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

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.

[arrayerofrazors]

The newcomer, with her hair of squirming darkness and her shadow cocked at the wrong angle, sniffs the air. She chitters something to the rats, which sniff in turn and look at Kitty. Back to the newcomer, squeaking politely. She nods, as if receiving sage advice, and gestures with her right hand.

The vermin scatter.

"But who shall bell the cat?" The newcomer murmurs, looking directly at Kitty. Her pupils are...

Wrong. Too deep, so very deep, and in the hollows of them one can almost make out the glint of fangs that aren't there. "Whose hungry little thing are you, youngblood?"

[thaumatophage]

"This cat's already belled herself," Kitty says, cracking a smile. Something about the newcomer feels off, somehow, and it's not just her shadow and her squirming hair. Like her energy is the pressure before a migraine.

"And I belong to myself and myself alone." Not to them and not to the Triskele. She's her own person, and allowed to be so here.

[arrayerofrazors]

That inscrutable expression softens, somewhat. The newcomer rests her arms on her knees, looking - to most people - relaxed. She isn't, quite. She's...at rest, not vulnerable, ready to spring away, or to lunge, without a moment's loss.

Her voice is very gentle. "Well then, little cat...right now, talkin', I'm a wholeass adult who's had to say that to people when I was your age, an' you're a kid, someone I gotta look out for. But if you wanna flash fangs at me, we're just two monsters, and that's a real different kinda conversation. You follow?"

[thaumatophage]

We're just two monsters.

"How do you know that?" Kitty blurts out, fear twisting her insides. Nobody knew, except Mr. Rambo 'cause she'd told him, and he's gone. Now with just a look she's been disassembled to what she truly is: a monster, a murderer, designed only to consume and destroy.

[arrayerofrazors]

The newcomer, with no sudden movements, gently taps the side of her own nose. "The kinda thing I am doesn't stop at smelling scents just 'cause that's what everything else smells. But I think you might be mistakin' my meaning here, youngblood. A monster ain't a bad thing to be, or a good one. It's just somethin' we are, like being from Maryland."

Those fangs in her pupils, the ones that aren't there...they're eating something, Kitty. Out of the air near you, not biting, which is odd since what else are fangs supposed to do? But no. They're filtering. Like baleen.

"You can call me Nyx, if you like names. Got one you like for yourself?"

[thaumatophage]

Nyx's revelation about scents and 'scents' doesn't really shock Kitty as a mechanism per se, but she's still rattled by the revelation, and the migraine-like pressure in her head.

(She's heard of Maryland before. Emily had grown up near there, hadn't she? Just don't ask Kitty to point it out on a map.)

There's something nearly imperceptible draining from the air by Nyx, too, like air slowly escaping a balloon, or water slowly circling a drain.

"I'm Kitty." Not a name she'd picked, but a name she liked; the only one she'd ever known.

[arrayerofrazors]

The name gets a little grin. So much like a Lost name...and it makes the earlier comment unintentionally funny. "Pleasure, Kitty. Been here long, by yourself? I've still got that new-arrival warranty on me."

[thaumatophage]

Been here long, by yourself?

"Nobody from home," she says very specifically. Nobody to mind her, either. Losing John still hurts. "But I've got some friends here. So, not really by myself, I guess."

She lets out a little snort of laughter at Nyx's joke. "Welcome to the party, I guess?"

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.]

[arrayerofrazors]

The new person looks up with an arched eyebrow, and the rats look with her. Somehow, some fucking how, the rats have all the stern and regal judgement of a Southern matriarch in their gaze.

"That depends," the crouching woman says slowly, with clear amusement, "on whether or not you're about to be a dick while I'm laying out peace negotiations here."

[substitutiarylocomotion]

[Wizard smiles amusedly. He's not sure what he'd imagined a back-alley wildspeaker would look like, but he supposes this fits the bill well enough. Making a peace treaty with the rats makes more sense than it would seem, though, as he knows all-too-well how much their kind can rule the hidden regions of any settlement.]

"Not at all."

[Raising his hands in a placating manner, Wizard directs his response to both the new arrival and the host of Rodentia.]

"The prospect actually sounds quite interesting so, if anything, I'd like to see it proceed unhindered."

[arrayerofrazors]

This seems to amuse the woman, in an oddly approving sort of way. She chitters again, gesturing at Wizard, and the rats chitter back to her.

This dialogue goes on for a little while. At its conclusion, she reaches into her pockets and starts laying out little bits of hardtack, on which she spreads a small amount of nut spread from a little jar that definitely belongs to Oak and Iron and is not, you see, normally sold in that jar. The rats approach, sniff it, and find it worthy; they cooperate to drag it away, secreting the food into their lairs as they leave the alley.

Her knees pop when the woman stands and she winces. "Peace is a long process," she complains. "Sup."

[substitutiarylocomotion]

[Wizard can't help but smile. Isn't that the understatement of the age though. Whether it's rodent or royal, it seems some form of tribal brawl, war, or insurrection is waiting just around the corner no matter where you go. He wasn't sure, given how she'd gestured at him during the peace talks, if he was now factored into things in some way or if his presence had simply been noted as a witness, but the way that the rats had team-lifted that jar of spread away tells him that things had gone well either way.]

"That it is."

[He nods in agreement.]

"Not something I expected to encounter exploring the city, I must admit. I take it your offering met with approval?"

