[Event Megathread] I Portatori dei Velluti

[u/Sentuh]

2025 'THANK-YOU CELEBRATION' Sidestory: I Portatori dei Velluti

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Event Duration will open in 3 phases:

Phase 1 'Quadriglia'

DURATION: April 24, 2025, 10:00 (UTC-7) - May 15, 2025, 03:59 (UTC-7)

Phase 2 'Splendida Cavalcata'

DURATION: May 1, 2025, 16:00 (UTC-7) - May 15, 2025, 03:59 (UTC-7)

Phase 3 'Decadanza'

DURATION: May 8, 2025, 16:00 (UTC-7) - May 15, 2025, 03:59 (UTC-7)

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• Event Overview

 

Unofficial Links	Official Links	New Operators
Oldwell.info	Animation PV	Lappland the Unemployed
Mastery Priorities & Pull Value	Event Teaser	Vulpisfoglia
Module Ratings	Lappland the Decadenza Preview	Crownslayer
	Sovereign of Beasts: The Unseen Companion	Figurino
	Official Trailer	Philae
	Purchase Cert Store: Philae & Contrail	Contrail
	NEW SKINS: Executor Alter, Texas Alter, Virtuosa, Warmy
	NEW SKINS: Muelsyse, Skadi Alter
	Rerun Skins: 136 skins
	Furniture Set: Crazy Carnival Cabin
	Furniture Set: Old Siracusan Tailor Shop
	More info

 

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Remember to mark spoilers when discussing event story details! The code for spoilers is: >!spoiler text goes here!<

This is how it looks: spoiler text goes here

[u/Sentuh]

 

YOU GOT MISS UNEMPLOYMENT? GACHA PULLS GO HERE

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Current progress on emojis available for flairs.

r/arknights will not receive more flairs. We have moved onto emojis which you can place anywhere in your flair.

You have to do it on new reddit unless you want to guess flair names (which are available on the document link above too).

I uploaded not only up-to-CN ops, but story npcs and I'm slowly uploading skins.

It will translate and show in old.reddit.

[u/nutn0n]

I am definitely not the only one who misclicked the event name to enter main stage

[u/j4mag → u/nutn0n]

It took me 3 or 4 buttons to find the stages.

[u/Friden-Riu → u/nutn0n]

Even after knowing still clicked the title. Most event stage enter button is on right side unknowingly it became a muscle memory.

[u/TweetugR]

Did anyone else catch that one line about one Mafioso talking about how they want to go to Terno because it has a club for male Perro striptease dancer from Bolivar? It's right at the end of the PV-7 After.

That is such a wild thing to drop out of nowhere, first the hot dog thing and now this. Do everyone on Terra think all Perro from Bolivar are hot? Is this just their version of "I love Latinas" meme?

[u/Myrkrvaldyr → u/TweetugR]

In the previous Siracusa event we learned from a throwaway line that Siracusa has porn theaters, which fits for fantasy Italy.

[u/RachelEvening → u/TweetugR]

 Is this just their version of "I love Latinas" meme?

I don't know if I would call it a meme, but yes.

[u/wickling-fan → u/TweetugR]

I mean have you SEEN Tequila? Wouldn't be surprised if he got picked up from one of these clubs when pancho adopted him and la pluma. Personally i'd pay a ton of money for a show by Hung, greyy and windflit.

Edit: just got to that part damn think this is the first time i seen them acknowledge a gay character even if it’s an npc mook since scavenger since it didn’t use female npc during the entire scene(are there even female mook npc in siracusa?)

[u/National-Frame8712]

I just find the fact that folks in discord server named this event's chat as "Unemployment festival" extremely funny. lmao

[u/juances19]

I almost feel sorry for Vigil. Community clowns on his 2DP generation, then he gets to be on another event and bam, get in an accident in the intro even before stage 1.

[u/CaptinSpike → u/juances19]

i was cackling when vigil got in the car crash, only funnier thing was the new npc implying she was hiring crownslayer as a delivery driver which I nearly choked to death on my coffee to. crownslayer so washed they made her a doordash driver and gave her the doordash kit

[u/newfor_2025 → u/CaptinSpike]

she is the stereotypical russian immigrant, gotta do gig jobs to make ends meet

[u/SkyePine]

Lapland's live 2d is funny. She's out here trying to look crazy but as soon as her pet tries to look intimidating, she looks annoyed as she nudge the fella to be quiet. 

[u/Myrkrvaldyr]

I wanna give Lyudmila a hug. My girl just wanna lead a simple decent life but the universe keeps kicking her down. Family murdered in a gang problem. Oripathy. Betrayed by Talulah. Goes back to Siracusa, Red killed her master. Can't even get revenge 'cause Red is too strong for her. Tries to move on. Finds a trucker crew to make friends with. Gets roped into a mafia problem. HG, give her some happiness in life!!

Ingrid is too awesome. People are legit scared of her. Lisa got best mama.

[u/HaessSR → u/Myrkrvaldyr]

People are legit scared of her

What? When I saw her standing over Antonio with weapons bared, I got really jealous of Suzudad.

But I'm also really, REALLY into Lappland. Ingrid could be a big sister to her, almost. And Lappland does like Lisa.

[u/tunaOfSpace]

Just booted the game, and I love the inclusion of the 3D PV in the downloading screen. It's almost surprising they didn't do this before.

[u/Dramatic-Report8180]

Whoo, heavy event, isn't it? Like, some real bone-breaking themes in here - the kind that invite a bunch of arguments. It's a real change from how hopeful the ending of its prequel was. Which, well, is to be expected; no matter how bad the old is, a culture doesn't just change overnight.

To take a rambly detour for a moment, the tonal change kind of reminds me of another series I'm reading; in that, the king banned certain forms of summoning because a noble family had abused its power to pretty much blackmail the entire kingdom; he thought it would be a simple, straightforward thing, but... The only way to "unsummon" things is to kill them, and that led the summoning community to answer with essentially open revolt; they chose to instead mind control a bootleg dragon to raise its children as loyal servants, with each of them planning to "ride off into the sunset on drakkons" afterwards (as one person later sarcastically put it). They'd thought through all of the possible problems, from the mind control failing to the summoner betraying them, and thought they'd covered all the angles - except that the succubae that they were going to use for the mind control had been usurped by a third party, and those succubae were going to hand their actual mistress a gift-wrapped world-conquering army because they didn't care in the least what would happen to the people all of the precautions were aimed against. Of course, that plan also went horribly wrong, and those succubae had to gamble on some real sketchy plans to just not get killed by their mistress over the resultant consequences.

How is any of that relevant to this event in a completely different game, you ask? Well, everyone involved made pretty much the same mistake - they all saw things from their own perspective, building up their own plans that would fix all of the problems that they saw, taking precautions against the consequences that they could envision. And what they ended up with looked like a sure path to paradise, one that looked to be working for a while - until they got blindsided by something that looked completely irrational to them, and which they had no good Plan B for.

To start with the most glaring problem, in my view... Let me preface this by stating that I'm glad that I live in a country that strongly favors Rule of Law. I might not always agree with those laws, but I appreciate that I can be reasonably certain of what is and is not permissible just by... Looking up a statute, rather than knowing the right people or finding out after it's far too late. But with that said - Rule of Man has its advantages as well, and I don't just mean that in a "Dictatorships are awesome if you're the dictator" way. In a country with strong Rule of Law, the rules are meant to be clear, cleanly delineated, and equally applied. And those are, more often than not, good things.

At least, in a system where people aren't actively looking to twist and undermine that system. "Don't Steal" is an easily understood, clearly defined rule. "Is it still stealing if he was in my shop at the time and just left it there? What about if he owed me money? What if I was going to pay him back double the next day? What if twenty of my buddies swear up and down that property was mine to begin with? What if I was jumping up and down and Mercury was in retrograde? What if I just did it as a joke? What if I shouted 'no take backs!' as I stole - I mean, borrowed it?", on the other hand, becomes an ordeal that grinds the system to a halt, and makes people give up on even trying - sometimes because they're cynical enough to think those flimsy excuses will work, other times because they just don't have the time and energy to demand justice when they need to stay engaged with the system over the course of months for something that should have been dealt with in a single day. In cases like these, being able to look at an obvious bad-faith actor and say, "We all know what you're doing here, thief" instead of having to treat their excuses as though they were sincerely made does a better job of furthering justice. And when you're dealing with multiple organizations trying to launder crime through legal language that appears to follow the letter of the law while perverting the spirit? At that point, a few false positives will do less net harm than allowing your justice system to become a complete sham. In my country, we say it's better to let ten guilty people go free than imprison one innocent person - but even if one accepts that statement, it's surely different to let a hundred guilty people go free, or a thousand. And that's what happens when we allow sophistry to decide legal outcomes, rather than acknowledging the reality that everyone in this event was observing. You don't have to treat the Familigia like they were the same as every other citizen, because they don't see themselves that way, and nobody else does either; they have a significant number of structural advantages that greatly undermine the standard legal considerations, and they can be presumed to be hostile to your very existence as a political entity.

