dec event.

[crescentviewmods]

prologue

You awake to find yourself in a bed that creaks with your every movement, motes of dust flitting about the sparsely lit room. Whether you wake alone or with another by your side, you exit the worn-down building to find yourself on an old, abandoned farm. It isn’t long before a familiar voice lilts in your ears, carried to you on the breeze—

“Hurry over to the town square. Chop chop!”

Whether you go willingly or find your feet inexplicably compelled to trudge into town makes no difference. Once you arrive, you find yourself surrounded by a small ocean of new faces— some confused, some angered, and others quite chipper. At the center of the crowd is a bright-eyed woman with an otherworldly allure, her white hair tied up neatly in a bun, pamphlets and assorted papers tucked in her grasp.

“Welcome to Crescentview, farmers!”

Spreading her arms out wide — as much as she can without her papers blowing away — she eagerly regales the crowd with some fun facts about the island and the town while also reminding everyone of one very important fact:

“Remember, you’ve been brought here to tend the earth, fall in love, and begin your new lives together. You’re not leaving until you do. It will be quite the experience for you, I’m sure.”

Complain, grouse, or rejoice if you like, but don’t expect the Goddess to budge. Oh, right, there’s that too: she, the Harvest Goddess, is the one presiding over this land. Don’t get on my bad side, she gently warns as she stuffs pamphlets into the hands of Crescentview’s aspiring farmers.

spring breeze

While you’re here, you may as well check out the pamphlet the Goddess insistently pressed into your hands. Within it, you’ll find a handy infographic on each of your neighbors detailing their likes, dislikes, and... ideal dates? Even the Goddess’ profile is there. How invasive! Each farmer’s picture is hand-drawn by crayon into simple stick figures with the only difference being how the hair looks on top of their heads… if it can be called hair with the mess of crayons, that is. Every single stick figure is smiling. In front of each personalized pamphlet, there’s a stick figure on the cover with the same style as the photo. It’s definitely yours with how the hair color seamlessly matches yours. For the ones who have multicolor hair, you might notice the goddess seems a little more huffy with you.

The pamphlet also includes a map of Crescentview and lists the services available in town. There aren’t many on this small, remote island. Learning how to fend for yourself seems like the best course of action. Finally, a hand-printed bingo card has been made up for each new island resident. The Goddess must have spent quite a bit of time making these...

The Goddess gives her new questionably loyal followers a chance to mingle and mix before speaking up with another announcement. A small group of haggard-looking fairies appear at her feet, and clapping her hands, a notice board springs into existence. When the fairies fail to react, she gives one a nudge with her foot, prompting them all to burst into the world’s smallest round of applause. It’s a little... pathetic.

“Ta-da! Behold: the task board. Every season, I’ll give you new tasks to complete, and in exchange, you’ll be richly blessed by me, the Harvest Goddess. Spring is the season of new beginnings, so let’s take a look at what we’ve got cooking, hm?”

task board

The task board is located in Town Square and changes from season to season. In real time, a season is one month long. The following tasks are available from December 1st to January 1st and more tasks may be added mid-month.

Certain rewards are only available through event participation, so please keep this in mind when planning your threads. Multiple tasks may be completed within a single thread, but when turning in, please link to the individual tags in which each task was completed.

Finally, rewards are per character, not per farm, so those with housemates may want to coordinate with one another with regard to what animals you’re bringing home to your farm.

1. Greet your neighbors. For every person you meet, you will be given a random bag of spring seeds. Potato, cabbage, turnip, strawberry, and cucumber seeds are available at this time. Alternatively, random mushroom spores are also available. These include morel, matsutake, and common white mushroom spores. This task can be completed a total of 10 times for rewards. Please specify how much of each you would like when submitting your threads, i.e. “I’d like 5 random spring seed bags and 5 random mushroom bags, please!”

