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pumpkinhollow ([personal profile] pumpkinhollow) wrote in [community profile] ph_memes2024-03-08 12:39 pm
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TDM #5 - Paradesium

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette March Issue

[Find our plain text version here!]

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette

3/8/24 | TDM #5 - Paradesium
Content Warnings: individual CWs found per prompt in "Further Details"
Forecast: Partly cloudy with a chance of rain

WELCOME TO PUMPKIN HOLLOW!

By Yorick Aberdeen

The image?

Apparently the ferryman needed a bigger boat!

ACROSS TOWN - Since June of 16:53, a steady stream of new arrivals to our sleepy little town has flowed in by ferry, emerging from the fog. And it seems this trend is due to continue, as this March is due to be on record the highest number of new residents in a single month!

We are incredibly grateful for all of you coming to our home and filling it with life once more, even though the dangers of our local curse have significantly increased since all of you began arriving. This reporter isn’t complaining--- additional harm to my own person notwithstanding!

If you are a new arrival, please report to Town Hall at your leisure so that we can help you find work and permanent lodging. Or don’t! The Oak & Iron is happy to rent you a room for as long as you need. Best of luck to all of you, and as we say in Pumpkin Hollow, may your lanterns always be lit!

CHARITY DRIVE ENCOURAGES CULTURAL EXCHANGE

By Cecil Gershwin Palmer

The image?

One of the charming toys created during last year's Doll Picnic.

FESTIVAL GREEN - Preparations are underway for the upcoming annual Doll Picnic. A charity event sponsored by the Artisan’s Guild, this picnic is an Anwyllic tradition that was brought to the island and continued with love. The first Doll Picnic was organized by Dame Meredith Idlewild of the town of Glyn Rhuthun on Kora’s Haven, with the toys being donated to the local children’s hospital after a massive landslide engulfed a local school.

The Artisan’s Guild has baskets of material available for making dolls, including fabric, yarn, stuffing, buttons, and the like. However, tradition states that sourcing materials from the natural world (for example, acorn husks to use as buttons or deadwood to carve for doll arms and legs) results in the toys being blessed by Serrenai, who will watch over the children who play with them. The toys will be donated to local children after the picnic, including those who are ill or whose families can only afford necessities.

Newcomers are explicitly invited to join in the making of toys, and the resulting picnic. As a personal note: the locals have never heard of a teddy bear before. This reporter expects to see several, as we introduce our traditions to their traditions.

PLANTING SEASON BEGINS!

By Yorick Aberdeen

The image?

After a difficult winter, the appearance of spring's sprouts lifts our spirits.

NORTHWEST HOLLOW - The spring thaw is in full swing! That means it’s time for our local farmers to begin planting. Town Hall is offering a small reward to any of our newest arrivals who would be interested in assisting with planting season for farms less than a year old.

Anyone fresh off the boat interested in making 100 Brass should seek out Eddie and Angel Kasbrak, Arthur Morgan, Cèsar Salazar, Mairi Miann, Ylva Wolfsdottir, or Muriel and offer assistance with tilling and planting. We look forward to rewarding you for your contributions!

HOT SPRINGS OPEN FOR RELAXATION

By Yorick Aberdeen

The image?

Photograph provided by the Safety Board!

CRANE'S RIDGE - After a recent earthquake opened up a hot spring on the lower portion of Crane’s Ridge, a small portion of the Pumpkin Hollow Damage Claims Assessment Corps has been working to get the area cleaned up and safe for use by the general public.

Following its recent approval for compliance by the Safety Board, we are pleased to announce that Porter’s Spring is now available for public enjoyment! It can be accessed by taking the train to the North Station or by following the central trail out of Northwest Hollow, though the Safety Board does not recommend making this journey on foot due to its proximity to Lake Sal-Co-Penn. Enjoy!

STRANGE CAVERNS DISCOVERED BENEATH CRANE’S RIDGE

By Yorick Aberdeen

The image?

A small glimpse into this world beneath our own.

CRANE RIDGE - In addition to the hot springs, the earthquake can also be credited for a major cave-in in our Crane’s Ridge mines. A large tunnel was completely buried in rubble by the inexplicable natural occurrence. For the past several months, our mining team has been chipping away at the cave-in to try and regain access to the blocked tunnels in the lower area of the mountain.