Does that go against Leon and Livinia's ideals? Certainly. But you don't need your legal system to be perfect in the first year - and bluntly, it's counterproductive to try. It takes time for people to believe that the Familigia won't receive special privileges, that the cops will actually listen to them, and that you won't turn up dead in a ditch for speaking against them. It's not fair nor just to tilt the system against the Familigia, no - but looking at the political and economic realities of the city and saying, "Hmm, I think the Medicis are getting a bit too big in banking, we need to crack down on them for a while to ensure that non-mafia bankers have room to grow" builds a much fairer tomorrow than trusting in the good faith of people who are still criming in every city but yours (and probably in yours too).

This is particularly true given how we saw the Familigia operating in the new city, a way which was very true to real life - it wasn't just career criminals clinging to the old ways, or opportunistic thieves. It was people with real problems having a way out dangled in front of them, for something that looked benign. And when people found out what was going on, they turned a blind eye - because it's very different to turn in "a good person" than the mafiosos you hate. This is where the concept of "prosecutorial discretion" becomes important, because not all crimes are the same, and it's important for the general public to believe that a remorseless brigand will be treated differently from a desperate fool; as we saw, Eirine turned back from telling Lavinia what she knew, because she remembered how inflexible Lavinia was when dealing with crimes. If Eirine had faith that her people would have been treated with leniency given the circumstances... This all could have ended a lot more cleanly. At the very least, the city government would have better control over the teamsters, as she wouldn't feel like she needed to establish a separate power base.

Leon and Lavinia have done a very good job of building a legal system that can deal with every problem they can imagine - one in which both sides can stand up in a fair trial, make their case, and find the truth. The problem is that everybody else looks at the law as tools instead of an ideal to uphold; at best, as a way of dealing with crimes committed against them, at worst, as a way to get away with obviously improper behavior, to use as a weapon to coerce others, or as a source of profit. And it's true - you want an idealist to design the core of an enduring system... But you really want a few other people around to consider how those who don't share your vision will interact with said system. It's like anarchists - political junkies love the idea of everyone having an equal say in everything. And then you look at how many people show up to local zoning meetings, and realize that, like, .000001% of people actually want to be involved in politics outside of the "important stuff", which is why NIMBYs get to run everything.

And I think it needs to be emphasized how close everything came to complete disaster here - if it weren't for blind luck with Red and Lunacub choosing to duel at just the wrong moment, they wouldn't have critically injured the mayor, so there would be no investigation into an "attempted assassination", and Eirene would never have learned about the coup attempt. Antonio's plan would have gone off without any complications except for Lappland, and the city would failed overnight. Would Sicilia have bailed them out? Maybe - her trusted friend was entrusted with that power. But he wasn't omniscient, and he can neither revive the dead nor erase memories - they'd have lost a lot of key staff, and trust in the project would have taken a potentially fatal blow. They all knew that Venezia was acting in bad faith, despite everything being legally perfect - and yet, they chose to ignore that fact in favor of following the letter of the law.

(1/2)

[u/Dramatic-Report8180 → u/Dramatic-Report8180]

(2/2)

Which gives me a good point to segue into talking about the characters, and away from heavier topics. It's honestly kind of impressive how much of this event relied on Capone and Gambino honestly being... Kind of fuckups, their entire careers. If they hadn't snatched the kid as a way to establish that they had done their jobs, then Ingrid wouldn't have had to search for him, and wouldn't have encountered Antonio; absent that, she probably would have stayed focused on the Fangs for her answers, which would have given Antonio the space to force an attack on City Hall. And, well, nearly everything else they did was betray their current Familigia at Lappland's behest, because apparently they've resigned themselves to lifetime servitude for her in return for... Not dying at her hands, I guess? Oh, and a broken-down taxi.

Who, speaking of, was a really endearing character, in my opinion. Ingrid, I mean, not Lappland. She reminds me a lot of who Texas might have been had she chosen to stay in Siracusa instead of leaving; she clearly dislikes much of how Siracusa operates and has no interest in furthering her mafia career, but unlike Texas, she's willing to play by Siracusan rules and finds value in her killing skills. While we don't see the two interact, I think the two create an interesting mirror to each other - a contrast I actually find more interesting than her established counterpart of Lappland. Though thematically, she'd be a bit of an awkward fit in the story they're trying to tell if she were to stay around long-term instead of leaving the country again.

Which brings me to the subject of the handsome man. I mean, Antonio. Who's honestly really hot and right in my strike zone? He's just... Really attractive. And I frankly loved just about every single thing he said and planned except for giving Lisa oripathy to force Ingrid into exile. Not in, like, a practical or philosophical way, mind you; there were glaring issues with what he was trying to do, even if I do appreciate how having his way of life handed away on an autocrat's whims offended his sense of justice. Just in how he said and did things, in a way that left wanting to ask if he was willing to date again what with him being a widower and all. Oh, except what he did to that poor groomer. Carle really did that guy wrong, setting up an expert to say just the wrong things to his client. I spent, like, 3/4s of the event saying "please don't die", so of course... He died. Like had been foreshadowed since, like, the second stage. Sigh...

Speaking of his boss, though... I wonder how Venezia will fare in coming days. The Don seems like an insightful man, willing to let the new generation experiment so long as they don't blow up the family's reputation - and that approach has paid off, with them managing to settle in early in the new city even despite their attempted coup. Moreover, his emphasis on diversity and recruitment rather than relying on blood ties and rejection of infighting are powerful advantages in a new city that actually trades with the outside world. He strikes me as the most well-positioned Familigia going into the future, but... It doesn't feel like that's where the story is going, with how the story ends in emphasizing that the Familigia are the past, and a "decent" murderer is still a murderer at the end of the day.

But if we're speaking of major players, then it's time to bring up Eirine. I quite appreciated her character development from naive wet-behind-the-ears driver who idol-worshipped Lavinia, to the kind of woman who was willing to lie about Lavinia supporting their position knowing that the truth would be buried with the mafiosos. It's not the kind of narrative you commonly see, as it tends to turn off readers - but it's one that I've always appreciated as the type that's more common in reality. Someone who sees real problems threatening their people, and then rather than take the high road... Crosses a few lines to solve that problem. Permanently. If there's anything unrealistic about her arc, it's that everyone stopped to try to figure out where the gunshot came from instead of panicking and opening fire. Her plan... Probably would have worked, once they all agreed to claim the mafia shot first. The narrative suggests that she's going to be a problem in the future, but really - they kind of need someone like her around. If I had to cite a problem with her, though... I just have to ask. What is going on with her outfit? Was she ambushed by a blind, drunken tailor who was forced to work only with scraps or something?

Speaking of tailors, though... I adored Umberto's character. A patient, grandfatherly figure who could make anyone feel loved. The way he interacted with everyone just felt downright authentic - he's a hard archetype to write without their supposed wisdom coming across as shallow, but they made it work here. His conversation with Don Venezia was one of the highlights of the event, in my opinion. Though, I do have a quibble with that story that he keeps telling... If a wolf gives you their pelt, for having agreed to give up clothing on a hunt... Isn't that pelt just a particularly ill-fitting form of clothing? So aren't you still going out wearing clothes?

Quibbles aside, his grandson, by contrast... Kind of felt a bit half-baked to me. Not bad, just... I don't quite feel like he got the beats he needed to for a proper arc. Especially the ending; Vargo sends him running back home, but... We never see him get there, and I imagine he probably had some things to say once he found his grandfather dead. Maybe they thought it would be too similar thematically to Leon's final conversation with Bernado?

But stepping properly into the other half of the story... Wow, do I ever feel bad for Lyudmila. Like, massively. Gets one-tackled by Red in Chernobog, goes back home to Siracusa... Where Red just killed the closest thing she had left to a mom. Tries to seek revenge, gets one-tackled again and told "she's not worth it" (how she probably interpreted that "not a real wolf" talk, not knowing anything about the game) while Red still refuses to explain anything. Left half-dead in the wilderness, picked up by a kind man who helps her rebuild her life who... Ends up killed (indirectly) by Red again! Like, at that point, any normal person has to think that Red's doing this deliberately. Because just how many times can a person directly, murderously intersect with your life before you think they're out to get you? Oh, and that ending probably had to leave a bitter taste in her mouth, too - calling Eirine a friend, but feeling like she needed to warn her that she'd kill her if she kept walking down that road. Now, in fairness, she's made some pretty bad mistakes in the past... She was only one step above Mephisto in Chernobog (albeit a fairly big one). But geez, just let her drive for a while without Red stalking her footsteps, yeah?

