TDM #4 - Aurora Borealis Blitz [FIRST EDITION]

[pumpkinhollow]

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette January Issue

[Find our plain text version here!]

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette

1/10/24 | TDM #4 - AURORA BOREALIS BLITZ"
Content Warnings: "Further Details" section has independent CW labels.
Forecast: Heavy snow

BREAKING! REBUILDING HELP REQUESTED

By Cecil Gershwin Palmer

A photo taken of the damage.

ACROSS PUMPKIN HOLLOW - City government is requesting aid with repairs to public buildings and local fixtures after the recent earthquakes on Tuesday, January 8th. While there was minimal damage to Town Hall itself, several important buildings sustained damage, including the Magpie National Bank, the South Train Station and the Clock Tower, which is now stuck with hands at 8pm.

Regarding the cause of the earthquake, local biologist Dr. Elias Coldwood was heard to say “There's never been seismic activity here.” And he’s a scientist, so he would know! But clearly this is no longer the case. Perhaps Pumpkin Hollow has a mysterious tiny civilization underground worshiping a destroyer god, planning to attack through the bowling alley, the moment we create a bowling alley. Perhaps not. More on this story as it unfolds, faithful readers.

In the meantime, volunteers to help with the damage to city buildings are invited to meet with Mayor Hellen Poe for assignments.

ANNUAL AURORA IN NORTHERN SKY

By Yorick Aberdeen

An artist's rendition of last year's view.

ABOVE MARROW ISLE - Midwinter is upon us! That means it’s the time of year when our skies light up with the technicolor gleam of the arctic north! Those looking northward between the hours of 10pm and 2am should be able to see beautiful curtains of bright green, blue, purple, and pink lighting up the sky above the island. If you plan to go outside to view the lights rather than looking from your window, please make sure you travel in a group and carry a lantern. May it be ever lit!

HOROSCOPES

By Cecil Gershwin Palmer

What do the stars say about you today?

Capricorn: Do you feel as if you’ve lost something? If not, it’s wise to double-check. Perhaps it’s not something like a button or a key, but your sense of wonder or your self-confidence. Remember, things tend to be in the last place you look.

Aquarius: Something about the year ending made you feel lighter, like taking off a heavy wool coat. Ride this burst of energy as far as it will take you, because the shiny of a fresh beginning tends to wear off quickly.

Pisces: Don’t worry, I don’t believe what everyone says behind your back. You’re not too sensitive or too naive. They’re just jealous. Really, most of the time when they’re whispering, it’s not even about you.

Aries: You’re the sort of warm individual that babies and animals are drawn to. Unfortunately, this may include hungry wolves and swarms of insects. But don’t let that bring you down! We need that sort of personality around here.

Taurus: There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be the best, until you work to stop others from also being the best. That’s called cheating and may lead to you being disqualified from competitions. If you get caught, that is.

Gemini: You know those riddles about the two guards, one who always tells the truth and one who always lies? Well, everyone hates those riddles with a passion. You’ll see for yourself, soon.

Cancer: Wouldn’t you like to know?

Leo: Your incandescent personality often makes you the center of attention. However, that’s not the only thing about you that glows. Moths may flock to you in the dark this week, and so might children afraid to sleep with the lights out.

Virgo: Be careful with your words–they aren’t just the precursors to your deeds, but the manifestation of your will. This is not a week for idioms and metaphors, not for you. Even something like bemoaning a lack of spoons may make eating cereal harder.

Libra: You are, inevitably, the first one heard to say a situation isn’t fair. And it’s not, nor will it ever be. Instead of getting upset, have you ever considered getting revenge? That’s usually more satisfying in the long run.

Scorpio: Ugh, Scorpios. The position of Venus means your usually volatile emotions will be in the doldrums instead. Enjoy this while it lasts I guess. Who knows if you’ll ever experience such peace again, given, well. You’re kind of an emotional mess and no one likes you.

Sagittarius: There will never be another day like today. You must strive to make the day everything you want it to be. No mistakes, now! Consider your choices very carefully. Consider your choice to consider, very carefully.