[arrayerofrazors]

"You could say that." She cracks her neck and winces again. "Twenty-three with the bones of an old bird...anyway, aside from laying goodwill we were mostly talking about how the alliances between Man and Dog, an' Man and Cat, enforce a de facto peace between Cat and Dog. They'll chew it over."

She shrugs, offers a hand to shake. "You can call me Nyx. You bein' chill there helped a lot."

[substitutiarylocomotion]

[Nyx and the rodent's observation was strange to think about, but he couldn't help but agree with the summation. In the wild, cat and dog clashed plenty still, of course, but their shared dependence on humans had meant that an enforced peace was largely draped over any interactions within their domain. Rodents had never been beneficiaries of such a relationship with any of the other sentient races and so, though they benefitted from the myriad warrens and scraps that cities and settlements provide, their lives remained every bit as wild and dangerous as they would be in the darkest caverns of the thickest forests. He wasn't exactly sympathetic to the plight of such well-known precursors of pestilence, but the observation was still an interesting one to consider.]

"A interesting reflection, and not one I can say I'd ever thought to consider. My own relationship with such creatures has not generally been one you would describe as harmonious, but I'm still of the mind that cooperation is preferable to conflict so I'm pleased you've given them something to consider."

[He takes the offered hand.]

"A pleasure Nyx. I am Sylus, though most everyone simply calls me Wizard, and I'm happy to hear I was able to be a benefit rather than a detriment."

[Nodding in agreement with the sentiment, Wizard gives a friendly smile.]

"Are you a new arrival? I've only just gotten here about a month ago mysef and, try as I might, I'm far from familiarizing myself with this place to the degree I'd like."

CW allusions to Earth racism

[arrayerofrazors]

"I did a stint before but it wasn't really the same. Ask around about the Visitor's Center." Wizard huh. He doesn't seem to be freaking out about her, which eliminates the white-hood kinda wizard. This a finger-waggler - why is she musing, she can just ask. "When we say wizard here we talkin' pondering orbs, stuffed crocodiles, potions, conjuring energy, all that jazz?"

[substitutiarylocomotion]

[[OOC: That description of wizards is absolutely amazing xD]]

[Wizard can't help but laugh. The description was all-too-accurate of wizards like Lucain and Wallace, and the spot-on description of their pipe-collecting, book hoarding, and rune-scribing schools of wizardry was beyond amusing.]

"Yes, I suppose that does describe a fair bit of my work!"

[A few chuckles more escape before Wizard can fully collect himself.]

"I'd like to think of myself as being on the far less stuffy end of that sort of thing than many of my peers though. Fieldwork at the forefront and orb-pondering, as you put it, in the back seat."

[He purses his lips guiltily before continuing.]

"I have been working on getting an Arcanium put together, though, so I must admit that will definitely put me more on the stuffed crocodile side of things than I normally sit. That's actually where much of my time here has been spent, as I'm anything but an experienced hand at renovations. I didn't even know we had a Visitor's Center here, so now I'm curious what other useful resources for new arrivals I might have missed out on."

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.

[arrayerofrazors]

What, and Nyx cannot stress this enough, the fuck is with this person? The rats and she both look at Purple with long, slow blinks...

Okay. She'll bite. "Can you explain what the fuck they're talking about when they complain about a 'vibrating human' and its terrible trained chicken?

(That's your shipmate there Purple; Agent Jean, and their trained ratting chicken, Agent Charlemagne, usually just called Agent Charlie.)

[impostor_syndrome]

They wave, the helmet - which they've decorated with a little hat shaped like a fried egg - getting in the way of returning the slow blink.

"That sounds like my coworker. They have enough energy for five normal human beings packed into about three-quarters of the size." Purple illustrates this with a gesture where they bring their hands close together, as if to demonstrate the general concept of compaction. "That's Agent Jean, and the chicken's Agent Charlie. Are these the survivors of her iron-beaked reign of terror?"

[arrayerofrazors]

"And descendants of the same," Nyx agrees. "I haven't seen rats flee a floating ship before but holy fucking balls ma -" nope, "- mi -" nope, "m'entity, the rats have generational fuckin' trauma."

[impostor_syndrome]

"Holy shit. No wonder that bird acts like she's the one who's in charge of the boat."

As impressed as they are with Agent Charlie's dedication to her job, the fact that they were still getting rats up until a few days ago means they were desperate enough to head into the meat grinder in search of a meal. Purple's had jobs like that.

"I appreciate the not jumping to conclusions," they say, when she stumbles over what to call them. "So, okay, you've got a soup kitchen for wayward rats in your back pocket and as long as you keep it up I don't have to clean up after Charlie reenacting slasher movies. Everybody wins, murder chicken notwithstanding. Are you getting anything out of this?"

They still find it hard to believe that a warm fuzzy feeling or 'because it's the right thing to do' is enough to move anybody to help out. Or, on the other end of things, that it's not a ripoff of a reward; Captain Zelda could probably be convinced to exchange a little grocery money for the guaranteed absence of dismembered rats and gnaw marks on the merchandise.

[arrayerofrazors]

She shrugs. "It's something to do. This's early peace talks, buddy, it ain't gonna be anything for awhile, but the eventual goal is to have someplace to put all the rats so they can like, integrate with a human-ish society, my own little Rat Park if ya will. Show willin' about doin' something useful for this place, sure, but also like...I ain't completely immune to disease. If the little bastards can be persuaded to cooperate and submit to some cleaning I don't get caught in the backblast of the next Black Death."