2. Exchange names. Start learning some names and faces: you’ll be seeing a lot of these folks! For each name you learn, you’ll earn a random bag of spring flower seeds. Daffodil, tulip, forget-me-not, primrose, and hyacinth are available this season. This task can be completed a total of 10 times for rewards, and yes, you can cheat the system and introduce yourself to someone you already know, but the Goddess won’t like it.

3. Check out your new farm. Take a look around and settle in! After a bit of wandering, you’ll notice a small cat or dog following you around and looking up at you with them big ol’ eyes. Looks like it wants to stay with you, but will you adopt it? This task can be completed once.

4. Till your field and begin planting. Find the beat up farming tools in your beat up house and begin beating your farmland into submission. Plant some seeds and be rewarded by the Goddess with a single chicken or rabbit to keep in your coop. This task can be completed once.

5. Visit another farm. Pay one of your neighbors a visit to receive a stationary set blessed by the Goddess herself. There are no cell phones or Internet on the island, so get used to sending all your “LOL”s and “XDDDD”s by hand. This task can be completed once.

6. Make a new friend. Isn’t friendship wonderful? For each person you proclaim to be your friend, you will receive two random gacha items. This task can be completed 3 times.

7. Pray to the Goddess. Whether you do so grudgingly or willingly doesn’t matter much to her so long as you’re doing it! Clasp your hands together and bow your head or throw an offering into her pond— she’ll hear you either way. Praying to the Goddess will net you a barn animal of your choosing: a cow, sheep, alpaca, or goat. This task may be completed once.

Caution: throwing certain items into her pond may have consequences. Choose your offerings wisely.

mod notes

⬥ Welcome to the game's opening and our first event!
⬥ A second event post will go up in mid-Dec.
⬥ Please plot over at the Dec Plotting Post.
⬥ As a reminder, please keep all plotting on the OOC post as not everyone has Discord or Plurk.
⬥ Please submit your completed tasks at the top-level below.
⬥ Have fun!

navigation

Comments

[esurientabyss]

[ The last time he had spoken of his family, it'd been in much more rougher circumstances. So it isn't something he cares to do all that often, also considering the nature of their passing.

But, their personalities have been easily committed to memory. His lips curl into a downwards frown, though he begins to speak anyway, the look in his eyes nostalgic, and wistful. ]

My parents were hard-working people. They loved their children well—myself and my sister. My sister was resourceful and dependable. Another, a childhood friend who was like family, happened to be headstrong and kind.

[ Because she was his fiancée. Though he finds himself unwilling to say that at this time. Due to the tragedies that had occurred to them and himself, his existence is as it is. Even if all those who have wronged him and his family have been brutally taken care of by his own hands. ]

We all did our best to support one another. In the end, they are all unforgettable, precious people whose memories will not be lost as long as I live. [ ... ] Tell me about yours in turn.

[sluice]

[ Plenty of lines to read between here. It's nothing Childe can truly understand— loss of such damning magnitude that he briefly can't find the words to say. He Xuan might look at him differently if he knew the extent of what he's hiding: that he'd kill anyone on the Tsaritsa's behalf. Perhaps even people such as these. It's a sick thought, noxious in his head. Childe doesn't lend it a voice. ]

Memories like those won't go away easily. [ For better or worse, really. ] Let's see, where should I start...

[ It's only fair to reciprocate. ]

My brothers... they're a lot like my father. Courageous. Especially the little ones. I guess they must've gotten the adventurous streak from him? And my eldest sister, she's... well, she's one of the gentlest people I know. [ And perhaps too forgiving, after his stint in the Abyss. ] But it's my younger sister that resembles my mother the most. She cares so much about others.

[ And he worries her endlessly. All of these letters he's carrying are from her; he didn't have the heart of dispose of them, in the end. ]

So you could say I'm blessed. [ Nothing but happiness for him, up until the day he set out on his own. ] ... Well, enough of that. Why don't you tell me what you plan to do from here on out?

[ Does He Xuan plan to fulfill the Harvest Goddess's wish? ]

[esurientabyss]

[ Meanwhile, as Childe is talking about his fam in turn, he's listening intently. So ironic, that he never thought he'd be listening to someone else talk about their relatives after speaking of his own.