SUNFIRE'S HEARTH

By Yorick Aberdeen

A photo of Mayor Poe's cats, Toffee and Butter, enjoying the view.

ASSORTED LOCATIONS - As the coldest part of the year settles over our fair isle, it is time for Sunfire’s Hearth--- an informal celebration of bonfires and hearth flames, for those unfamiliar! For the months of January and February, a raised platform for bonfires will be lit on weekends, and restaurants and taverns across town will keep their fireplaces lit. Unlike many of our other festivities, there is no structured celebration--- simply make some time during this time to bask in the warmth of a fire! You can even celebrate at home.

An additional benefit of this time of year is that Merrymeet is well on its way. So take this time and get snuggly in front of a fire with your special person to get in the mood for romance! (Or they could be platonic snuggles. Whatever suits you best.)

LOCAL ALCHEMIST REPORTS MISSING POTION

By Yorick Aberdeen

Some of Mx. Sallek's usual stock. Could stand to have better labels./p>

LOCATION UNCERTAIN - Early Monday morning, local alchemist Aeryn Sallek reported that a large container of magical potion has been swapped with another, and it would seem that the mistaken jug has been sent out for delivery. According to Mx. Sallek, they sent a number of jugs out for delivery in a case with our local delivery extraordinaire, Sam Porter Bridges. The jugs were meant to contain a harmless, potable freeze-resistance potion for our town’s various water sources, in the interest of keeping water reserves drinkable in sub-freezing winter weather. However, when they returned to the shop, one of these potions remained on their counter while a love potion they’d been working on went missing.

“‘Love potion’ is kind of a misnomer, honestly,” Mx. Sallek is quoted to have said on the matter. “But ‘emotional acuity’ potion doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. Basically what it actually does is enhance existing romantic desire and embolden the user to be emotionally open. But Yorick should already know all this, since he’s the one who ordered it.” [Editing note: don’t forget to cut the last part of that comment before publishing. Cecil, you don’t need to include personal statements directed at reporters from these interviews!]

It’s unclear which area of town this particular potion ended up being injected into the water source, but according to Mx. Sallek, the potion was not particularly intense to begin with. It should be significantly diluted as to be harmless. Still, if you notice any strange symptoms such as butterflies in your stomach, a desire to burst into song, or inexplicable yearning, please file a report with the Safety Board at your earliest convenience.

FOOD SHORTAGES PUT STRAIN ON ISLAND ECONOMY

By Yorick Aberdeen

MARKET DISTRICT - While there are many things to celebrate this time of year, Marrow Isle is not without its adversity. Over these past months, many new members of our community have arrived by ferry after our numbers remained small and stagnant for many years. And the presence of our newfound neighbors has been a boon to all of us. Many artisans have opened useful businesses, medical professionals have expanded our access to healthcare, and a new fishing vessel has taken to the seas. However, despite a few additions, our farming community remains quite modest and planting was not planned with such incredible new growth in mind.

The unfortunate result of this is that food reserves on the island this year are uncharacteristically low. As such, Town Council has made the difficult decision to allow for the temporary inflation of food prices and the rationing of food staples.

“We understand the hardship this will place on the residents of Pumpkin Hollow,” said Mayor Poe in a statement after this decision was made. “But please know that we are all in this together. We hope to be able to offer a better incentive package for those interested in farming in the coming springtime.”

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Further Details...

Aurora

The dead of winter sheds all colors of the trees and flowers across Marrow Isle, but tonight, there are no stark whites and grays and browns.

Tonight, in the sky sprawling with stars above the dreary town, there are lights.

Sprawling trails of violet and green twist and wave through the sky, brightening the earth below and the sea beyond Jack's Marina in magical colors. The return of the borealis is something many Pumpkin Hollowites look forward to, and their reactions are very clear: people scurry down to the shores to watch with wide eyes, many retrieve telescopes, and some even borrow the decks of ships, abandoned for the night at the docks, to watch the sights.

It doesn't take long for this to change, however; the sea nor land are safe from the curse, and it's made quickly apparent that the sky is no exception.

