. Another time.”
 

Item Name: Aarti
Profession: Performer
Quantity: 5 (Total: 50)
Craft IDs: 237179–80, 237182–84
Post Links: 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Acanthus

[3ulogy 0]

‘To our friends who walk alongside us, we grant of you this blessing.’

Eulogy tossed the candle down to the lamplighter. “Friends are just people that don’t know each other well enough. Sure, I’ll bless the people that hang around enough to be useful, but no one stays much longer than that.”

Eulogy looked at the lamplighter, who continued to stare expectantly.

“Look at you, some stupid quest NPC. You probably don’t even have a family to go home to, or friends to talk to about your day.”

“Actually—”

“I wasn’t finished.” Eulogy smiled with hollow eyes as the lamplighter immediately stopped talking. “You’d probably make a pretty good friend, actually. Docile, helpful, not prone to being judgmental… Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be sticking around after the event, would you? Or are you going to despawn like all the rest of the programs around here.” The lamplighter seemed at a loss for words.

“Yea, whatever. Friends, friends, friendship, love, respect, admiration, blah blah blah. Have I hit enough of the keywords for you to light the stupid thing?”

Obediently, the lamplighter knelt and lit the diya for Eulogy.

* * *

‘To our parents who guide our journey, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our friends who walk alongside us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our siblings who stand with us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our partners who stay with us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To those who will come after us, we will owe to you this blessing.’

Edited 52 minutes ago by 3ulogy

[kali 0]

Pallankuli ended, or was put on pause, or all guild members present at the time exhausted all available moves -- (i.e. things happened and Yue Hua was there for it) -- and there was no conclusive winner. She had thought it was quite fun regardless. Perhaps she could pick up some board games somewhere for a more proper bout; hadn't a few of them said before that the guild hall was in desperate need of decoration?

Yue Hua bid her companions goodbye and went off to sample the food. She had neglected the group chat since her first series of messages, so between mouthfuls of curry, she took the time to scroll through her message history. There was a second game somewhere and Bistro helpfully sent coordinates. Of course she was interested. She went over as soon as she had finished her food.

This one was familiar to her, too. She didn't know she had so much experience with board games.

Seeing none of her cohorts, Yue Hua slid into a random table occupied by three attendees.

“Hello. May I join your game?”

-> Gyan Chauper: CD 13 | Laddu (5)

Spoiler

GYAN CHAUPER
237185: CD 3
237186: CD 6
237187: CD 4
-- [Total]: CD 13 | Laddu (5)

 

Edited 3 minutes ago by kali