TDM #10 - Wither and Bloom [FINAL REPRINT]

[pumpkinhollow]

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette: Spring Issue

We ask that all toplevels include the age of the character (or at least a rough estimate) for TDM posts, to ensure that players both old and new can quickly make informed decisions about how to interact with a given character. We also ask that if someone lists a prompt as having an age preference, that it be respected. This is specifically for TDMs unless otherwise stated. Thank you!

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette

12/13/24 | TDM #10 - Wither and Bloom [First Edition]
Spring Pokémon Types - Grass, Fairy, Ground, Bug, Normal

WELCOME TO PUMPKIN HOLLOW

By Yorick Aberdeen

The crop for which the town is named.

Greetings, Hollowites, old and new! We are pleased to bring you yet another riveting issue of the Pumpkin Hollow Gazette. Or perhaps this is your very first one?

For nearly two years now, the mysterious ferryman has brought new and interesting faces across seas and stars and dimensional planes to reach our fair island. Since then, our community has grown larger and infinitely more interesting--- and we’re glad you’re joining us! Just in time for the weather to be just lovely.

This time of year tends to be a bit lighter on town-wide events due to this being a vitally busy time for our local agriculture industry, but we urge you to get involved with planting season and spend some time in nature. Who knows? You might even catch sight of our goddess of Land and Spring if you spend enough time among plants! Just don’t look into the trees--- they look back.

We invite you, as with all those who came before you, to enjoy your stay at the Oak & Iron tavern inn while you settle in. Please stop by Town Hall to discuss opportunities for work and more permanent housing! All newcomers get 100 Brass in their pocket upon arrival as well, so we encourage you to take advantage of this as well. Reach out to your neighbors for help if you need it, and don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Pumpkin Hollow Gazette whenever you need the local news!

SPRING WEATHER REPORT

By Phil Connors

The breeze will make your clothes smell great!

Start dusting those homes and beating those blankets! The days are getting longer, and with it, the winds are getting warmer. Spring is here! We’ll see some days that are still chilly and windy, but the more warm and temperate phases will get more common later in the season. We’re also entering the rainy period, meaning flowers are springing out of the ground and we’ll be seeing some very beautiful sunrises on misty mornings. Color is coming back to the isle, the frogs are in the rivers, and the insects and lambs are in the fields. It’s a good season to be outside.

Which means it’s also a good season to do laundry! Join us for our Community Laundry Day, where we all do our much-needed chores together and hang-dry our laundry in the warm and breezy weather! Join us on the green for some team washing. Water provided. Bring your own tubs, soap, and of course, clothes!

COMMUNITY EVENTS KEEP TOWN LIVELY ALL SPRING

By Timothy Stoker

The gazebo in town square, beside the festival green, is the place to be this season.

Legend has it that this time last year, a packed ferry arrived with a mass influx of offworlders, and an emergency potluck dinner was held to welcome the crowd. Now, this reporter wasn’t here just yet when that happened, but stories tell of a gathering of epic culinary proportions that heralded a new age of prosperity for Pumpkin Hollow. Sounds like something worth celebrating! Now that the weather has turned lovely once more (as elaborated on above by our own Phil Connors), the town has decided to celebrate the anniversary of the newly dubbed “Harbor Day” by revisiting that potluck idea. Drop by the Temple of Sacred Roots every other Friday from now until June to sample the cuisine of your new neighbors and local businesses. New residents need only bring themselves!

Also, in the spirit of spring cleaning, residents will also be selling or giving away their old items every weekend, weather permitting, in a series of mass yard sales. Some of our more modern residents supplied the term “yard crawl” for the event, which was deemed to be fitting. So come out on Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons to see what useful used items you can take off your neighbors’ hands! It’s a great way for new residents to decorate their new homes cheaply and get some new clothes.