In one of these tunnels, however, the team discovered a shocking surprise as the rubble was removed! Apparently, just beyond the mine walls, there has been an entrance to Hepogaia--- a subterranean nation running below our own fair country and many others. It seems that this particular portion of Hepogaian territory is also trapped within the barrier. Brief attempts at scouting by the Safety Board have noted a plethora of subterranean wildlife, both familiar and unfamiliar. This incredible new environment, hiding just out of sight beneath our island, is so full of wonder and splendor that it has earned a fitting name--- “Paradesium.”

A recent ecology study and expedition run by Pumpkin Hollow’s own Dr. Elias Coldwood has redirected their efforts to this new location, but those interested in exploring and scouting out this fantastical new discovery independently are encouraged to pack thoughtfully and travel in groups of two or more! Any information obtained during excursions into Paradesium would be appreciated by the Pumpkin Hollow Board of Safety.

Page 1

Further Details...
Charity Drive

The Doll Picnic Charity Drive will run throughout the next two months during our TDM, and there will be an event later on involving posing the dolls for a picnic. Once a photo is taken, the children will be allowed to come picnic with their new toys and take them home after!

There is absolutely no way this could possibly go wrong. Absolutely no dollmakers will be jumpscared or attacked by possessed dolls. None at all. (Okay, maybe some of them. But it’s fine. It’s for a good cause.)

[Mod Note: you can just make a doll without it coming to life and trying to kick your ass, that part is optional. Also the dolls will be blessed at the picnic and rendered unable to attack children.]

Planting Season

Any brand-new characters will get 100B extra on their stipend if they submit an AC-length thread with one of the existing farmers on their first Activity Check! This will be available regardless of whether the character qualifies for normal bonuses, but can only be redeemed by those who app in.

For reference for new players, threads are considered AC-length if they are ten tags in length (meaning 5 of your own tags and 5 from your partner.)

Hot Springs

Porter’s Spring is a perfectly normal and safe hot spring! However, you can encounter any number of perils on your way there if you decide to travel on foot, allowing new players to revisit some of our earlier events.

Check out our bestiary (pending update to new format) for more information on creatures such as Brutoks, the River Walker, and the Pine Devil, or stumble on Lake Sal-Co-Penn for a nasty surprise! Brutoks may also steal personal items from spring-goers on occasion. Don’t chase after them alone unless you want to be turned into a tree!

The Tristitia

In addition to the creatures in the wild, in town after dark characters may also encounter the Tristitia, Pumpkin Hollow’s newest cryptid.

She is a wraith-like spirit which haunts the island. Wearing tattered black clothes and colored all in shades of gray, she appears as a woman who walks around weeping with a caved-in chest, covering her face with her hands. Harmless if given a wide berth, but if she is set off, she will take out her desire for empathy for her grief on her target. She does this by embracing them and drawing out their own grief and trauma, leaving the target catatonic before she fades away, temporarily assuaged.

Into Paradesium

Crystals, golden with light and raw magical energy, cast what looks like sunlight down into the cascading cave. For every foot lower that the ground curls down from the entrance, the trees stretch ever-higher, carrying the raucous cries of animals unlike the surface of Marrow Isle had ever heard.

A jungle, so lush with life, sprawls ahead of any brave enough to venture into it. But what is there to see?

For Paradesium specifically, the bestiary has received a significant update. Creatures featured in prompts have their links to the accounts by Dr. Coldwood and his team marked with stars for easy location.

Below are multiple prompts for some encounters to be had in the jungle, but feel free to create any of your own encounters with any of the creatures listed! If the descriptions are short, feel free to write the creatures' behaviors however makes sense.

Welcome to the Jungle

Swallowed by dense canopies and noise, the jungle is quick to swallow any who travel within it whole.

Eyes are quick to find you, however. Perching in the treetops are a variety of small wyverns in vibrant colors, heads tilting as they try to comprehend what you could be. They squawk, chatter, and some of the bolder ones draw closer - if you sit anything aside and leave it unattended for too long, some even bolder than that will pilfer it, taking the object into the trees to admire with its companions.

Reptilian hunters with bright, keen eyes, the Plommon, consider you with much of the same interest. This interest increases tenfold if you happen to feed them.