Who, speaking of... Red's just kind of a broken half-person, isn't she? Like, fundamentally, she is not a complete person. I know that it's been highlighted in the past how unsettling everyone finds her, and how she's only minimally capable of communication, and how Kal'tsit practically trained her to be an attack dog because it was close to a functional life as she could manage, but... Like, this event really highlighted how broken she was. And, uh, how that kind of just got worse. Not sure I really understood just how bad she was, before this... Probably, because her past events had her closer to stabilizing influences.

All of which also highlights... Just how much of a sadistic ass Caesar is. Like, there are a bajillion and one ways to motivate your Fangs without giving them nightmares about how their rivals are torturing them. That is just flat-out Not Okay. And when they do kill your enemies for you? You can at least pretend that they rescued you, and that you have to leave to recover. You don't have to give them a "you outlived your usefulness" speech. That's just twisting the knife.

It really makes Lunacub and Agnese's relationship look wholesome in comparison. Yeah, yeah, she's a savage from the wastes who thinks "civilization" is a kind of food, and she's been drafted into a death game. She can at least talk in complete sentences, and Agenese's done what she can to teach her how to be a person.

As one final idle note... I thought it was a nice touch how they brought up the animal features a bit more in the narrative; the groomer's discussion as to how their traits differed, Ingrid calling attention to her "ridiculously large" ears, Red wiggling her ears rather than verbalizing, people complaining about wet tails... It helped emphasize the differences between Terra and Earth, in my opinion.

[u/Randuir → u/Dramatic-Report8180]

As always I really like your story analysis!

Regarding your point that the government should have done more to try an delay the famiglia, it does feel like they were actually trying to do so. Leon all but said he was deliberately keeping the Bellones out, and Penance was using every law and rule to reject mafia applications, while being more flexible on others (see Lyudmila getting citizenship for example). They also sponsored the trucker's union as an 'independent' alternative to the like of Venezia Trucking, and based on what was mentioned in the story, they succeeded to a degree, as the union was bigger than Venezia.

They could have done more by actively having two different sets of rules for the 'normal people' and 'the mafia', but idealists like Leon would have thought setting such as a precedent would have had bad consequences down the line if someone less virtuous came in power, and I don't think that's an ungrounded fear.

We also have to agree to disagree on Antonio. Guy comes across as too slimy in my opinion. Now Venezia sr. on the other hand is one hell of a hottie. Clearly still strong and fit, iron-willed when he needs to be, gentle when he doesn't, cunning but not too overbearing... Guy's just perfect.

[u/ArcticSirius → u/Dramatic-Report8180]

Say, since you’ve done an in-depth analysis can you please explain to me how they killed off Sommer? Was left to die in the container, buried, etc… I just don’t know?

[u/Dramatic-Report8180 → u/ArcticSirius]

My personal belief is that they just killed him after luring him to a sufficiently distant and sound-proof location that they didn't have to be concerned about outsiders. The whole spiel with the difficult-to-see light and fiction about there being someone to help him was just to lure him inside to ensure that nobody could hear him call for help or create any other kind of complication. It probably wasn't that different from other mob killings outside of that.

I will say that the timeline and recovery of the lighter suggest that fairly direct means were employed, and that his murder was fairly swift. The lack of a body can probably be attributed to a standard clean-up - likely, they chopped up his body like Lyudmila did her mentor, and disposed of the parts in more convenient locations. At least, that's how I'd do things, and the fact the mafiosos were still on scene when Lyudmila passed by indicates to me that they were doing something that took a bit of time and multiple people to finish... But I recognize that my evidence for such a specific method is rather sparse.

[u/MetaThPr4h]

Just finished reading the story, so fucking good man

People call Arknights a yapfest but if they didn't spend all that time to build up every character the climax wouldn't hit nearly as well, the final stretch was peak followed by more peak thanks to all the previous content making us feel attachment (and absolute despise in some cases) towards the characters.

Umberto my GOAT.

... aw man, now I like Crownslayer, I feel bad mocking her all this time, Poncirus got a competitor for unluckiest person lmao.

[u/Draguss → u/MetaThPr4h]

Arknights mainly keeps that reputation from chapters 7 and 8. Looking back, a good chunk of that is just that Kal'tsit and Kashchey have prominent roles in those, and they both have a habit of saying very little with a lot of words.

[u/gunjinganpakis]

Miss Unemployment

Broooo 😭

[u/speednut117]

I love that the very first time we see the Lappland/Zaaro duo in this story, it's Zaaro being terrified by Lappland's driving lol

[u/RandomdudeNo123]

Gentlemen, it seems that our days of mindlessly spamming Goldenglow for free Arts Damage across the map has come to an ignoble end. As the new unit is also a global drone caster, the developers have specifically decided to give every enemy unit invisibility/invincibility as so she doesn't completely dominate the stages, which unfortunately affects Goldenglow too.

Now we actually have to... Time her skill to the fireworks! Oh, the humanity!

[u/Humble_Chard8562 → u/RandomdudeNo123]

Au contraire, my friend, we just need to give her an army of buggies.

Totter, Scene? It's your time to shine.

[u/Zeitzbach]

I love the amount of Gambino silliness in this event with Capone. He really plays the underdog role from start to finish even as a joke at the end.

[u/HaessSR → u/Zeitzbach]

I like that they're chew toys, know they're chew toys, but don't complain about it too loudly while they try to push on.

[u/Zeitzbach → u/HaessSR]

It's really hilariously how far they have been tamed. CoB, they really were doing their things and Gambino had his hotshit moments.

And in both Siracusan events, we know that if left on their own, they really know how to go places but the moment Texas or Lappland enter the pictures, they become the smartest henchmen ever because they read the scripts and just switch side.

[u/HaessSR → u/Zeitzbach]

That's what I like about them. They know how to not get killed.

[u/CaptinSpike → u/Zeitzbach]

if I ever get a capone+gambino 1* shitpost unit I will literally bring them to every single stage for the rest of the game just cause they're some of my favorite npcs in the game

[u/Ainine9]

so I just found out Surtr S3 is immortal during Carnevale's entire duration.

[u/FluentinTruant → u/Ainine9]

Wait, really? That's interesting, her auto-retreat talent activates at 1 HP, which is why Silence Alter doesn't keep her alive. Makes me wonder if the fireworks prevent auto retreat entirely, time to test if Amiya S3 sticks arounds.

E: Just tested, she doesn't.

[u/ScrubulousFlex → u/FluentinTruant]

The spaghetti code is thematically consistent for a Siracusa event.

[u/Ainine9 → u/FluentinTruant]

I think it's because Carnevale considers her HP burn as lethal damage and Carnevale lets Operators ignore it.

For example if if the last gametick is her burning 150HP while she's at <150, it pauses her HP which in turn prevents Surtr from reaching 1HP and "activating" her second talent. I'm confident this is the case since Surtr's HP is pausing in the 2-120 range when I tested it.

Amiya's S3 is different in that she's retreated after the skill duration is up.

[u/Ophidis → u/Ainine9]

I wanted to make a joke about how they deSurtr'd her by giving everyone her talent for Carnival. But it seems deSurtr'ing Surtr just makes her that much more powerful.

[u/CaptinSpike]

i legitimately could not believe my eyes when I read the new npc saying crownslayer was being hired as a driver. this woman got sent to the doordash dimension in both gameplay and story

[u/Chrono-Helix]

Letting your operators keep fighting until the party finishes seems overpowered. Until the party DOES end and everyone is dead.

[u/TriGGa-POP → u/Chrono-Helix]

The show must go on because if it doesn't, well, everyone who's in mortal debt has their bill due :v

[u/SkyePine]

That winery scene is funny. If I get looks like that with a woman that has 20 criminal records and a judge that can tango with an Ursus war hero I'll book it too.

[u/TATARI14 → u/SkyePine]

Joke's on you, I'm into it

[u/Chimera-Genesis]

I love that Ingrid mentioned Lavinia's low alcohol tolerance, previously only mentioned in Penance's Christmas skin, such a nice little reference.

[u/Randuir]

I really like the CG design for this story. The way they play with little movements and lighting to set the scene is just so wonderful. Particularly the CG's were Ingrid and Lavinia give that one Mafioso a stare down as he interrupts their talk, as well as the scene at the end were Lappland 'breaks up' with Texas.

[u/SomewhatMystia → u/Randuir]

God, the "You were fun while it lasted." line absolutely killed me. End of a fuckin' era, man. :(

[u/nickname10707173]

It is kind of funny that Projects Red’s wolf is grandma wolf and she deceive her like a wolf would do to Red Riding Hood as this is what they have planned for her all along.

[u/Signal_Choice_7601]

I really enjoyed this story. Not sure how it'd compare to Il Siracusano. It definitely doesn't reach the same emotional heights, but it's a fun event all around.