At first, the sight seems like none more than an illusion, perhaps someone blinking and missing a strange shift of the lights. A glimmering outline forms around a cluster of stars, only slightly harder than any of the lines that define the aurora's rays. Several of these shapes form, each array of stars different from the last, some larger, some smaller.

And then, the stars begin to fall.

Seeming to peel off the painted sky, the ebbing colors surrounding the starlight drop, crashing to the world below. Some fall to the streets and beaches, while others fall into the forest, leaving view, or drop into the sea, leaving splashes and waves in their wake that ensure any watching knows full and well that this is not a trick of the light. At first, these shapes are unmoving, glowing masses of aurora-light with stars shining brightly within them. Most townsfolk are uneasy, but this seems to pale in severity to the other disasters, even if they lack any idea of what it could mean for them.

That is, of course, until the masses begin to move.

Each one is as varied as the constellation it stole from the sky: stars form suggestions of skeletal structures, and their "flesh", only consisting of swimming lights and liquid sky that steals any lights around them. Two identical glowing shapes rise to a face finally taking form, and slowly, moving more like gel than animal as it rises to freshly-formed legs, it settles on the closest living thing it can find.

There is no calculation in it, nor what seems to be a glimmer of thought.

It simply lunges with intent to kill.

Horoscopes [CW: Altered emotional states ]

Cecil’s disconcerting horoscopes have the following effects for the next few days:

• Capricorn: misplaced things, particularly small objects
• Aquarius: zoomies!
• Pisces: intense paranoia
• Aries: Disney princess-like magnetism to local fauna
• Taurus: insatiable perfectionism
• Gemini: reversed truth values; lies come out honest, being honest sounds like a lie.
• Cancer: Pandora-esque curiosity, to the point of personal detriment
• Leo: radiant glow emanating from your person
• Virgo: figurative speech is manifested into the world with its literal meaning
• Libra: a particularly potent desire for revenge
• Scorpio: numbing of emotions (can be counteracted by love potion, partially)
• Sagittarius: incapacitating indecision

(Don’t know your character’s sign? Feel free to just decide on one!)

Love Potion [CW: Altered Emotional States ]

Unbeknownst to the townsfolk, the “love” potion ended up in the water supply of the Oak & Iron. As promised by Aeryn, it is thoroughly diluted, as its recipients believed it to be a normal freeze-resistance potion to be mixed with their water.

The effects are not particularly intense. However, anyone who drinks any of the tavern’s housemade ale or cider, drinks the coffee, or eats any food that might require water to cook will experience symptoms of “emotional acuity”. This involves feeling more emotionally open, more receptive to positive feelings about others, a strong desire for physical or verbal affection, and the intensification of romantic or sexual attraction that you might already be experiencing. It will last about half a day. Just in time to help potentially land you a date for Merrymeet, a flower and fertility festival in early spring!

Famine [CW: Starvation and food scarcity ]

Food rationing and inflation will have the following impact:

Grocery budgets for apped-in characters will be reduced in their efficacy. Basic groceries will be only the most minimal of staples. You will likely go hungry if you do not find a way to supplement this. Bountiful groceries will be reduced to the amount of food normally contained in basic. Lavish groceries will not be available at all. Your grocery choices from Activity Check are not able to be modified for this month unless otherwise stated.

Bonuses and Discounts associated with the Farmer and Fisherman jobs are also reduced. Level 1 bonuses will be reduced to standard, which is to say how they would function for a non-Farmer/Fisherman character during a normal, pre-famine month. (ex. Whereas normally a Level 1 Farmer would get free Basic groceries, they will now have to pay the 50 Brass, but do not have the efficacy of Basic groceries reduced as described above.) Level 2 bonuses will be reduced to that of a Level 1 Farmer/Fisherman. (ex. Whereas a Level 2 Fisherman would normally be able to have Bountiful groceries discounted to 50 Brass, they now must pay full price for Bountiful groceries. However, they can still get Basic groceries for free and don’t suffer from the famine induced efficacy reduction for either budget.)

Oak & Iron Residents will only be able to receive bland, repetitive meals with their food vouchers consisting of simple broth, plain bread, bland potato dishes, and the like. It is enough to be fed and comfortable but it is incredibly unsatisfying. (This includes all new characters that are not apped-in.) Drinks, however, are still plentiful.