But he can tell that the man cares earnestly for them. Not that he expected much else, given what was on his 'likes', and it is all summed up succinctly, yet with a telling careful thought behind a descriptive word given to each quality that these family members have.

He will nod when the man says he's blessed, but in the interest of efficiency, move on. ]

I plan on playing along. [ bluntly... ] Doing otherwise seems like it'll make leaving take longer. Though if she's lying, I'll make her regret it.

[ Not an impossibility, but it's whatever. Free food and it isn't like he's actually in a hurry to get back immediately, so... ]

You?

[sluice]

[ Asking the real questions here, pal. Up until very recently, """work""" took up the bulk of his time. Even here, possibly worlds or dimensions apart from the Fatui, Childe hasn't renounced his ties as a Harbinger. As far as he's concerned, this is just another detour, albeit with grave consequences? The last thing he needs is his associates believing he's gone rogue. ]

I figure... I'll do as I like? [ Uncertainty permeates every word. ] Whatever proves most convenient, at least for the time being.

[ AKA, he'll probably need to visit the Harvest Goddess at some point. Can't let these doubts pile up too long. ]

May as well get started on that card of yours now, since you're going along with this ruse. I'm willing to test it out with you.

[ Or be the test subject, if need be. Without further preamble, Childe flashes his bingo sheet. Enjoy. ]

[esurientabyss]

[ Meanwhile, He Xuan is going to not bother with the Harvest Goddess for the most part. He's certain that she'll just annoy him, more than anything. She's the one responsible for all of this, and he doesn't like most people anyway.

That's two strikes already. ]

I'll show you mine as well.

[ He Xuan whips out his bingo sheet as well for comparison's sake. ]

I don't have much skill in painting, though I know how boats work. And as annoying as it is, I will have to eventually get rid of one of these 'date' squares. Then is also choosing which ones we don't share.

[ Then he goes quiet, looking expectantly at Childe for his answer, even if he doesn't ask. ]

[sluice]

[ It does take him aback, wow. Eventually, Childe recovers, although his mouth is scrunched up in a frown for it. ]

Admittedly, I'm not much of an artist. [ Too busy committing atrocities to immerse himself in culture. ] But I'll give anything a try once. Why don't we draw each other, then?

[ Get ready for the worst self-portrait humanly imaginable, He Xuan. Don't judge him too harshly when it comes out all lopsided and uncanny. Hopping off the fence, Childe points some ways up ahead. ]

... Let's see if the store has anything?

[ Painting supplies would be a good place to start. And he's off! Feel free to join him. ]

[esurientabyss]

[ If anyone told He Xuan that he would be busying himself in a task involving painting 'someone else', then he'd have snubbed them. He has done a variety of things in his long life, but being an artist isn't exactly one of those things. ]

We can try and see what it looks like. [ ... ] I assume you mean I will be painting you, and you will be doing a rendition of myself.

[ Regardless, He Xuan follows Childe like a ghost.

Pun entirely intended. ]

We'll see. If there isn't, then the goddess is more foolish than I expected.

[sluice]

That's the idea.

[ He's so glum. Painting is also a way to improve his hand-eye coordination, though, even if he's less than enthused about it. Entering the store does yield art supplies, which he's plucking off the shelves after a cursory examination, picking out paints that line up with his companion's complexion best and a few canvas boards.

Oh, and Childe's forgotten to grab a brush. Hopefully, He Xuan remembers to snatch a couple as he brings the items over to the register. All of this shopping does lead him to pose a question, though, as he's waiting in line with the goods. Fetching out his bingo, he points out the phone sex, play Twister, and French kiss squares, in that order. ]

You wouldn't happen to know what some of these squares are referring to, would you?

[ What's a phone, even? ]

[esurientabyss]

[ Well, no one can say it's not going to be a colorful time; though one can say there aren't going to be any brushes with death just yet. D'oh ho ho ho. ]