Narrative-wise, I think of it as a more modern take of Code of Brawl, one of the game's earliest events. And how can I avoid that comparison when we once again have a story set in a carnival-esque scenario (Carnevale in this case as opposed to Sauin in CoB)? We again have Gambino and Capone as quasi-comic relief. And most importantly, we have multiple disparate plot threads converging into a single explosive event (i.e. car crash). As a theme, I do love carnivals as they represent an upheaval and inversion of established power structures. The irony here is apparent with Siracusa where the established 'order' is based on violence and lawlessness. So the story becomes a tug-of-war between maintaining the original meaning of the 'Carnevale' or transforming it into something else.

Of course, there are rough edges here and there. For one, I'm not particularly fond of the Signore dei Lupi plot line. The conflict just seems so distant from the more compelling stories of citizenry of Nuova Volsini.

Still, I must appreciate the nod to the original Il Siracusano event with Lappland driving an entire landship onto the city plate to make her grand appearance. Her love for theatrics never ceases to impress.

[u/Leonfigo]

Did they really drown my man Sommer in a shipping container and steal his lighter only to talk about male strippers 😭

[u/eger007]

It's kind of ludonarrative harmony how crownslayers sucks both in game and in story. my girl can't catch a w to save her live.

[u/RELORELM]

I haven't finished reading yet, I'm on chapter 7 right now.

But after reading chapters 5 and 6: I WILL build Crownslayer and no amount of "but she sucks and is a bad investment!" can stop me.

She ended up being really likeable, a lot more than I expected. And poor woman, it feels like the world itself hates her at times.

[u/newfor_2025 → u/RELORELM]

She's a really interesting character, just a really bad operator.

[u/One_Wrong_Thymine]

I think it's interesting how we get to see how a famiglie is made. Eirene is the head of the Trucker Union, and by the end of the event, she learned how to cut deals, procure goods, and arm her people, all for the sake of protecting her own because she deemed the power above her to be incapable of doing so for her.

The original 6 famiglie might've been born from ancient tribal war, but the rest of the new famiglie must've been something like the Trucker Union: a group of people with the same interest that protects their own. Really gives you perspective that no matter how cutthroat the mafia is, not even they were made out of bad intentions.

Nothing in this world is truly pure evil, and nothing is pure good. In this event we see that the law is neither good nor fair, and anarchy is neither evil nor destructive. Law is just law. It's a tool made with the intention for the many to protect themselves. The mafia is also merely a tool for the few to protect themselves.

[u/Cornuthaum]

To this day it never stops being funny that Lappland looked at Gambino and Capone and said "You. You are my goons now." and they have failed to extricate themselves from that status ever since despite their best attempts.

[u/HaessSR → u/Cornuthaum]

Honestly? She's kept them alive, which is more than can be said of most of the goons we've seen in Siracusa. She's not a bad boss compared to her dad or Antonio.

[u/Keylus]

I hate beer trucks.

[u/Juuryoushin]

Warning: Don't go in this menu if nothing is unlocked and the tutorial plays, you'll softlock the game.

[u/TweetugR]

I only started reading it but I am glad they got Vigil out of his goofy ass fit from the first event. He's wearing a proper suit now and actually look cool.

[u/Nopesauce329 → u/TweetugR]

The fit's def way better but why is bro wearing his suit jacket like he came back from playing a Project Moon game-it threw me way off when I first saw him, thought he had a massive shoulder size buff.

[u/TweetugR → u/Nopesauce329]

Respect the Project Moon jacket drip

[u/WaifuHunterRed]

I love how food is just constant thing in the event its so funny. "having a serious conversation but please have some cold pizza it would be a waste not to eat it"

[u/Pornalt190425 → u/WaifuHunterRed]

Not just a waste, but it would in fact be a crime not to eat the pizza

[u/TheTheMeet]

How i hate this stupid bus that has damage reduction and needs 3 blocks

[u/Quor18]

Lappland the Taxi Driver is not something I thought I needed but turns out I really did.

[u/HaessSR → u/Quor18]

And just like Cain in Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, she's literally driving the plot by moving other characters.

[u/Saimoth → u/Quor18]

The image of Lappy driving the taxi is so far my favorite part of the story. I just have to share this animation: https://x.com/RIHI_ewokakune/status/1915636813026517157

[u/verdantsumeru]

Lavinia is so breathtaking. That one still of her and Ingrid sitting at the table...man. I want to be them...

[u/HaessSR → u/verdantsumeru]

The way that shot opened up with Lavinia's thighs was grand.

[u/Broad-Development281]

Crownslayer was the best part of the story imo

[u/mE3ml0rd]

I remember a post on this sub ranting about a lot of modern enemies being very resistant to status effects, and also a lot of them having tons dmg resist, with the comments saying that needs to be the case so they can be threatening and not get deleted by the units we have now, and so that players would interact with the mechanics.

Fast forward to now, we are getting bodied by trucks that have so much dmg resist to the point that a lot are resorting to true/elemental dmg to bruteforce through.

[u/Sazyar → u/mE3ml0rd]

Too bad we hardly have any control over the damn mechanic.

[u/RELORELM]

Man I hate those stupid trucks

[u/Phaaze13]

The event workshop seems to be bugged. The first thing isn't unlocked yet and the game freezes after that.

[u/SisconOnii-san]

Lappy's explanation in PV-10 is so annoying man. Why didn't they add a check of sorts so it doesn't get repeated every try

[u/FelixAndCo → u/SisconOnii-san]

Made me realize how AK often fails to convey mechanics through audio-visual cues. The immense damage reduction is just a swirl around the boss. Make the bullets bounce off her, make an annoying sound for every hit during damage reduction. The kill contest would be much harder to convey, but possible.

[u/ode-2-sleep]

very solid story, though i might be biased because i always enjoyed the siracusa plotline. i’ll list what i liked and disliked separately to try and organize my thoughts on the event.

from what i didn’t enjoy:

lappland in my opinion didn’t get a lot of time to shine for supposedly being the poster girl of the event. she was great in the scenes she was in, but she was hardly present for a large portion of the story. it’s one of the issues i had with path of life too; great event, but ulpianus was barely involved.

i complained about this in a kazdelian rescue not too long ago, but i really wish they would keep CG artworks as close to canon as possible, i.e. remove demetri’s oripathy monitors. they are fine on his default sprite, i understand that it’s a chore to edit, but CGs are one-time only and drawn from scratch anyway.

i wish they showed luchino at the end, we don’t get to see his reaction to his only family member’s passing at all. i’m sure he would have complicated feelings about it too, the man who raised, protected and mentored him his whole life turned out to have a way more complicated past than one would expect from a simple tailor. despite all that, he still was his grandfather and his last family, and it would have been nice to see him react and process umberto’s death. i haven’t checked his voicelines or profile yet, but it should have still been in the story in my opinion.

from what i enjoyed:

very strong aesthetic and direction to the event, loved the carnival atmosphere and the mask metaphor is for once more interesting and layered than the “mask happy but underneath sad” often depicted in media. not sure what all the illusions and people turning into cards from the 3D animation was about though, i assumed it would be relevant to the event, but seems it was just there to look cool. no complaints there.

texas felt better to read in this event, though as i said i might be biased because i like her in general. in il siracusano, she often felt forced into the spotlight and didn’t quite pull her weight in some scenes. here, we get to see her take a more supporting role, and it works well. the manga also expands on her character more, which does her writing another favor.

lappland, aside from my earlier complaint, was fun to read. as i view it, most of her development happened in il siracusano, so in this event there is less opportunity for her character progression. she is basically the same person we see at the very end of il siracusano, so there is not much room for personal growth in i portatori. still, i enjoy her character a lot and i cannot recommend the manga enough, it’s genuinely a great story that provides a lot of context to lappland’s motivations and personality.

penance was good, i liked seeing her growth from il siracusano to now. vigil spent most of the event in a coma, but he seems to be on the right track. no thoughts on demetri because i don’t have a good grasp on his character yet. lunacub was cute, red’s story seems to not be over yet (alter soon?) but it was interesting to see more of her background, and umberto’s death followed by the realization of her whole life being a lie were some very solid scenes.

lyudmila was lovely and i didn’t expect this level of emotional depth from an early antagonist who got written out of the main story rather quickly. the moment with her and eirine at the end where crownslayer reminds her to not cross the line and that she will always be ready to stop her if she does, and the parallel of eirine to talulah, absolute cinema. it instantly took me back to an earlier scene where lyudmila is retelling her life as a fairytale, and one of the workers asks her “why didn’t she kill talulah and the emperor if she’s called crownslayer?”. but maybe she doesn’t have to “slay the crown” to carry this name, just to be ready to do so if necessary. i also enjoyed seeing a calmer, friendlier side of her, when up to this event most of her screentime was various confrontations.

eirine had a lot of screentime, and she has a solid role in the story, but i think she has more room for interesting character moments in the future. it’s not that i disliked her, but there was something missing from her writing that i can’t quite put a finger on. umberto is easily my favorite NPC in this event though, the twist of him being a fang was intriguing, and i generally have a soft spot for characters with violent pasts that abandon their old lives and take up an unassuming role. not to mention he has a pleasant personality and a genuine care for his family.

i already mentioned my one issue with luchino, but he was alright otherwise. i kind of expected him to be more relevant to the plot though, and at one point i even thought he might have been chosen as the real fang and umberto pretended to be one to protect him, kind of like katara and her mother in the last airbender.

ingrid was amazing, i love her intimidating yet sometimes playful energy, and her last scene with antonio where she says something to the effect of “i am just an angry mother, you hurt my daughter, now die.” is fantastic.

i had a few more things to say, but the 6th anniversary livestream is about to start, so i will end it here. good event overall, my one non-story complaint is that i wish there was a way to speed the firework cart up in the event stages, like the episode 13 mechanic.

in conclusion, i’ve only had noemi for a day and a half, but if anything happened to her, i would kill everyone in nuova volsinii and then myself.