If the prying eyes are no bother, then the forest's bounty is ripe for tending and taking. Bananas hang off trees, colorful citrus fruits catch light on their waxy peels, and bulky cocoa beans are jostled by movement in the branches above them. Even the broad leaves of the plants prove extraordinarily useful, whether you're looking to come in and quickly leave, or intend to push further within.

Wherever you go, those curious eyes follow you. Perhaps even out of the cave, should your attempts to shoo an adventurous creature away. What an odd way to gain a new team member.

Down a Few Notches on the Food Chain (CWs: Potential for death, gore, or animal death)

Unfortunately, not all can be pure bounty and new friends in a place like this.

With the cavern sprawling widely and massively, there are many significantly larger creatures in this space, and some seem to be keen to take up opportunity for new prey. As you explore, there's a new feeling of eyes upon you, and the silence that overtakes the surrounding trees spells nothing good to come.

Any one of the massive predators in the wood has you in it's sights.

Escape is difficult, but manageable, as is fighting back. Creatures can be challenged, and hides, bones, and other spoils can be claimed from them, should there be success! If not, this is a good opportunity for familiarization with the Death page.

The silkhide chimera specializes in persistence. The longer and further you go, the more exhausted you'll get. A break is an opportunity that it will be keen to take.

The greenstalker excels at ambushing and high-speed pursuit. At top speeds of 30MPH, your party will need strategy and skill on their side to keep this beast at bay. (Or, alternatively, a source of fire.)

The elephant raptor does neither of these - the beast's sheer length of reach does all it needs to. Water and mud soften the sounds of the gargantuan creature's approach. Stay alert, and be sure that you hear it before it's upon you.

Safe travels become more difficult to manage, the further in you go. Deep, rumbling snores tell you that there's a chance you're just getting to the greater threats this paradise has to offer...

Fragments of the Past

Through great distances traveled, this "uninhabited" cavern begins to show signs that may speak to that not having always been the case.

Ruins of homes, crumbled bricks and tiles, can be found at the deepest reaches of the cavern. These dilapidated buildings, though worn with time, tell a story: the people who left his place, one that could be identified as a stenholm to any familiar with dwarvish culture, did not leave it on good terms.

Essentials were clearly taken with them, as the ruins of this place lack tools or clothing. Valuables are still scattered throughout, however. Large objects with too much history to have been left behind by indifference dot the collapsing homes. Ritual circles still waft radiant energy from them.

In the remains of a temple, an altar stands, cracking with age and covered in plants as the cavern reclaims it. Old candle-stands have rusted with age, but still stand, undisturbed.

Just before the altar, folded onto its side (as best as one can be, when only pieces remain), lies a skeleton. The clothes are tattered remains of stained whites and dulled blues, and the wildlife have cleaned flesh from bones, but it's remained undisturbed by time.

There's a quiet sadness to this place that lingers, even with the people who inhabited it so long since lost.

Should you linger too long, however, there comes the distinct feeling of not being alone.

Clair de Lune(CWs: Long-term isolation, extinction)

Golden eyes of a human face follow your every moment, and the moment you lock your gaze onto them, the face emerges from the darkness, partially covered by spilling dark hair.

What follows this face, however, is not a human face - but, rather, a feline body with sprawling, grey-flecked wings.

There's a long, tense silence, as it emerges fully. Standing easily at eight feet tall while on all fours, the size of this creature becomes more and more apparent as it emerges from the dark of the collapsed wind.

Unlike the other animals of the cavern, though, there seems to be an anxiousness to its look. The lion's chest rises and falls with short, nervous breaths.

And then, in a hushed, woman's voice, hoarse from disuse, it speaks.

"Who are you? Why have you come here?"

-------------------

The Sphinx is a new NPC available for characters to interact with, should they delve deep enough into the caverns to find the stenholm. She's wary of all the new faces, and tends to be somewhat flighty, but seems cautiously interested in what new humans being in Hepogaia have to offer. For the sort looking to understand this place, it's people, or intend to trade, she can be communed with.