Characters who do not eat will find that their respective sources of fuel will be reduced to just barely enough to keep them functional, provided that they ration carefully. (Ex. Transformers may want to be less active. Vampires will find that victims cannot handle excessive blood loss without fainting and generally prefer to stay home.)

Characters who were present to fight the Mother Crab back in late summer and chose to can some of their crab can use it now!

Hunting, foraging, and fishing can help reduce the impact of these reductions, and people can share their food. You can absolutely die of starvation. After Merrymeet in February, food will return to normal.

Comments

You See A Robot With Issues

[lastofthefirst]

"...Remnants from a weapon." Something churns in Vika and not just the bare gears working overtime. "One of the local demons accepted an offer. It worked." She scowls at the sky. "If the white-haired lady doesn't want me shopping around she should have given me more than this garbage body. Isn't it enough that I've had a garbage life? ISN'T IT?"

Re: You See A Robot With Issues

[listenforbirdsong]

"No one told you that deals with infernal entities always backfire, huh?"

Mairi clicks her tongue, looking out into the storm, thinking. This construct has a gift from a power of nature, ostensibly a deity, that is being covered up by a scar left from a bad deal with a demon. And now she feels disconnected from something that is trying to call her, and guilty.

Hmm.

Well, what's more spell slot? It's getting late anyway.

"Can I get a closer look?" Mairi asks gently, queuing up a Greater Restoration.

[lastofthefirst]

Something charges in the arm that doesn't have a hand; the machine's core swirls, churns, ice crawls down the power lines in her exposed insides...

...And then it stops. She shrugs, and looks away.

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi lifts her hands, glowing a greenish-white, to Vika's chest, letting her fingertips glance over the dark sludge. It dries up, flaking and peeling away, but as it does Mairi can feel the hateful energy radiating off of it. Infernal. Not too different from how infernal energy feels at home, though a little to the left, if that makes any sense at all.

"...What did you have to do to get this?"

[lastofthefirst]

"Commerce." Vika won't look at Mairi, doesn't turn her head or her body. Only the naked gears still move. "...I needed a bullet that would kill its target despite the barrier, and word around the place is that the barrier must be demonic. So. I spoke to their king, and he gave me my traitor's roar. And it worked. It worked, and this place is safer now."

[listenforbirdsong]

"But you paid for it, I gather," Mairi guesses. "Was it steep?"

[lastofthefirst]

"I don't know. How do you measure the worth of a piece of yourself when you're already worthless?"

[listenforbirdsong]

"No one is worthless," Mairi asserts quickly. "Nothing really ever is, honestly. Just depends on who you ask. Back home, I knew a Tabaxi who collected the most random assortment of bullshit like it was a treasure hoard. And to me, it looked like garbage, but to him, it was--- the story of how he'd gotten here. A treasure trove of cherished memories. If Red's collection of ruined books and chicken bones and stolen figurines had value to him, then a person who's willing to pay a terrible cost to keep people safe like you did makes diamonds look cheap."

[lastofthefirst]

"...I'm not the only one who paid." Vika keeps looking up, and up...

"You know what this is, don't you? Tell me. Help me understand. I don't know how I can pay you back but it'll get done."

[listenforbirdsong]

"The sludge or the compulsion to walk out into a blizzard?"

[lastofthefirst]

"The blizzard, I know what toxic byproducts are. This 'magic'," BIG air quotes with the one hand, "doesn't really change much about that. Filthy minds produce filth."

She looks back down, at Mairi, and her one visible eye is all desperate hope. "...Please. What's happening to me?"

[listenforbirdsong]

That's one hell of a question.

Mairi looks to the sky, her hair now fully frozen and crystalline, long icicles formed down her back. "In my world, and in this one, there exist... beings with incredible power. The power to shape and move the world the rest of us live in. For better or for worse, most people think of those beings as gods, treating them with reverence and believing that the love of these so-called gods will give them a better life."

"But in my experience, even gods have limits to what they can do. Some of them want to help, genuinely, and they try." Mairi reaches over to Vika, tapping the swirling, snowy power source with her fingernail. "Somebody tried for you."