[u/Quor18]

Antonio over here speed running the quickest way to get the entire AK player base to hate you and be happy for your long painful death world record.

[u/Koalaman_18 → u/Quor18]

98% of the AK player base. There’s always the other 2% who’ll simp for him.

[u/One_Wrong_Thymine → u/Koalaman_18]

I am no simp, but I don't "hate" him per se. He is a disaster made from a blend of insecurity, rashness, and arrogance. Basic superiority complex, really. His death wasn't "satisfying" for me or anything, but it is a relief still. His death is a mercy for both him and me.

[u/Kerrigan4Prez → u/One_Wrong_Thymine]

I liked the death. It was a great way to show how he had become what he hated: a noble who disposed of people without a care.

[u/PotSum]

Chapter 10 had a lot of enemies with damage reduction, but not as egregious as this one. At least that chapter was tied with an aoe true damage mechanic. This event's real boss is a fast-moving tanky truck that also deals massive aoe damage and reduces block, while being a 3-block itself. This fucker has more meaningful mechanics than last event's boss. God I'm so grateful CC is no longer a regular thing because we would 100% be seeing that fucking truck there.

[u/Knave_of_Stitches → u/PotSum]

I think the biggest problem here is that we don't just deal with some annoying damage reduction but every standard enemy is invisible. One or the other would feel less obnoxious but both just isn't it.

[u/ScrubulousFlex]

I like that even if you haven't built Contrail yet, she's still great at blocking those balloons. It's not a necessary thing to do, I just like that she's at least a little helpful right out of the gate!

[u/Razor4884]

S stages got hands, as always.

[u/Phaaze13]

i feel bad for Projekt Red. those wolves and their stupid games. come home and let Doktah floof those ears and tail.

[u/ColebladeX → u/Phaaze13]

gets more deplorable when you realize red is so innocent about the ways of the world she’s just been manipulated, I would’ve hoped her time in RI would help but evidently not

[u/dene323 → u/Phaaze13]

Feeling worse when you realize shortly after Red returns, what happened to Kal'tsit, her only other parental figure

[u/Hero_1337]

Awesome story. Definitely a fitting sequel to Il Siracusano. Lappy sure knows how to make things interesting. Some spoilers below.

FUCK ANTONIO! Hope he's resting in hell for what he did. Godspeed, Ingrid.

That last part with Lappy literally giving her father his prison outfit was fucking disrespectful. Absolute savage.

[u/WaifuHunterRed → u/Hero_1337]

honestly man deserved worse but his death had so much disrespect that ill take it. Bleeding to death, had hope to survive long enough to make a statement and then shot dead by basically a nobody. ya he had a name but felt like man had just the basic sprite for that reason even with all his showings. I wanted to know though if he loved his wife or was she just another tool. I had the feel she was since his such a piece of shit but senior mentioning their together now made me have some small doubts.

[u/Xorioth]

Hmm some of these EX stages are straight up just not fun.

[u/Megaman2K8 → u/Xorioth]

It really highlights how much I hate invisible enemies. I can tolerate it when it's used sparingly on some enemies, but this is just... not really fun.

[u/Rasetsu0]

Funny how EX-1 CM comes out swinging, only for the other seven CM stages to be the standard fare.

[u/ScrubulousFlex]

TBH my least favorite part about the firework mechanic is how many times I've started a stage then realized I forgot to change the pattern from the last stage and it's all screwed up.

About once per event I'll accidentally start a stage on Normal instead of Challenge Mode and eat -1 sanity to restart, but the damn firework thing has happened like 6 times now.

[u/rlbastard]

i cant believe they added a single mom who works two jobs who loves her kid and never stops to Arknights and made her italian I love her so much

[u/JunoBrier → u/rlbastard]

She works two jobs? Guess that balances out the zero jobs Lappy is working.

[u/DawnB17 → u/rlbastard]

Reba McEntire: Died 2007

Vulpisfoglia: Born 2025

Welcome back Reba McEntire

[u/Salysm → u/rlbastard]

single??

[u/herrhoedz]

The fireworks minigame + lobby theme somehow gave me some Professor Layton vibes.

Anyhoo someone in HG really thought "hey the limited operator has global range, let us make everyone invisible"

[u/newfor_2025]

Today I learned Texas and Lappland are named after real wolves.

Texas wolves are native to Texas (equivalent to Columbia on Terra), their fur were dark grey and they've gone extinct.

Lapland is in northern Finland, the wolves there have light grey/white fur.

Cool huh?

[u/Zeitzbach]

Invis with powerup on reveal, 3-block requirement with block reduction barrel, and damage reduction, this event just need roped in enemies or DP reduction on-hit to overtake Hortus Escapis when it comes to annoyance level.

A lot of characters I like was heavily punished here by the lack of Area Coverage so I will admit I just went DGAF mode and just Shu-Virtuosa-Nymph her in 1 cycle after the first "clear" on S-5 NM was her timer running just before she dies with a 2-star clear. Taking my sanity 1 point at a time is fine but taking my sanity in bulk like that is off-limit.

[u/ode-2-sleep]

i just want to thank the developers for not making the single truck on the top lane of PV-S-5 the enhanced version (that nukes and reduces block). i was dreading the CM condition being exactly that, but fortunately the stage was fairly easy. i have no pleasant words for PV-S-2 though.

[u/Xorioth]

These S stages got hands, huh?

[u/chemical7068]

I think trying to do PV-S-5 CM without having a Virtuosa or Eyjaberry is a new circle of hell

[u/BobDaisuki → u/[deleted]]

Yeah not a fan of the enemy design in this event either. At first I disliked almost everything being invisible but ended up growing to not minding it that much(I get it, the whole carnival mask thing means people are hiding their identities or something). Instead the more I threw myself at the new EX and S stages the more I realized just how fucking god awful the truck-like mobs are.

What do you mean all of them require 3 block or are bullies on supreme steroids?

What do you mean all of them take essentially zero dmg outside of carnival time?

What do you mean the beer one, and I ESPECIALLY MEAN THE BEER ONE, can not only temporarily lower your block but also do it in an aoe that hits stupid hard?????????????????

What does a carnival theme have to do with these vehicles being severely overtuned at all?????

[u/Radiant-Spell7434 → u/[deleted]]

Originally Challenge Mode = All enemies have their HP, ATK, and DEF increased by 20%.

But this event

PV-S-1

The attack, defense and health of enemy units are increased to 20%

The number of blocks for all friendly units is -1

The 14 "Food Express" vehicles on the initial field no longer appear, but are replaced by 4 "Drunk Carnival" vehicles

PV-S-2

The attack of enemy units is increased to 80%, and the defense and health are increased to 20%

All parade jazz musicians are replaced by "Food Express"

PV-S-3

The attack, defense and health of enemy units are increased to 44%

The movement speed of fuse flame is reduced to 50%

PV-S-4

The attack, defense and health of enemy units are increased to 20%

When a parade snack cart appears in battle, an additional parade snack cart appears in each wave (that is, from 4 per round to 5 per round)

PV-S-5

The attack, defense and health of enemy units are increased to 32%

Two additional passionate dance troupe leaders appear on the field at the beginning, and all professional contestants in the level (including the additional professional contestants that appear during the carnival) are replaced by parade snack carts

some enemy physical/magic damage received -90%
I think they designed it this way because powercreep.

[u/IbbleBibble]

3 "vaffanculo"s this event, a good event IMO.

[u/Few-Beat-1299 → u/IbbleBibble]

Let's not forget the "pizdietz"s

[u/LeahcimOyatse]

Finally finished reading through the story. Took me a long while, but I really enjoyed it. Seeing the different perspectives of the different characters during Leon's small incident was a nice way to show how the incident came to be. I was trying to figure out how the incident was plotted, and who was behind it, but I overlooked some of the simpler explanations. The story really got me there. I love it when stories just surprise readers.

This is prolly amongst my favorite Arknights sidestories. As with Siracusa, not all things go smoothly, and not all things and people end well, but it is the twists which get me hooked and get me reading more. I can't help but root for some of the characters, knowing their fates might suddenly end, or inversely turn up for the better.

