[EVENT] A CHAOTIC CHRISTMAS CRUSADE (SOLO, FAUSTEIN/KUROFAUSTΩ)

Just as last time, Faustein had been lured out of his lair of mad science by the promise of a tantalizing change of pace in the form of seasonal festivities, these ones being Christmas themed ones. He had taken part in the ones held last time as well for this event type, so needless to say, he was curious as to what the event organizers would come up with this time

Last time, it was snowman building contest and then a fight with a yeti as well as its minions. I wonder what it will be this time.

Faustein had mused silently as he dressed appropriately for the occasion with a thick weatherproof, jet black hooded overcoat overlaying his usual physician-scientist’s outfit. His head was covered in a second line of defense provided by a Christmas-colored fur-lined cap with ear guards while his neck was guarded by his thick heirloom scarf made of special, rare wool among other materials. He had applied a small amount of magic to it to change its color to one more apropos to the season before putting it on. Lastly, he had on matching colored Christmas-colored gloves made of the same special, rare wool as well as other components as his scarf. Now, personally, he would have just liked non-festive attire, but in his case, those were all he had in the way of those specific weather-resistant gear, so he had no choice but to use them.

After holstering the rest of his magic gear and other tools needed for his profession as a physician-scientist, he had headed off to participate in the festivities. Eventually, he had found out that the nearest locale which was still open was in Hosenka, and so he traveled there. It had taken a while to reach there due to the Christmas rush traffic, but he had managed to arrive in time. After that, he had entered the town and had made his way toward the booth with the buxom female elf and the young man who were apparently the clerks this time.

“I am here to participate in the Christmas events for today. It will just be me alone doing them.”

He had said in his usual somewhat concise manner while filling out the paperwork for the registration while enjoying the desperate antics of the young male clerk which were clearly in response to his well-endowed female elf coworker thoroughly. Several minutes later, he had been given his materials as well in a box just like all the other participants around him and then, he had headed off toward his lot.

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OOC:

Word Count:

• Post WC: 433
  
  
• Total WC: 433 / 2000
  

Text Legend:

• Italics: Faustein’s silent thoughts
  
  
• Bold w/ Quotes: Faustein’s speech out loud
  
  
• Non-Italics, Non-Bold: Faustein’s action text
  
  
• Bold w/ Italics (No quotes): Faustein's whispered, covert speech
  

Appearance:

Faustein reached his assigned lot after several minutes walk since it was located farther away than most of the others and once there, he looked about briefly to take in the sights and sounds around him as well as the other sensory experiences, of course. There was the scent of fresh eggnog being made which was wafting on the occasional chill-bearing winds that were coming his way. There was also hot chocolate with mint that a couple of passersby were carrying in their hands and drinking while chatting merrily. There was also the scent of pine from the various Christmas trees that were being set up in the other lots surrounding his and these were each at various stages of completion.

This is a tad different from what was put on last year. May the Norns above keep that troublesome Boss Yeti and his equally irksome minions away this year.

Faustein mused silently with a slight frown as he unwittingly slipped into a brief reverie where he dwelt on the past Christmas event he had done with snowman building and the rather difficult tussle he had been roped into by the end with the Boss Yeti and his minions last time. However, time was of the essence as he did not want to spend too long outside. So, he refocused his attention back on the large box of decorations which he had been handed by the reception staff earlier. Then, he looked over at his own Christmas tree making parts collection and began to make a plan for optimizing the decoration of his tree.

"Let us see now, if there are any candles in here, they could be slung on the sturdier branches, which would then leave those standard small orbs to be hooked on to the lighter ones, and perhaps if my fortune holds thanks to the Norns above, there will be other, better decorations as well."

With that out of the way, he started to open the box of decorations which currently lay on the ground before him.

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OOC:

Word Count:

• Post WC: 340
  
  
• Total WC: 773 / 2000
  

Text Legend:

• Italics: Faustein’s silent thoughts
  
  
• Bold w/ Quotes: Faustein’s speech out loud
  
  
• Non-Italics, Non-Bold: Faustein’s action text
  
  
• Bold w/ Italics (No quotes): Faustein's whispered, covert speech
  

Appearance:

The member 'KuroFaustΩ' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Upon opening the box, Faustein was somewhat disappointed in the meager resources therein. The tree topper was just fancy enough to be called decent instead of being a real eye-catcher, which meant that he probably would not steal first place in this contest at the end. The lights looked like they'd been used instead of new, but they seemed to still have some life in them, which again reaffirmed his suspicions about his now seemingly inevitable loss at this contest. Lastly, the ornaments were nothing to write home about, but they were not horrible either, they would be just enough to help him avoid a total debacle.

Oh well, it would seem that the Norns have abandoned me in this particular battle. However, with some creative organization, perhaps there is a chance for me to avoid last place.