And finally, on Wednesday evenings the Festival Green will be hosting “Swift Social” events (to be held in the Oak & Iron in the event of rain). A reimagining of last year’s popular charity speed dating event, this new Swift Social is expanded to include individuals seeking platonic relationships as well--- though that doesn’t mean romance is off the menu! The 10 Brass will be used to support the town’s medical community and the Autumn Leaves Dormitory House for Young Residents. So come out and make a friend or meet someone cute--- it’s for charity!

Fearsome Fae Antics Cause Town-Wide Trouble

By Melanie King

Up to no good, probably.

Things have been getting tricksy around town as, apparently, the fae population are staging the prank war to end all prank wars—or so local experts are telling us. If, like this reporter, you thought you were just having terrible luck with forgetting where you put things down or waking up with horrible bedhead, surprise! You've actually been caught in the crossfire of the fairies' games and may be entitled to financial compensation. (Not really. That's a joke.)

It looks like their antics are escalating significantly over time from harmless inconveniences to active dangers, so beware of any unusual sounds, behaviours or visual phenomenon you may encounter. Alluring or pleading voices from the woods, ghostly lights, critters acting oddly—if it's out of the ordinary, think twice. Or it might be the last time you think at all (at least, until tomorrow morning).

Fiendish Floral Figures Take Root Around Town

By Yorick Aberdeen

How eerie!

Spring is a time of year characterized by new life and by fresh floral blooms. It’s said that the land is Serranai’s canvas, and flowers are her paint. There is no debating that watching the Spring goddess’s artistry come to life in her season of power is an activity beloved by all! However, the Department of Supernatural Affairs is currently investigating some strangely behaved plant life.

While sightings have been somewhat rare, locals have been reporting eerie structures made out of flowering vines or woven flower stems that take the shape of hollowed out humanoid silhouettes. The poses seem to indicate motion and appear capable of springing to life at any moment, but the strange figures never seem to actually move --- at least, not that anyone has actually seen. However, many have cited that upon looking away from the figures and looking back, they appear to be closer. Those who have had direct contact with these floral armatures of people are also reporting some kind of ongoing allergic reaction from the encounter. Symptoms include severe shortness of breath, unpleasant itching that feels like it is coming from beneath the skin, and intense bouts of emotion which vary from person to person.

The Pumpkin Hollow Board of Safety is currently investigating long-term effects of contact with these beings and advises residents to avoid them. They seem highly resilient to fire, impact, and tearing, and while cutting with a sharp implement seems to have some success, it’s inadvisable to get close enough to the things to use such tools in the first place. Local alchemist Aeryn Sallek and local non-magical chemist Sally Boyle are currently working together to develop an herbicidal blend that is safe for human skin contact and potentially consumption to try and deal with the flowery menaces, which the Board of Safety has begun calling “Hanahilators”. But don’t let the name frighten you--- steering clear of these freaky floral followers should be a more than sufficient safety measure until the threat can be dealt with. Probably, anyway!

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Further Details...

Yard Crawl

Participate in the Yard Crawl as either a buyer, a seller, or both! When you take on a job in Pumpkin Hollow, you are supplied with permanent housing outside the Oak & Iron as part of your start-up kit, and most of them are full of old and worn furniture and clothes left behind when they were abandoned. Get rid of some of it or find something new at the Spring Yard Crawl! Plus, some of the native residents will also be selling or giving away their own old things.

Here’s how the Brass shakes out:

• Buyers can spend 50 Brass and get a haul of their choice of used or free clothing, furniture, or small decorative items. All of it will be of decent to low quality and relatively unremarkable design, so nothing extravagant. (Although a lone exciting knick knack could be considered passable!) Reminder that newcomers are given their first stipend of 100B upon arrival, so new characters are welcome to participate--- you’ll just need to mark that on your ledger if/when you app in. Ask for help if you have questions about this!


• Sellers can make 50B off of their participation but must make a toplevel. Only apped-in characters that are not Laggards can participate as a Seller.


• Those who are both buying and selling end up with a net zero of Brass, but all the aforementioned rules apply!


• Transactions related to the Yard Crawl can be applied to a character’s ledger three times --- once per month for the duration of this TDM!