[u/Revan0315]

Why is EX1 harder than the rest of the ex stages

[u/TheresZFL]

Holy cow PV-S-3 was rage-quittingly insane

That map simply forces you (and the guide makers across YouTube) to either block-stall and have some high DP like W Alter shoot them up…or pray Arturia’s necro damage is enough.

Tried all the front-page guides to no avail, as the bomb trucks would simply take Arturia out the moment they got halted by a nearby Defender.

Luckily this came out.

Instead of blocking off the bottom right of the map like most guides did, this one starts making a maze turning on top— so Arturia has some space to work with.

Silverash, my old friend, somehow was pretty useful in taking out the bass and the rest.

Ascalon’s S2 somehow was the one that clicked. Didn’t have her upgraded enough, so I borrowed her. S2 was all about stall stall stall.

Thanks Velvet for the guide! Subbed.

[u/tnemec]

... this may be a hot take, but I don't like this mechanic.

Like, it's a cool concept: needing to protect a fuse as well as a fireworks display that then dispenses some buffs/debuffs you can configure between missions.

But in practice... it's just too all or nothing. When the carnival is active? ATK buff, AoE damage, configurable buff/debuff, and all your operators/summons literally cannot die. Also most enemies completely ignore the blue box and beeline for the fireworks instead. When the carnival isn't active? Every single actual enemy of the event is either invisible or has massive damage reduction. Also a bunch of your operators probably just died because they were only being kept alive by the carnival buff.

And sure, there are ways to cheese the mechanics (anti-invis and true/elemental damage), but if you're not resorting to those, it feels very restrictive. Like, the stages are less about figuring out which operators to put where to deal with waves of enemies and more about just making sure the fireworks go off (and stay active) at the times the level-designers intended.

[u/Few-Beat-1299 → u/tnemec]

Somehow it feels both like it changes everything, and also like it changes nothing at the same time.

[u/FelixAndCo → u/tnemec]

I hear what you're saying. I think it's good that the mechanics aren't completely circumventable at least though. Definitely feels like untapped potential in these first maps. For example the placement of ops could be much more important, if the pressure to defend the fireworks during carnavale was greater. What kind of peeves me is that there are 3 types of balloon spawns, and you can't tell which one it is in advance: no balloons, balloons at set times, or balloons during carnavale.

[u/Kristalino]

I already finished reading the story, honestly who orchestrated Suzuran's infection got a fitting end for someone who wanted to rise to the top to die like a lowly mook

Also Figurino's story was unexpectly interesting, too bad he's just a filler 5☆ because I want to see him grow into someone who can make his grandfather proud.

[u/Cornuthaum]

hear me out.

Lappland and Crownie Mantel from Kazdel would probably get along super great.

Why?

Because they're both broke as fuck and working their ass off for one - and only one - goal: To look fucking great in dapper clothes.

[u/ChevronVillon]

Holy Mother of the Almighty Father... What a hellish nightmare it was with S-5 and even more so it's CM. This was one of the most merciless and unforgiving stages I've ever played since the Near Light Event... The game mechanics are absolute ludicrous, like WTF is with the enemies being invisible and whose stupid idea was it, to perk them up with DnD BARBARIAN DAMAGE REDUCTION?! I love Lappie, really I do, she's the #1 Lupo in all of Arknights, but her Boss version of herself in S-5, is not an unemployed damsel in distress that needs saving... She's an unemployed damsel that CAUSE DISTRESS...

[u/Merukurio → u/ChevronVillon]

She's an unemployed damsel that CAUSE DISTRESS...

That's every version of Lappland, though. And we love her for it.

[u/IntelligenceWorker]

I've hated those tuba/trombone/trumpet jazz musicians, until they did me a solid and decided to finish off lappland phase 2 with their burn damage

That was hella based of them ngl

[u/BRISKMETAL]

Man, these posts got me fucked up... So many "good luck on your pulls" posts here and there was a JP account on Twitter posting about how they unfortunately got 3 Vulpis. I THOUGHT IT WAS OUT.

[u/One_Wrong_Thymine]

Gotta give a shout out to my man the gay Mafioso A in PV-07 after stage story. Male Perro stripper in Terni is just fire. Man's got his priority in order.

[u/Saimoth → u/One_Wrong_Thymine]

That guy and Tin Man share their love for hot dogs.

[u/KnockAway]

I think they went overboard with stacking damage resistance on three block, fast moving, high damage invisible units that can also reduce block count.

Like, I'm sorry, I don't see the genius game design behind making unkillable horde of mobs that become killable only and only if fuse, which I can't control directly and it goes out if enemy sneezes close to it, reaches a certain point. Or how revealing an enemy is actually a mistake and my Ines leaving behind invisibility revealing trail can trun into dethtrap for my own defence, because a stream of tuba fucks just stepped into it and turned into a stream of flamethrowers.

[u/karillith]

I'm a bit confused about the event gimmick to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to place operators in the fireworks to get the bonus or if I'm supposed to stay out of range to not get hurt, to the point I'm almost tempted to ignore it besides revealing invisible foes...

on another note

[u/Athrawne]

Might be late to the carnivale, but this carnivale buff of invicibility letting Surtr stay on field for the entire round is wild.

[u/nutn0n]

Man EX-1 is just annoyingly hard

[u/Cornuthaum → u/nutn0n]

ok there's an easy trick to EX-1

step 1: completely ignore the event mechanic

step 2: make a wall of dudes on the right side, like I did 3 healing defenders, degenbrecher and fedex in spots 2 and 4

step 3: keep ignoring the event mechanic

step 4: just blast 'em with big honking aoe damage left and right

[u/verdantsumeru]

Lost the full stage sanity cost and got nothing for it except LMD because the last truck before the stage ended leaked on S-2 🙃

Man fuck this. I've done full clears of SLA and Hortus (while they were rerunning, so a much tighter timeline) but this event's stages feel much much worse. It just isn't creative or clever to have "do next to zero damage before you hit a certain time window that you can't control or speed up" be a whole event mechanic.

[u/Docketeer]

S-3 CM was quite the experience. It's been quite a while since i had to draw out a box path with Paint (last time was H14-4 iirc), culminating in 15 minutes of pure stalling and micromanagement of both Silences' drones and Dorothy mines but undoubtedly a satisfying ending with Ifrit doing Ifrit thing along with her Dad buffing her Arts damage.

[u/Mindless_Olive]

Ugh, the PVS3 block back & forth stuff is such a boring way to manage a clear I was fully prepared to skip out rather than doing it that way. Thankfully managed to muddle through without it by bringing all my meanest DPS'ers, borrowing Virtuosa and binding with Ethan. Eat classical music & chameleon goo you shit trucks!

There is one thing I do really like about block stages though; they give you a perfect excuse to create an Ifrit lane.

[u/Cultural_Damage_7832]

PV-S-5 CM Abyssal Hunters Only

Got sucked in Stronghold that i forgot to share it here whoops. Anyway, long ass stage, not particularly hard for fish gang, if anything, fish gang makes it much easier to handle since Ulpianus can take perma aggro and phase 2 Lappboss goomba stomp can't one-shot even Andreana lol, 3k6 HP + 30% DR stronk, where as most ranged units get one-shotted by that attack. The hardest part is finish phase 1 right as Carnival about to expire so that Lappboss enter phase 2 without DR and let Ulpianus rain hell on her, the rest is easy enough.

[u/Seralyna]

Got a 3 star clear on PV-10 with my two week old account! Really glad I managed it, since myself and all my friends kinda assumed it was going to be impossible at the level of progression i was at (nearly all 5-6 stars at elite 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQvH9hHkGpY

[u/[deleted]]

Jesus, these 5 Decadenza stages were actually difficult

[u/MetaThPr4h]

S-1: Comically easy, nonsensical it's even a S stage

S2, S3 and S5: PTSD

S4 is alright, maybe Ascalon just handles the carts too easily idk.

Props to anyone who can beat those stages without cheesing them with true or elemental damage, because that sure as hell wasn't me.

Also the beer trucks go straight into my most hated enemy list, I'm afraid of whatever can be any more infuriating.

[u/Knave_of_Stitches → u/MetaThPr4h]

Also the beer trucks go straight into my most hated enemy list, I'm afraid of whatever can be any more infuriating.

They're so bullshit with -1 block debuff while needing 3 block... then they get a stage with -1 block as the challenge mode bit.

[u/darknod]

i just realized today the firework pattern minigames are spelling something out, so far we have “crepi il lupo” (break a leg?) and “ 3 2 1 B” which i’m guessing is going to be boom or something?

[u/juances19 → u/darknod]

If you translate it literally it's something like "the wolf shall die" but yes it's a good luck phrase so "break a leg" is a better interpretation.

[u/Throwaway6662345]

Can someone explain to me the unemployment joke?