Faustein muttered to himself thus as he surveyed the state of the decorations he had found in the box one by one at a relatively quick pace. After that was done, he set about putting his tree up and since he was alone, it was rather tricky to accomplish easily. However, after several hours, he did manage to arrange it into the proper shape according to the instruction pamphlet that came with the parts. After that was done, he started to set up the ornaments such as the slightly faded miniature silver reindeer models and Santa Claus on a sleigh figurines on the highest of the branches. Then, he hung the small gift box models on the series of mid sized branches below the reindeer model bearing ones. Following that, he hooked the assorted color orbs in as artful a manner as he could to the bottom-most branches as they were the biggest and thus would balance the weight upon the tree. Finally, he finished by setting the tree topper in its rightful place, aka on top of the tree after which he wrapped the string of lights around the entire tree in a double helical pattern and lit them up which officially ended his attempt just in time for the contest to be called by the judges.

Once the bell was rung, Faustein stood back to assess his handiwork and see if he could make any last few modifications to his work before the judges came to see it

That should do it nicely, or rather...at least as well as it could have happened considering my slight handicap. Now to see what the judges will say about it, not that the result would faze me in one way or another.

Musing thus silently, he awaited the arrival of the judges and it took them several hours to go through all the other contestants as there were apparently quite a few. However, at last, they did finally make it to his lot. Faustein stood there silently with his usual inscrutable, distant expression on his face and when the judges awarded him second place in the contest, he merely shrugged and nodded to acknowledge their judgement while remarking

"Understood, you have my thanks for your generosity."

After that, he fell silent and waited to see if the judges would say anything else to him, but it seemed that they did not do so. Therefore, he nodded at them once more, this time in a silent farewell before starting to head off in the direction of the eggnog stall. It was then that one of the judges called out

"Hey wait!! I recognize you from last year!! Faustein, right?!! Where's that young lady who was with you last time?!"

To that, Faustein turned around and cocked his head to the side as he could not remember exactly what they were talking about and responded

"Young lady? My memory data does not include any such records, unfortunately. Are you sure there was one with me that time?"

The female among the judges nodded fervently and then looked quite sad as she remarked

"Aww, you don't remember her? What a shame! If she had been with you this time, you two could have had fun at the mistletoe event further down the road from here!"

Faustein raised one slim eyebrow in a quizzical glance at the female judge while retorting

"Somehow, that does not seem like it would be very likely to happen to one such as myself. Either way, that sort of frivolity does not interest me in the least bit. Well then, au revoir to you and your two friends for I am off now to go have some eggnog."

With that, he headed off to get some eggnog and warm himself up to avoid the chill seeping into his cyborg bone structure and affecting him adversely.

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OOC:

Word Count:

• Post WC: 783
  
  
• Total WC: 1556 / 2000
  

Text Legend:

• Italics: Faustein’s silent thoughts
  
  
• Bold w/ Quotes: Faustein’s speech out loud
  
  
• Non-Italics, Non-Bold: Faustein’s action text
  
  
• Bold w/ Italics (No quotes): Faustein's whispered, covert speech
  

Appearance:

Faustein had bade farewell to the judges and by now had reached the eggnog stall. Once there, he picked up the last two cups of eggnog, paid the woman who was manning the stall, and then sat down to take a break after that spate of activity he had engaged in at the Christmas tree decorating challenge he had just done.

Ah, now this is true heaven...so delicious...and warm as well.

Faustein mused silently thus as he leaned back against the backrest of the bench while surveying the scene before him while taking short draughts of the eggnog. At the same time, his keen eyes and ears surveyed the passersby as his mind turned to another one of his favorite activities, namely people watching.

Hey you guys, do you want to do that Christmas gift guessing challenge? It sounds fun and maybe if we're lucky, we can get some nice prizes...

Faustein finally knew which event he was going to do next with this little revelation, so he drained the last of the eggnog in his cups and after throwing them away, he arose and headed off to the Christmas gift guessing event venue. It took him a while to get there as it was far away from his current location, but he did arrive eventually. Once he did, he registered with the event staff, namely the same young man and the young female whom he had seen at the counter for the Christmas tree decoration event earlier, or at least that was what it seemed like anyway

Same ones as before? Or perhaps identical twins? Oh well, no matter...

Faustein mused silently as he finished his registration and then let the two direct him over to his gift guessing area. Upon arrival, there was a medium sized box decorated in the style of the season, namely a red with green striped wrapping with a mistletoe ornament bearing ribbon to hold the wrapping snugly in place. This was set on a stand for him to interact with and needless to say, he was warned by the event staff to not use magic or any other form of cheating or source of unfair advantage to arrive at his guess for the contents of said box. After that, he was left alone to engage in his guesswork process as was everyone else around him who had signed up for this particular event.