To interact with her, comment on the TL provided from beastsofthehollow with her icon, and if the initial introduction isn't your speed, feel free to encounter her however you like!

crushed_pearls: (Default)

[personal profile] crushed_pearls 2024-03-25 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
"You get hit on by a blind crow girl and it's all good but cyborgs are where you draw the line?" She arches an eyebrow. "Try this on for size, riddle it to me: how do you get a community to tolerate an open shapeshifter?"
divasmio: (pic#17060108)

[personal profile] divasmio 2024-03-25 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
Apollo nods, grateful for the respect that Angel shows, as well as his offer to go together. "Thank you."

He is uncharacteristically quiet on the trek back to town. For so long, the concept of death had felt so far away, but his brush with it several times as a mortal had given him a lot of new perspective. He tries to imagine what starving to death would feel like. Dying quickly was painful. Dying over a few days was agonizing. Stretching that out over weeks? Voluntarily? Apollo can't wrap his head around it.

A little small talk is managed, at least. Pleasantries are exchanged. Some surface level conversation. Eventually they make it back to town and speak with the dwarf Ambrose about what they'd found and what funeral rites should be performed.

They head back to the cave the following day, meeting Ambrose there to perform the rites and assist in any way they could. Apollo remembered the instructions from the night before, but he's grateful that the dwarf actually volunteered to come participate.

As they enter the cave, it looks just as sad and lonely as it did yesterday. They make their way to the temple.
mister_morgan: (questioning)

[personal profile] mister_morgan 2024-03-25 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
There's a skepticism in Arthur's look, all gruff and unimpressed by this short city boy here to lend a hand. That skepticism tinges with concern at the hand, but he doesn't mention it. Something that bad, and this poor guy's got to know that it is the way it is.

"Arthur Morgan," He greets him with a tip of his hat, and steps off the fence he'd been leaned against. "And a fine mornin' to you."

Well, even if he can't get much help, watching city boys was always worth a good laugh. Sally might give him hell about it later, but he couldn't help but fall back in some of his worse behaviors here and there.

"C'mon, now, let's get to it," He waves Ko along, and starts an ambling pace along the dirt paths, winding up towards the home on the farm, and, namely, a tool-shed tucked behind one of the fields. "You got any experience tendin' soil or plantin' seeds, Mister Tenjin?"
littlefairytale: (v9; frowning talk)

[personal profile] littlefairytale 2024-03-25 01:12 am (UTC)(link)

She's quiet, for a moment. But she doesn't try to deny it, this time. "...Erin— Erin said kind of the same thing. She stuck around longer. Took the pressure off Yang for a couple years."

Not that it impacted the rest of her life, of course; that wasn't how those memories worked. But it's nice, remembering it. Bittersweet, but nice.

"He always struggled after mom went missing. He got better. Eventually. But we were already teenagers then, and— I don't know." He's her dad, and she loves him, but in many ways you could say he acted more like an older sibling than a father even when he became more present in their lives again. "...there was never anyone to help."

Remnant's support structures may as well be non-existent.

mister_morgan: (hmmmmm)

[personal profile] mister_morgan 2024-03-25 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm, uh..."

He trails off, looking for something noteworthy, scratching his jaw. He swats at one of the cows to hush an insistent little moo, but it's still caught in the background.

"Found me a cliff wall at the top of the slope, but there ain't no exit hole. I'm thinkin' I went too far one way, but I'm worried about goin' too far in the wrong way n' gettin' stuck in here all day. I see... one of those big ol' crystals, n' some of them taller, uh... palm trees? With the vines that curl n' all that. You see anything like that?"
mister_morgan: (hmmmmm)

[personal profile] mister_morgan 2024-03-25 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, uh. If you could, I'd be mighty appreciative."

Arthur's just as awkward about this as Zuko is. Awkward brothers in arms, even.

"You heard anything 'bout that jungle they found underground? I'm down in there. Hell, if you could keep talkin' to me while I look for a way out, even that'd be enough. I ain't usually this chatty, but if tryin' to find it myself didn't work, I figure two heads thinkin' on it might help me figure it out."
closureisformovies: (snark)

[personal profile] closureisformovies 2024-03-25 01:19 am (UTC)(link)

"It's not even the cyborg thing, it's all of it put together. Feels like I'm on a rerun of Nigel's SOS just waiting for the prank reveal, except I'd have to be famous, at least a good decade older, and back home for that."

