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

[pineapplesalmon]

The name of this place certainly isn't lying about the internal temperature! César almost immediately strips out of his gloves and coat. They're all off by the time she approaches him; he smiles at her and takes her hand.

"César Salazar. I've been here less than a week. ... I'm afraid I'm only very vaguely aware of your lines of work. I'm a scientist. Technologist. Soon to be farmer."

[somebodychildofanyone]

That gives River pause, and then she laughs. "I've honestly never met someone without some idea. Feels like writer's block with a blank page...you want me to start with the forge or the other two?"

[pineapplesalmon]

César laughs back. "I honestly know the extreme basics about forging. Heating, forming, and quenching metal is always needed for something." Mechanics of materials, wee. "I have some idea about what necromancy and diabology could be, but making assumptions is bad science."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Diabolism," River corrects, a tease in her voice. "Don't let a competent sorcerer catch you saying 'ology' after any discipline or you're gonna have the kind of magical experience the bitchy older child has in fairy tales." She touches the sigils on her arm with her fingertips. "A diabolist is a specialized summoner, though to be frank if you can find me a generalist summoner you can do whatever you want with my body and my bank account. In my case, it's someone whose specialty is summoning, banishing, binding, negotiating with, and understanding the Secondborn, also called demons, from their home in the Forge Below - and working with -" she gestures at the forge, "hellfire."

[pineapplesalmon]

César lets out a sharp laugh at the correction. Look, it's funny. He can picture the rage perfectly. The rest, he listens to eagerly, truly curious about her professions.

When she gestures to the forge, César turns and looks at it, whistling in appreciation. "Explains why it's so hot in here."

The joke is a two-fold one. He's not saying the thing everyone would say, but making fun of the thing everyone would say. All in the tone.

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Hah! It's fascinating stuff honestly, pure forge-fire, the flame of transformation. It's said the gods kindled it to shape their creation." River wanders over to a shelf, where she takes down a beautiful pipe carved into a skull and some tobacco; she packs it carefully while she continues. "According to legend, the Secondborn taught my people fire and smithing in exchange for the promise that they would be called to visit us. They're real dicks sometimes, but..." Her voice goes wistful. "We've still kept our word."

[pineapplesalmon]

César's eyebrows go up a bit as he sees the pipe and realizes it's story time, spending a moment admiring the pipe, as macabre as the design is. Look, his brother's got a goth girlfriend; he's not the type to judge skull motifs.

"Word should be kept." César hmms in thought. "Can you tell me more about your realm's demons? I'm non-practicing Catholic, and our Church has... opinions. Those opinions about many things haven't always been right."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Depends on if you listen to the demons or not," comes the teasing non-answer. "Some stuff is universal and replicable, if it's a person you can summon by magic and iron fucks it up, it's a demon. Otherwise you might as well be asking 'tell me about people, you know, in general.' Broad question." River retrieves a match and lights up, puffing carefully with a vaguely focused expression; she's a new smoker.

"Like, succubi and incubi, right? Relatively similar to elves, humans, yada yada in body plan, seem to derive some kind of power from sex, but the nomenclature is bullshit. A succubus is a sex demon who studies magic, and the rest are incubi. Fucking five hundred years and change of stupid academic arguments about it that mean nothing because people still use the names."

[pineapplesalmon]

"I thought that question might be overly general, but I couldn't think of a better one quickly that was less offensive." César chuckles, but he doesn't know enough about smoking to realize how long she's been at it or not

He follows along, recognizing the terms from... Dragons and Dungeons; he's not going to admit that. "People like to both ignore scholars and be offensive, it seems."

CW casual description of historic military atrocity

[somebodychildofanyone]

"It's more like people still calling whales fish," River corrects, completely ignorant that fish are also fake. "The thing that trips up the layman is like...okay, so. Fall of the Empire, right, about ninety years back. Imperial summoners draw up an army of demons and go 'hey, go rape and pillage this city'. A not insubstantial number of demons summoned agree to terms of staying that involve doing, you know, exactly that. Morrowholm still hasn't ever really been the same. Demons, right? Evil bastards."

"No one ever talks about the summoners that gave the orders, or the soldiers who do the same kinda shit."

[pineapplesalmon]

Ah, they're on the same wavelength. He's frowning in thought by the end of that. And maybe feeling some anger in unison.

"Of course they don't. A tale as old as time. They do that at home, too. And then the soldiers just claim they're following orders." César knows exactly the sort of people she's talking about.

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Mmhm. First rule of summoning is never call up what you can't put down. Second rule is that everything that follows is your fault." River puffs thoughtfully on her pipe. Ignore the brief mild choking that interrupts it. "It's nice getting to talk about this with an open mind that isn't a peer. The dick waving contests suck, especially since I lose them."

She gestures with the pipe, an offer to share. "Thing is the demon thing is a family side gig. We're mostly all about the necromancy, la Croix is a big name in the discipline. Most magic is manipulating energy, and necromancy deals in death and absence - darkness, silence, that kinda thing."

[pineapplesalmon]

... did she just pick up smoking recently for the aesthetic?