Now then, how should I proceed? Perhaps the simplest approach would be to follow the directions and attempt the methods listed for this event...

With that in mind, Faustein finished his silent musing and then started off by picking up the box and holding it flat in the palm of his hand so that the pressure sensor installed in his palm could accurately get a reading of the mass of the mysterious contents. Then, he lifted the box up to his nose and let the olfactory sensor array built into his nose analyze any and all scents that may have been issuing from the box. Finally, he tilted the box down and up and then up and down again while letting the twin, synchronized, auditory sensory arrays incorporated into his ears analyze the sounds coming from the contents. After all of that was done, he wrote down his most educated guess on the small slip of paper that the event staff had given him and upon waving the staff over, he gave the slip to them.

O ye Goddesses Verðandi and Skuld, Norns of the Present and Future, please watch over me in this endeavor and grant me good fortune.

Musing thus, Faustein offered up a silent prayer to his favorite trio of Iceberg's goddesses from among the associated mythology's pantheon while observing the work of everyone else around him as the staff went around collecting the slips from them as well once their work was complete. It took a while once again due to the large number of people there, but at long last and after several hours, the event was in its final phase, namely the opening of the boxes before all the contestants and the subsequent revelation of the contents of said boxes to see who was the winner.

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OOC:

Word Count:

• Post WC: 702
  
  
• Total WC: 2258 / 2000
  

Text Legend:

• Italics: Faustein’s silent thoughts
  
  
• Bold w/ Quotes: Faustein’s speech out loud
  
  
• Non-Italics, Non-Bold: Faustein’s action text
  
  
• Bold w/ Italics (No quotes): Faustein's whispered, covert speech
  

Appearance:

The member 'KuroFaustΩ' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Faustein did not have any real expectations of winning the contest, of course, he had only hoped for some degree of fortune to come his way even if it was not a complete victory in the gift guessing contest. However, even his modest hopes were soon dashed to pieces once the event staff took the lid off the box, for when they did, nothing too fancy was revealed in the least.

Now that is certainly strange, so what is...

Much to his dismay, Faustein did not have any time to dwell on or ruminate on the matter for a split second later, a thick, poison green colored smoke started to issue forth from the clear glass beaker inside and soon, said smoke had engulfed not only him, but also everyone else around him. As far as he could tell, it was no poison, but rather something much, much worse as a stench more foul than any he had ever had the misfortune of encountering now started to assault the hypersensitive olfactory sensor array installed in his nose and it even impinged on his poor eyes, though thankfully not to the same extent due to them being shielded somewhat by his smart holographic glasses that he had on at the moment. The malodorous nature of the smoke grew progressively worse and more intense with every second that ticked by until everyone around Faustein, and indeed Faustein himself, collapsed onto their knees with watery eyes that just did not seem to stop and an overpowering urge to vomit their earlier meals up onto the ground before them.

"Egads!...what in blue blazes...is...that?!...Oh no, even I with all of my built up tolerance cannot...seem to resist...no...must keep my...composure...do away...with it, you staff, with all due haste!!"

Faustein managed to get out in between retching spells, but thankfully, his tolerance was just enough that he did not actually devolve into a vomiting frenzy as had many others around him. Upon seeing this and hearing his urgent call to action, the staff immediately went to work taking away the beaker and then a wind mage on staff was called upon to purify the area by dispelling the nausea-inducing smoke which she did as quickly as she could have in that situation. Fortunately, for Faustein and the others, this proved to be a godsend as it allowed them to slowly but surely regain their composure and stand back up again. After the staff apologized profusely to all of the contestants including himself, Faustein wasted no time in teleporting back to his mansion in the heart of Magnolia Town, aka his base of operations, vowing to never try something like that gift guessing contest ever again so long as he had life in him. With that, this year's Christmas festivities came to a close for Faustein and he prepared to go back to his usual grind and headed off to bed so he could greet tomorrow as best he could after his harrowing ordeal with the evening's events.

(THIS IS FAUSTEIN'S EXIT POST)

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OOC:


Word Count:

• Post WC: 501
  
  
• Total WC: 2759 of 2000 (EVENT'S MINIMUM WORDCOUNT REQUIREMENTS MET SUCCESSFULLY WITH THIS POST)
  

Text Legend:

• Italics: Faustein’s silent thoughts
  
  
• Bold w/ Quotes: Faustein’s speech out loud
  
  
• Non-Italics, Non-Bold: Faustein’s action text
  
  
• Bold w/ Italics (No quotes): Faustein's whispered, covert speech
  

Appearance:




Event Prizes:

• Tree Decorating Contest: 3x Peppermints
  
  
• Guess the Gift: 3x Peppermints
  
  
• Total Peppermints Won: 6x Peppermints of 5x Peppermints (EVENT TURN IN PEPPERMINT REQUIREMENT ALSO COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY AS OF THIS POST)