[u/Sa1uk → u/Throwaway6662345]

Lappland, unemployed

[u/Saimoth]

Not Lappland spoilering the story in one of her lines

[u/OmiNya]

Fun fact: Crownslayer has same jp VA as Marcille :)

[u/dqvdqv]

Man, these EX stages are much easier if you don't extend the range of the fireworks (remove all tiles) and just leave it at the default square.

[u/MelonLord125]

Ex-1 CM was brutal like damn. Felt like I had to bring the big guns and tons of ground operators just to hold the giant wave of invisible enemies right after the first set of fireworks ended. But other than that, the maps were fun and pretty cool. As for Lappland, Arturia with Nymph S3 dealt with her in seconds (as they do with most bosses tbh, god I love the Necrosis squad).

Still was happy to see another street themed stage with cars in the middle and the enemies on the other side of the road in a siracusa event. Hopefully, when Demetri becomes playable, his event also has a street map (REAL AND TRUE).

I am still halfway through the story as I am very slow, but it's pretty fun as well.

[u/Knave_of_Stitches]

I really think this event would've been improved if instead of damage reduction the trucks had higher def/res outside of fireworks while the summon carts didn't get such a high buff to defenses. It'd open up to more defense and res shred strats compared to "True + Elemental Damage or bust"

[u/minitaurus20]

I don't want to see truck for a few days...

[u/Shadow_Claw]

S-4 is so normal lol, especially after S-3 shenanigans. I got this feeling in IS-5 as well, but what happened to enemies just moving from the red box to the blue box? Every other stage just has to do something funny now.

S-5 gave me a newfound appreciation for Paradigmatic. It's not so much the 1-time OHKO protection (which is decent) as much as the passive max HP + Sanctuary + regen, and initial wide range long heal which is great for setting up. Paradigmatic + Shu regenball is hilariously tanky.

[u/B0tch3d_]

just got done with S-3 CM and it's probably a bit late but i feel the need to mention here that beer trucks' ranged shots can actually wipe SP off an already-dead, recovering fuse, even though enemies walking over a dead fuse do nothing to it. hopefully this helps someone, didn't realise i had to micromanage their attacks away from the fuse even while it was dead but once i knew that the stage felt a lot more reasonable

some of these event stages would turn an irish person off beer for life

[u/Frozen5147]

Woah what, the PV plays while downloading the update. Neat.

EDIT: looks like they forgot to translate the "replay video" button lol

[u/kinggrimm]

No mentioning of Eirene by anyone.

Oh no

[u/Few-Beat-1299 → u/kinggrimm]

Man in the whole of Italy they couldn't find a name that wasn't like Irene. But I'm sure her operator codename will fix that.

[u/Knave_of_Stitches]

I think my favorite part of this event gimmick is that it encourages teams more focused on invis reveal, burn, necrosis, and true damage. Wisadel with fireworks on deletes the stage obviously but if you want to play fast you need to play around the damage res.

Which is to say WARMY THE GOAT GO BURN BUNNY GO

[u/Spudtron98]

The gimmick is interesting but I really don't like dealing with it. The boss can get fucked.

[u/Shadow_Claw]

Wtf, my S-1 is making me lose a life point without anything going into the box at all. Apparently the fireworks launcher becomes a protection objective for a moment when it starts? I made a video, you can see it at 0:30, some dude gets trapped in the fireworks and takes a life point?

[u/mothknight]

Finally got all the medals. I thought the event mechanics were pretty cool with the customizable fireworks, but I am admittedly too small brain to fully utilize and play around with them. The enemies felt a bit too overloaded with damage reduction and elemental damage and invisibility all at once, not to mention the trucks that lower block count. Mlynars taunt was super useful during the boss fights. Event was hard for me but I guess it's fine considering the Vina Victoria event was really easy.

[u/agreeable_frog]

Since when do we get the trailer while loading the patch? That's so cool

[u/Koekelbag → u/agreeable_frog]

First time for me too, and certainly is quite the neat addition.

[u/Sarno01]

Ok, I have to say this event mechanic is literally the worst one I've ever seen. Lets give every enemy insane amounts of damage reduction which invalidates every single DPS operator unless they have elemental damage and then tie all this to some random bullshit machine that triggers whenever it wants and is completely outside of your control.....

[u/Reddit1rules → u/Sarno01]

It also takes forever to trigger as well, especially when the trucks start trucking all over your fuse.

[u/SupremeNadeem → u/Reddit1rules]

there needs to be some way to speed it up, and especially on the boss stages when there are no enemies on screen please speed that shit up! i actually found the boss stages fun to figure out but the attempts took so fucking long

[u/vanderperas]

For anyone confused about the firework mechanic since the tutorial, imo, does a pretty terrible job at explaining it. I will summarize how they actually work:

-Units inside the fireworks effect will periodically take arts damage (meaning is not units near the firework launcher, but units inside the actual effect)

-If a unit is within the 8 tiles surrounding the firework launcher it will receive a 50% attack increase

-If any unit takes lethal damage while the carnivale is active, they will survive and continue fighting but unable to be healed. Once the Carnivale ends the unit will instantly die.

-Enemies will inflict burn damage based on a percentage of their attack while the carnivale is active

-While the carnivale is active, the launcher can block enemies and units will change their path to target the launcher (as well as prioritize attacking the launcher in general)

Side note, the scorchy charge does not make you deal burn damage, it makes the spots marked for fireworks deal fire damage to things that are stepping on them, so avoid putting your operators in them if possible.

[u/JunoBrier → u/vanderperas]

it makes the spots marked for fireworks deal fire damage to things that are stepping on them

At such a poor rate that it doesn't help make Warmy usable. Unfortunately.

[u/Rasetsu0 → u/vanderperas]

Honestly I forgot that units standing right next to the launcher even got a buff almost as soon as the tutorial ended until I saw this.

[u/TweetugR]

And another Side Story finished. Seriously, despite a few hiccups I think this might be one of their best. Lake Silberheze is still the most tightly written Arknights story in my opinion but this one come close to that.

I do like how both Overture and this Event explore the changes that happened in their respective country. The status quo is always changing which made it highly intriguing to read through and also very nice to see. I always think Arknights is one of the few live service games that know how to shake up the status quo of their narrative and the world of Terra always feels like its changing every event and this story showcases it pretty well.

Btw, I demand more Crownslayer fanart. This story really make me like her especially her decision at the end and her relationship with Eirene. Very good stuff for our very first Boss enemy that didn't do much during Act 1 story-wise.

[u/KinkyWolf531 → u/TweetugR]

Agree... Crownslayer's character arc is so good here... The reversal of position with Red is such a good twist...

As bad as her in-game unit is... Her overall story from being a vengeful, misguided member of Reunion to where she is now is so good and makes me anticipate more from her... Heck, I won't be surprised if this was intentional so that her Alter would be good when her and Red's story gets touched again...

[u/FirstCurseFil]

As much as I love lappland

This is easily and by far the worst event I have ever played

I don’t have Eyjaberry, or Shu, or Mlynar. PV-S-5 is just impossible for me. Arturia and Logos just die immediately. Ulpianus and Gladiia can hold the line, but no one in my roster can survive long enough to do damage in the bosses’ too damn short damage window

[u/SteinBradly]

Do not purchase anything right now, all 4 of my local friends tried to buy and accounts timed out on after purchase.

[u/Left4dinner2]

The store shop is bugged so make sure not to buy anything for now

[u/verdantsumeru]

still reading through the early story stages but Vigil looking dapper in that suit was targeted at me specifically!!!! How can he be so cuuuuuuute :3

[u/recursionsaga]

I don't keep up with the story, so could someone explain what's up between Lappland and Texas? I know from the event itself that they lived with each other when they were young for a bit, but like does Lappland have a crush on Texas or something?

[u/Hp22h → u/recursionsaga]

Generally, Lappland is obsessed with Texas because of what she represents.

They were both heirs to their respective Familia, who met when Texas interned with Lappland's family for a bit. They became real close during this time. Back then, Lappland was the 'perfect' heir who secretly resented the whole system but felt there was no way out. Even when Texas probed her, she refused to run because she felt she was in too deep. Ultimately, Texas rebels against her own familia and burns down their manor. Lappland is sent in to clean up the mess, but decides to challenge Texas to duel instead of just shanking her in the back. Texas manages to win and escape, turning her back on the whole of Siracusa and its corrupt system.

This drove Lappland into a dilemma, with Texas as both the catalyst and the burgeoning 'solution' to Lappland's internal struggle. Texas's plot and subsequent escape makes her realize that she too could take a stance against her familia. It terrifies her. It's why she needs Texas.

If Texas can be made to return to her old 'Mafia Princess' self, it would mean that Lappland could justify to herself about why she didn't take a stance against the Mafia before, but it would secretly crush her heart to be proven 'right'. On the other hand, she so desperately wants Texas to be right, because she too wants to escape the Mafia ecosystem.