Swift Social

Under the Swift Social toplevel posted from the mod account, join the fun by posting a starter with the provided code to create a profile card! Then comment on someone else’s starter with one of the following icebreaker questions to get started:

Which would be more surprising to see on your doorstep, a unicorn or a walrus?
If you could commit any crime with no consequences, what would it be?
If you were caught in a trap and the only way to escape from it with your life was to do something genuinely impressive, what would be your approach?
If you had to live on only one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
If you were held at knife point and instructed by your assailant that you must call someone on their sending stone, and if they do not answer, you die, who would you call?
Which would be most frightening to encounter in a dark alley: a ghost, an alien, or a horse?
If you could have any wish granted for you, no matter how big or small, what would it be? (Cannot ask for more wishes, that’s cheating!)
What’s a subject that you could confidently teach an hour-long class on with no preparation?
If you could instantly become an expert in any skill, what would you choose?
Make your own!

Be advised that you must post a comment with your profile card so that any Swift Social partners you have can reference it for your age and preferences.

Fae Pranks

It’s a fairy prank war! A few of the local fae courts are using Marrow Isle as their battle ground, since the demons made it trendy. They’re mostly out to prank each other--- but they’re also happy to practice their tricks on you! And fairies have some very odd ideas about boundaries when it comes to pranks. Here’s a few examples of some of the tricks you might encounter, ranging from silly to genuinely dangerous:

• A truly outrageous amounts of butterflies


• Sightings of Edwin the Headless Postman, a Dullahan (this is a played character that a mod will tag out with, please leave an OOC note if you’d like to opt out)


• Will-o-wisps that lead you in circles or into danger


• Fae dance parties that will have you dancing yourself to death!


• Missing objects


• Mysteriously spoiled milk


• Your hair got braided or extra tangled while you were asleep


• Weird sounds in Prague Mill after dark. Is it haunted?


• Strange women crying in the forest or by the Bluffs, but when you approach them to try and help, you find yourself suddenly in life-threatening danger!


• Create your own! Have fun with it, get spooky or goofy as you see fit.

Floral Fiends [cw: body horror, death]

Loosely inspired by the Hanahaki disease and the film Annihilation, Hanahilators are uncanny figures made out of flowers that move when they are not being watched. If they catch you, they will grab you, but seemingly have no interest in harming you as they will relent as soon as they’ve touched you.

However, once you have pollen on you, the effects begin to take hold, and flowers begin growing within your body, first in your lungs and then pushing into the rest of you. These parasitic blooms feed off of your strong emotions and are influenced by the emotions which define you. (Feel free to use the Victorian flower language to determine what kinds of flowers you get!) Once strong enough, the vines begin feeding on your body, destroying it and leaving behind a brand new Hanahilator. But don’t worry, you’ll be back to your old self tomorrow, so enjoy the opportunity to explore the island as a ghost! Apped in characters should remember to fill out a Death Certificate! It’s a relatively rare encounter, so don’t worry about running into one if you don’t want to.

Pokémon

Each season, new types of Pokémon can be found in nature around the island! They cannot be captured as the technology does not exist on Marrow Isle, but they can be befriended and kept as pets. Since there is no PC, each person can have no more than six. You can befriend any Pokémon whose primary type matches the list at the top of the newspaper. (Eevee can be caught in any season.) Legendaries are off limits for obvious reasons, and mythicals can be encountered for fun but not kept! Evolutionary stones can be found in Paradesium, the magical subterranean jungle beneath the mountain to the North. Every type will be available at some point throughout the year, so if you don’t have access to your fave yet, check back next season!

Comments

Vickie Reeds (Number 44) | 23+ (time abyss) | Changeling: the Lost & CRAU

[arrayerofrazors]

Bless Me, Father | Closed to Mulcahy

So, Father. There's a new arrival at the temple. She's a tired, weary thing, dressed in the plain clothes of a new arrival, and she is very, very quiet. Very still. Her breathing is inaudible, the rise and fall of her chest nearly imperceptible. You've seen this look in people's eyes before, on a ship between worlds and again in a Village; an observer, looking at nothing, taking in everything. There is no comment. There are no words.