"I hate people judging me due to preconceived notions, so I afford others the same courtesy. And since I worked alongside my parents, any attempts at dick waving would've resulted in endless teasing."

César turns out the pipe with a hand gesture and a smile, because he's too interested in the conversation to stray from the topic. "Basic rules I abide by myself in some fashion. I'm afraid my understanding of necromancy is... likely incredibly offensive. So I'll need the same general overview as Diabolism."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Nah you've probably got the right basic idea. The usual correct course of action when you meet a necromancer is to beat the shit out of them and tie them up." River takes the pipe back for a more cautious puff; there she goes, down the right pipe. At last. "So let's start with the real uncontroversial basics. While the original necromancers weren't magic users at all - they were mediators with the undead, especially ghosts - the modern practice is a sympathetic and sacrificial magical art that manipulates the energy found in death and wounds, usually just called 'death' 'cause the Empire fell but its grip on academia sure godsdamned didn't. We generally get that in three broad ways; picking over sites of tragedy like scavengers, killing things with our own hands, or sucking out our own life force to create death. The la Croix favor the first and the third, though I'll be real with you, we ain't above the second if someone's gonna have to die anyway or, I dunno, we can afford a goat."

[pineapplesalmon]

For the record, it's easy to read that as LaCroix flavor. Huh. So that's what the "natural flavors" are.

César gets the 'maybe should be beat up' feeling too, River. But not that bad. She wins there.

Okay, hard to not judge, but César's keeping his mind purely theoretical as much as he can. "Better sources than intentional suffering. What sort of things can you do with that energy?"

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Well, quick question for demonstration purposes, how good are you with sensory deprivation if it happens to you? Both emotionally and uh, in terms of not running around blind."

[pineapplesalmon]

"... I can handle it for a short moment. But I should probably sit." So César does, right on the floor with his back against the wall.

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Just try to remember, the world is still here, alright? Tap out when you need to, you won't feel it but I'll see your arm move." River murmurs something under her breath, oddly stilted and with a faint slant rhyme. Her fingers brush out, through the flickering shadows of the forge - and they catch, peeling away, leaving behind something that is not darkness.

She flicks the glob in her hand at César and the world is gone. There is nothing to see; there is nothing to hear. The ground beneath him is absent, without even the pressure of his weight on it that numbness couldn't erase. The smoke of the forge, the tang of metal and the bite of tobacco no longer reach his nose, the air has no taste - is he even breathing? There's no sensation across his tongue, in his mouth, when he tries to suck in the breath of life...

[pineapplesalmon]

Woah.

The immediate urge is to panic, but César resists. She said sensory deprivation. River is next to him, even if he can't feel or sense her anymore.

Then, he becomes utterly fascinated. He tries to sense his body in any way. He can't. Surely, he must be breathing? But he can't feel it. He can't even tell what position he's in.

"Wow!" He manages to say in the real world, sounding utterly delighted.

[somebodychildofanyone]

A moment. Or is it? And then the world comes rushing back in, here very much to include River's palm over Cesar's eyes, blocking most of the light.

"Thought you might not want to be blinded by the light," River explains. "That little trick was a few minutes off the top of my life, and it only gets nastier from there - undead servants, rotting living flesh, corroding metal. Necromancy isn't a study you get into 'cause your life went well."

[pineapplesalmon]

César laughs. "I do appreciate not going blind."

He does sober up, processing the rest of the explanation; partially because everything sounds so Loud now that it's hard to process sound, smell, or really, anything else. "... You should've told me it'd take minutes of your life. ... I suppose it wouldn't. And yet your family practices it?"

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Practices, innovates. We're old as hell, my man, our names are on the fundamentals." River slowly takes her hand away, revealing herself to be crouching on her heels with a sober expression. "Most people get into necromancy because something went very wrong, and they're about to take it out on other people. The la Croix...take the stance that someone with a level head should know it proper."

[pineapplesalmon]

César listens quietly, admiring. "I'm in agreement. Someone should. Else you don't know what you're up against when people try to use it for nefarious deeds."

He looks around. "... that gave me newfound appreciation for my senses."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Doesn't it just?" River flashes an easy grin. "So, good news for you: I can't seem to reanimate anything that went down after the barrier. Means I can't turn your body into anything else, not even in an emergency. But I'm still good for ghosts, and there's plenty of those around. Call me up if you get haunted, yeah?"

[pineapplesalmon]

She means hypothetically, but César looks shocked by the idea of having his corpse walking around almost as if she meant it permanently. For some reason. And the same for ghosts.

He does his best to wipe that expression off and go back to neutral, but River's literally right there, buddy. There's a reason César hide himself away and worked nonstop in order to hide his true plans to betray Black Knight: he, like literally everyone else, cannot control those initial micro-expressions, even if he controls his expression shortly after.

"Oh. That's ah, good to know. I'll keep that in mind, thank you." That's. Shit. Try again, Salazar. "... I haven't been haunted yet, but I'll be sure to let you or Chris Freeman know. They can see ghosts."

... SHIT. Just go and drop that clue right in her damned lap. He's awful at this.