[lastofthefirst]

"...I had a power source..." But Vika's reflexive bitterness can't last long; the snow falling on her face turns her scowl into a frown, and then back into that lost expression. "...A power source no one here could maintain. First Aid has the know-how but where the fuck is anyone gonna get fucking uranium - scratch that, even if they could get it how do they keep the demons from shoving it straight up their asses and learning nuclear fire. That's the last thing we need. And...if they can't work with it, can't fix it...then..."

"...They'd never be able to tune up my shell..."

[listenforbirdsong]

"What does your shell have to do with your power source? You can't get patched up without someone who knows magic, or...?"

[lastofthefirst]

"...You really haven't met a robot before, have you."

Click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click...

"Reach inside and feel around. Don't tug anything. And watch the gears. They don't know the difference between flesh and metal, and they don't care either. This will be easier to explain with...just. Touch things, alright?"

"...Mind the cold."

[listenforbirdsong]

"Oookay."

She's never heard of a robot, but she does know what a construct is, and whatever Vika is, is close enough. But she obliges the request and lightly lets her fingers follow the patterns of movement, trying to see where things lead.

[lastofthefirst]

They lead surprisingly complex places; woven through and behind and past the gears are fraying wires, damaged components, badly degraded electrical transformers & failed redundancies...

"Your body is a complex series of chemical reactions," Vika murmurs. Her eye is locked on Mari, but her expression is oddly peaceful. She doesn't understand it herself. "In a way, you're alive by being just a little bit on fire all the time. These chemicals do everything. They power your thoughts, they eat your food, they heal your wounds. Complexity on complexity."

"My body is a series of mechanical interactions. Its relationship to energy is far more crude. I need vast amounts of electricity just to maintain my personality, forget about moving or fighting. If my power source breaks down...I suppose it would be like starving to death while getting amnesia. So if this...god, gave me a new one more familiar to the people here..."

[listenforbirdsong]

"I also know how to work with something like this," Mairi adds. "...It's nature magic. That's my specialty. And I know a spell to mend broken things."

[lastofthefirst]

"...My first thought is deeply stupid. Hard to say 'I'm not things' when I just gave a very shitty overview of a macrobiome. We're all just things until we're not." Vika's hand wraps gently around Mairi's wrist; the metal is frozen, yet somehow still mobile. "Why would you bother? You don't know me, beyond that I'm culpable in a bad idea."

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi shrugs. "I also know that you feel uncomfortable in your body and have had a rough life."

"Listen, if it comes back to bite me, that's on me. But I don't think it will. I can repair up to one square foot of physical damage per cast to any non-organic substance. I'm offering, no questions asked. Take it or leave it."

[lastofthefirst]

"...I should really put my shell back together first..." Vika looks away. "...Do whatever you're going to do. And don't tell anyone."

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi shuts the front panel and sets her hands on Vika's stomach, pushing a stream of glowing transmutation magic into her form. Damage begins to repair itself, cracks uncracking, gears realigning, missing pieces reforming. It is as if, on this specific area, she is turning back a clock that reaches into her former life. Vika's torso is restored to the best condition it has ever been in--- whatever that looks like.

[lastofthefirst]

The difference is notable, instantly; Vika's constant clicking is quieter, her power systems hum more smoothly. She nearly doubles over, staggering in the snow; her hand on Mairi's shoulder is all that stops it.

Fun fact, druid: she's heavy as fuck.

"...You mammals confuse me," Vika mutters. "You'll be repaid. Somehow."

[listenforbirdsong]

"Oof---" Yeah holy shit she is heavy and Mairi has the worst strength stat in all of Faerun. And probably here too. It's only by some miracle that the two of them don't go tumbling down this hill right now.

"I don't--- need anything, really," Mairi insists. "But it'd be nice to know I've got someone in my corner."

[lastofthefirst]

"You. Will be. Repaid." Vika drops her hand, looking up at the sky again. "...And someone has questions to answer. Now. You need to get back inside, it's bad for your body to be out here in this. I should know, freezing to death is how I fight these days. Where am I taking you?"

People who need lessons in consent: Vika