Not for awhile, anyway. Not until the late-crawling sunset, here at the edge of summer's dominion, threatens to make travel back home dangerous, or impossible. As others filter out, leaving you and perhaps Degas behind, the new woman's head turns to look directly at you, at long last. Her goblin glamour melts away to reveal familiar pale flesh, and hair of squirming shadows that drip, like maggots, onto the floor to evaporate into the light. Vickie Reeds. Number Forty-Four. Half-hunched like this her profile resembles nothing less than a kukri, wicked and weighted, but she'd never hurt you, would she?

She's so very tired.

"Sanctuary," Vickie murmurs. "...Always wanted to say it, but I do also mean it."

A Ragged Ghost | Open

The new arrival floats from job to job, trying this thing and that at any door that won't turn her away. Need a dish bitch at your bakery or the Burger King? Sure. Help with Laundry Day? She's already there. Farms are approached to ask if they might want a hand, with things so busy, though this strange thing that won't give a name keeps having to stop and wipe tears from her eyes when animals do the most normal things.

One day a butterfly lands on her shirt in the middle of the street, and she breaks down sobbing, inconsolable, demanding not to be touched.

Approach carefully. One last chance at life or not, there is a tail of hurt that trails after this woman, and she won't hesitate to dish it back out.

bless me, father (with your fierce tears, i pray)

[lovethyneighb_or]

It isn’t hard to see a new face in the audience. There’s vanishingly few of them, after all, but he knows the look on her face, and opts to leave her to her peace.

And then all of a sudden, he recognizes her in the waning of the light.

“Oh,” he murmurs, hushed and breathless. She would hurt him—she would hurt him only if it meant returning his mind to him and his heart to safety, knowing how much more valuable one’s sanity is over their body. In other words, she would never hurt him.

“Arrayer.” His arms open. “Please, come here.”

[arrayerofrazors]

Careful restraint prevents a flying hug; the Father's getting on in years, he doesn't need to take an entire Darkling at chest height just 'cause she's overwhelmed that he still thinks well of her. Still, the invitation is accepted, Vickie crossing the room (her boots ring out against the floor, an affectation only - Victoria Reeds is heard only when she chooses to be heard) and hugs her friend tightly.

She's shaking, subtly. It can be a dangerous sign, but probably she's just overwhelmed. Probably.

[lovethyneighb_or]

This is a touch he’s had the privilege to feel vanishingly few times, and he luxuriates in it. He relishes it. He drinks deep of the bounty, the close company of a friend—more than a friend, a war buddy—he’d thought gone for good.

“I did so miss you.”

A Ragged Ghost

[not_the_last]

Floating from job to job may eventually bring the new arrival to the door of Hitchcock Textiles, on a day and time when Mr. Hitchcock isn't present and the bookkeeper is working the till.

There aren't many customers in just now either. As the newcomer enters, a young dwarf is just paying for a few spools of embroidery thread and a length of cream-colored linen, and a pair of humans are finishing their browsing and heading out.

"I'll be with you in just a moment," says the young woman behind the counter to the newcomer, "please feel free to look around."

[arrayerofrazors]

The newcomer nods, and does exactly that, browsing without a word. Her footsteps are silent; she does not come into contact with anything that might clank, or jingle, or otherwise make noise. There is an uncomfortable sensation of attention, as if Cassandra is being watched despite this new woman not looking at her.

In fact she's looking at...

The stitching? When she does touch something to get a better look at it, it's only to peer closer at the seams of it, giving a critical eye to the craftsmanship.

She can wait. She's good at waiting.

[not_the_last]

The dwarf finishes his purchase, bids a cheerful goodbye, and bustles out, leaving the shopkeeper and the newcomer alone in the room.

"Can I help you?" she offers.

wildcard.