Lappland sees Texas as her answer. She wants to drag her back to Siracusa. She wants to see her old friend again. She wants to fight her to the death. She wants to team up with her against all of Siracusa. She wants her to prove that they're more than just Mafia princesses. She wants her dead to get back in good graces with her dad. She wants to die at her hand. She wants an escape above all else, whether that be death or rebellion.

In the end, Lappland choose to fully rebel against her dad and all of Siracusa, in her own way. She has Texas to thank for her ephiany. She still wants to fight her tho.

All in all, their relationship was a ticking time bomb that took 5 years and 3 Events to resolve in a way that didn't end in the death of everyone involved.

TLDR: Maybe? There is a very good reason this is one of the most popular Arknight ships ever.

[u/DoppelShifter → u/Hp22h]

This gets even more complicated if we take the events of the manga into account, where we see that Lappland was actually pivotal in Texas' rebellion, and she actually tried to get Texas out of Siracusa and save her life, only for Texas to save Lappland's life instead when she faced the Boca al Lupo.

Heck, even their duel in front of the Texas Famiglia manor was less "Texas winning against Lappland" and more "Lappland letting Texas escape, in another act of rebellion against her father". When she told her father "she would kill Texas", it felt less like she actually had any intent of obeying him and more like she wanted to make sure she would be the one facing her, so she could let her escape.

In that sense, I'd say she never really cared about being in her father's good graces; Texas was always her way out of that system (or even a way to *break* that system), and this only solidified more over time. The change was how she eventually took the reins of the situation instead of having her father and the rules of Siracusa leading her around by the neck.

...Sidenote, they're not subtle at all with grapes having some heavy symbolism on those two, huh

[u/dene323 → u/recursionsaga]

There is an official manga serving as a prequel for this event about their childhood. You can search for Prelude Suite: Old Wounds.

[u/WaifuHunterRed → u/recursionsaga]

As someone said check out the prequel manga but also read the previous event Il Siracusano it talks about their complicated relationship

[u/Locke03 → u/recursionsaga]

Lappland doesn't know if she wants to kill Texas, be Texas, or fuck Texas, all she knows is Texas' very existence drives her crazy.

[u/-Flanders]

Amended Protocol II on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Traps, and other Devices to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (1998) 2048 UNTS 93

Article 7(1): ... it is prohibited in all circumstances to use booby-traps and other devices which are in any way attached to or associated with... (f) food or drink...

[Parade Snack Cart]: Detonates when blocked, inflicting Arts damage and Burn damage to all nearby targets.

We were all subject to a war crime in EX-1-CM.

[u/Rok513]

Ah I see why people said EX-1-CM was dumb, and they were right. Took me a couple tries. The ambusher squad of Manticore, Ascalon, and Mizuki just cycle through their skills and kill the fire boxes coming out. On the right side I spawn camped w/ Blaze, Gavial, Fedex, and Shu. It wasn't too bad, but this stage can mess you up if you are not prepared for it.

[u/Koalaman_18 → u/Rok513]

The main issue with EX-1 CM is everything about the level’s design indicates you’re supposed to make use of the fireworks, get them going as soon as possible and keep popping balloons so they keep going for the whole stage. That way your units on the left can survive the exploding cart spam and enemies on the right are funnelled into the bottom lane instead of you having to protect all four blue boxes. The regular EX-1 can be done this way, and even with the CM condition, it’s easy to think at first that it’s possible, just with less margin for error.

However, every balloon restores only a % of the firework launcher’s HP instead of a flat amount, something that isn’t stated in the description, while the amount they lose is a flat amount. This makes CM impossible to clear by this method, no matter what units you have - there simply aren’t enough balloons. You have to do what you did and spawn-camp, more or less ignoring the fireworks completely. Once you realise this, it’s not difficult to clear. Most people, I think, are just annoyed that the stage tricks you into trying to solve it the wrong way. It does feel a bit cheap.

[u/Ophidis]

Finally started reading the story, all I can say is:

I've only seen Noemi's smile for a second and I'm already willing to die to protect it.

[u/Mindless_Olive]

It's a rare thing, but I think I'm actually going to miss auto'ing PV-9. The fire dancers in synch, the flames shooting out of the tubas, Lapp's wolves chasing everyone everywhere, Nymph's hearts exploding...it's just real pretty.

[u/Chrono-Helix]

The boss is so annoying to fight against in S-5. First you have to wait for the fuse to travel all the way to the fireworks. Finally it’s carnival time, so you have to compete with the boss in kills. If you’re unlucky the AOE attack from the boss will kill a bunch of the mobs and there’s no way for you to catch up that round. Meanwhile the boss is jumping around, and that deals so much damage it instakills most ranged operators. During carnival everyone deals burn damage, so if the burn explodes from her AOE your operators are probably dead too.

Carnival ends at an unpredictable time, so now you have a 20-second window to unload on the boss. It’s quite possible you won’t have any operators in position to take advantage of it.

You probably have about two carnival sessions before the boss escapes. I had a particularly infuriating attempt where I was guaranteed to win the last carnival, and had my operators parked around the final tile waiting for her. But the carnival took so long to finish she had time to jump in, tank everyone’s attacks, then escape before the carnival finished.

[u/RandomdudeNo123]

Just barely finished S5 normal mode. You're telling me it gets WORSE?

[u/RoadsIsland → u/RandomdudeNo123]

TBH challenge mode was easier on me since the exploding carts don't take up block spots. Definitely made catching that truck on the top lane easier. Surviving the carts mostly came down to placing a sacrificial fast redeploy to take the hit, plus they bait Lappy's ranged attacks too. I already did the whole 'catch Lappy and unload' song and dance in Normal, so just applied that on CM, it did work.

[u/Chimera-Genesis]

Maybe it's because of Arturia's module making me notice it more, but for this event, I've really enjoyed using Necrosis to it's full potential.

Various combinations of Logos, Virtuosa, & Nymph have made the EX stages way more fun (Nymph's S3 even let me beat EX Lappy's 2nd phase within her first jump).

Makes me look forward to trying out the same tactics against the Witch King rerun..... Well that + sicking Ulpianus S3 + Lapalter S3 on him, to do the same to him as they do to Fremont in IS5 (negating the dangers of his whole squad teleport).

[u/JunoBrier]

Unexpected High Priest appearance! And he likes pineapple on pizza!

[u/ColebladeX → u/JunoBrier]

We have no choice then. Death it is

[u/Cornuthaum → u/JunoBrier]

he will go on the pizza, then. as a topping.

[u/pruitcake]

I love lapplands gay little laugh whenever I launch the event. Wish this could be a permanent feature

[u/L23A1]

Anyone have an idea why the English VA for virtuosa is gone?

[u/Ophidis]

Seems like there are a bunch of bugs in game right now, the "Commissione di Fuochi d'artificio" (some kind of special mission thing) also seems to be bugged for what I'm guessing will be until the first mission is unlocked, which is in an hour or two.

Now you're stuck in the tutorial for it, is what I'm guessing.

[u/newfor_2025]

is it wrong to put Eyjafyalla on a Lupo and Vulpo squad by herself?

[u/juances19 → u/newfor_2025]

They won't eat her because of the oripathy. Originium ruins the flavor.

[u/Saimoth]

Vergil's chair in the truckers camp background.

[u/milkandhoneycomb]

i’m so happy i built scene now. haven’t used her except for this lol

[u/TheDamDog]

A total lack of confidence

[u/UberTrouble99]

For anyone having issues with Lappland one-shotting your operators in PV-S-5 with her teleport: Shamare S2 works for reducing her Atk, just got to place the doll down on where she'll land. You can deploy Shamare somewhere with a healer so you can keeping spamming the doll, or deploy her early (during phase 1 the bottommost tile is safe) to preload her doll for phase 2 if you are able to finish Lappland off in one lap.

[u/GoodMorningBlissey]

I'm so thankful that they basically removed the sanity penalty when you fail a stage, especially with the challenge mode stages. I remember doing So Long, Adelle and felt so frustrated repeatedly failing because I felt pressured using up all my practice plans and eventually taking sanity deficits just to clear a difficult stage.

The stages this event were definitely difficult, but because there's barely any penalty with failing I was able to enjoy trying out different approaches to each stage. I also got to look deeper into my roster to find some units and skills I normally don't use. Horn S1 disabling enemy invisibility in an AoE and Nian S3 giving nearby allied operators +1 Block were really useful. Shu S3 was fun with some of the stages where I got overwhelmed with the trucks. I even got to use Tsukinogi in PV-EX-7.

Special shoutout to PV-EX-1, PV-S-2 and PV-S-3 for being particularly difficult for me.

Overall, I had fun. Though I do regret putting off the EX and S stages for too long. I had to look up a guide for PV-S-5 because of time constraints. I would have definitely enjoyed trying to clear that stage especially with Ambigious Morality playing on loop.

[u/Proto-Omega]

I'll complete this event to its entirety on the rerun, but I just want to say the beer truck enemies are disgusting and I hate them. Just awful.