[abhorrently]

The note has no signature - only a declaration of someone absconding with Christopher Mango to the therapy graves. And while Fever could ponder about who's maintaining them now that winter's over and lying in a grave would be less of a miserable experience, Mango's disappearance is worthy of investigation. Why tell her specifically? Better her than Degas, or Mulcahy, she supposes - both souls who don't need the stress. But she has to go retrieve him, else Mulcahy will count him missing at a point. 

As she approaches where the graves are, Fever deliberately keeps her footsteps light. Not so much that she'd be sneaking up, but nor is she going to give them too much advance notice that she's coming. 

"Got your note," she calls out, coming nearer and nearer to the graves. "Make your demands for his safe return, though why you want the beast is a mystery."

She hasn't seen who it is yet, but she's approaching rapidly.

[arrayerofrazors]

A familiar, amused, and oh-so-weary voice from the bottom of the rightmost grave: "His safe return? Ask him what his demands are for mine."

At the bottom of the grave, flat on her back, one Nyx - Number Forty-Four - is pinned beneath the deeply sleeping, loudly purring Christopher Mango, who has colonized her chest.

Bonus Prompt: Amazing Rodents

[arrayerofrazors]

After a couple days, one can find the new arrival, well, around, usually outdoors and away from buildings. Each time, she is holding council with a different small army of rats, mice, and other, related vermin, who tense up if you approach but do not flee. She's. Talking with them? This whole-ass killer, more than six feet tall if she stands up straight (she rarely does) is squatting on her heels, chittering and squeaking, and the rats give this some thought, and chitter back at her.

Those with the magic or means to speak Rat may detect that she is attempting to negotiate with the vermin to reduce their depredations on food stores and people's homes with the promise of being fed and gainful employment.

It is.

Going well?

i'm da giant rat dat makes all of da rules

[thaumatophage]

Kitty approaches, entranced by the easy conversation. She doesn't get too close, just close enough to hear. Beck had taught her how not just to hear but to Listen, to catch the undertones and general meaning of something spoken or unspoken. Half-empathic, half-psychic. She's not proficient in the rodentia dialects at all, but she can get the gist of it.

She crouches down, Listening harder, keeping far away enough that the rats shouldn't consider her a threat and that she won't interrupt the conversation. The bells on her headband are enough of an indicator of her presence. No predator this, no silent and swift movement. Just a curious teenager.

Re: Bonus Prompt: Amazing Rodents

[substitutiarylocomotion]

[Wizard had encountered all manner of different spellcasters, druids, warriors, and explorers in his time but he'd had a strikingly small amount of contact with anything that could be considered druidic. He was familiar with the concept of wildspeak and other similar abilities, but they were always the sort of thing he expected to encounter in the deep reaches of some enchanted forest. Finding someone during his poking around of the back alleys of Pumpkin Hollow, let alone someone who seemed to be employing such abilities to speak to alley rats, was very unexpected.]

"Oh."

[He makes a confused expression, taking in the details of the scene.]

"Am I interrupting your... conversation?"

[An eyebrow arches involuntarily as he finishes his question.]

Rats! We're the rats! How do I not have an icon of Lethal Company Employee Pointing.

[impostor_syndrome]

"So that's where all the rats have been going!" Purple points at the industry-defining rat conference taking place at the junction of Funny-Shaped Rock and Shady Tree, a ways down the beach from the marina proper. In the last few days the hold and dock of the Mipha's Grace have been conveniently yet suspiciously free of rats attempting to carry off their catch, and they were beginning to wonder if the rats had found a better deal or just knew something they didn't.

The person in the anachronistic purple nylon hazmat suit smells of something fungal, or at least closer to fungal than to anything else that evolved on Earth, and a slapdash attempt to mimic the subtle odors of a human body. Physically speaking.

ragged ghost

[upshore]

Miles has seen this type of trauma before, when he's been on assignment. Not regarding animals, but there's a kind of wariness, of keeping one's head on a swivel. He knows that. He's been there. He still avoids medical settings when he can, and finds tight spaces both terribly claustrophobic and wonderfully soothing.

Trauma's a hell of a thing.

As he gets closer, walking down the street, he recognizes her, back from the Visitor Center. Nyx, isn't it?

He walks up alongside her, making sure his footfalls are loud enough that she (hopefully) won't be surprised by his approach, and maintains a slightly-bigger-than-arm's-reach distance between them.

"Welcome back," he says, as though she's an old acquaintance and not someone who'd held tetanus razors to his back the last time they saw each other. "Here to stay, or just visiting?"

He's playing with fire. They didn't exactly get off on the right foot when they'd met before. He's hoping that his stance - casual, both hands out beside him and open, and a non-threatening way of walking - will keep her from giving him Super Tetanus. Or threatening to.

[arrayerofrazors]

"You need to find whoever minds your himbo ass and ask them how you can learn to value your life."

Yep, same Nyx. But she puts her hands in her pockets and regards Miles coolly. A distant acquaintance of the Father, the last time they met...not Catholic or Mulcahy would have brought that up...

She sighs. "What do you want?"

a ragged ghost

[incomingchoppers]

When she pays a visit to one farmhouse in particular -- the one on Juniper Drive with a hand-painted sign over the front gate reading BAKER RANCH -- the door creaks open to reveal a familiar face.

A familiar face that immediately yelps in shock and almost slams the door again before yanking it back open to blurt out, "Miss Vickie?!"

[arrayerofrazors]

"Not the birth name you medically-beneficial pasta bowl," Vickie hisses, almost flinching when she hears it, as if Radar had struck her. "Christ on the fucking Cross man, a bitch goes looking for daywork..."

a ragged ghost

[soldierslikeus]

In The Finest Kind Clinic next door to Mulcahy's own home, Margaret is working her way through some paperwork and other chores whilst there are no patients to be tended to. She doesn't even look up when the door opens, not immediately, just calling out: "I'll be with you in a moment or so," as she puts away some of those papers.

[arrayerofrazors]

She can wait. Nyx grabs a spot of wall to lean against rather than one of the chairs, and quietly observes. This is Margaret huh? Still in medicine, after her fashion, but it's not like this joint can have too much of that.

The urge to shapeshift into something more obviously human gets crushed.

The polite thing to do here is to respond, which Nyx fails to do. She's a bit stressed, and not meaning to be rude; it's just that vaguely ominous looming is her resting state.

A Ragged Ghost

[redlightgreenlight]

There's a low mew as she stands there sobbing, followed by the light brush of a small, furry body against her legs. Green eyes blink up at her and once he knows he has her attention he trots off, tail held high, only to stop a few yards away and meow again, clearly insisting she follow him.

KBITY

[arrayerofrazors]

Vickie sniffles, clearly shocked, and scrubs at her eyes. But the cat isn't vanishing or otherwise proving it's a hallucination...

Which doesn't mean it's not.

But what is there to do? The Darkling follows, an ache in her hollow heart.

Dish Bitch!

[maximumcake]

"A job?" Max responds to her request, "Sure, I don't see why not. Are you much of a morning person?"

[arrayerofrazors]

"I'm not much of an anything person, but that's not your problem. I'll show up when I agree to." Yep, this one is even hotter up close, and Nyx is not above being influenced by base lust. Though...

She sniffs the air and sighs. Figures. This himbo has a minder; she smelled this scent at the hellhound's place, wrapped in warmth and affection.

so, no rats?

[abhorrently]

Going to Max's bakery is a ritual as much as anything else. Weekly bread that remains nice regardless of how long it's been is a blessing even her original world doesnt have. And now, she can put extra snacks in her bag without having to worry - they'll simply be there. Probably better than the cold and questionably aged poutine she once had.

But all of her plans go out of her mind when she sees who else is working there, and her reaction is automatic, impulsive.

"Why are you working here?"

Because it's....so sweetly domestic of her.

By tradition I declare: damn OCs and their one-liners

[arrayerofrazors]

"This hot dude rubbed my lamp super hard and I had to grant him three wishes."