Dramatic sigh. Fine, she'll play. "Aren't half the problems posed by shapeshifters solved by the shapeshifter not pretending they're not a shapeshifter?"

mister_morgan: (hmmmmm)

[personal profile] mister_morgan 2024-03-25 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
There are a lot of things Arthur's endured, over his many years. Hell and back in life, and hell here every so often, as well. But of all the things he'd expected, he hadn't anticipated having breakfast with fucking Mr. Spider being one of them.

He's polite, though, all discomfort aside. Besides, there was a kid involved - a spider child, mind you, but a child nonetheless. He won't be cruel, but he sure will be awkward. He simply cannot help it, it's just who he is as a person.

"Mornin', bud," He drawls, half-awake still, and regards him with a raised brow as he takes a sip of his coffee. "Hope you ain't movin' around too much. Sally'll tear ya a new one if you do, n' I don't figure you're lookin' for any new ones."
spaghettification: (wary)

[personal profile] spaghettification 2024-03-25 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
"Sig--no, Siebren. And it's not magic. None of it is magic. Magic isn't real, it doesn't exist. Everything can be explained through science--and it must be." Really, all the talk of him levitating and using magic has been grit in the oyster of his mind.
closureisformovies: (snark)

[personal profile] closureisformovies 2024-03-25 01:27 am (UTC)(link)

Definitely a radio voice. Or an ASMR voice. One or the other. Either way it would be nicer than Norris's whiny little voice, in particular, reading out the reports. Alice huffs a laugh, "Can't tell if that's actually an invitation or if the choice of the word mooch is a subtle hint to take a hike."

tehilim127_1: (Default)

[personal profile] tehilim127_1 2024-03-25 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
"Well," as she seats herself with a sigh of relief, "oh, that's better -- well, mostly curiosity. But also, if I should ever have occasion to cook or bake for my neighbors here, I want to know what people like."
crushed_pearls: (Default)

[personal profile] crushed_pearls 2024-03-25 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
The bartender snaps her fingers. "Bingo. Cultivate a reputation for honesty, helps greatly if you're actually honest." She offers her hand out to shake. "Erin Peters, your bartender this evening and for all others in the foreseeable future, part-time protean horror from beyond the realms of reason."
misbegottendreamer: (pic#17055500)

[personal profile] misbegottendreamer 2024-03-25 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
“I traveled Morrowind for a time, though the eruption of Red Mountain left me and many of my House sheltering in our ancient stronghold. To be honest, I’ve spent more of the recent years traveling in the neighboring country of Skyrim, keeping the stories of my people in that foreign land, lest our history be lost in the wake of diaspora. That was where I was when I… when I ended up here,” she corrects herself, not wanting to focus on the cause of her relocation.

“I was traveling with a small group of unlikely allies. An Imperial with the soul of a dragon, named Skadi. A Nord with a heart that was at once unshakable and filled with fear- his name was Haldor. Then there was Lies-In-Rain, a quiet Argonian with unusual magic talents and a disposition that seemed to change from day to day. Finally, there was Lucy, a Daedric spirit bound into Atronach form, who had a close bond with Lies. Together, we crossed Skyrim at the behest of Shor, the ‘missing god,’ who was at war with an old enemy of mine. I promised myself that I would keep my companions alive, no matter what it took. I… pray that I kept that promise.”
closureisformovies: (happy)

[personal profile] closureisformovies 2024-03-25 01:40 am (UTC)(link)

Alright, fair point, well made. Alice accepts the hand and shakes. "Alice Dyer. Creature of the night."

She lets that sit for a second, before adding: "Before being forcefully kicked from mine own mortal coil I worked night shifts six days a week for going on ten years. Pretty sure that qualifies me for honorary vampire."

graveling: (patient)

[personal profile] graveling 2024-03-25 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Angel leans in like he's about to share some great secret of the universe. "There's a pizza oven on Arthur Morgan's farm that's available for public use. In case you happen to get a whim to bake before you have your own kitchen."
stonecoldtop: (profile)

[personal profile] stonecoldtop 2024-03-25 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
No, he wants to say, I'm from a time and place far closer to this than where I've come to call home, which only makes this harder.

"Yes," he says instead, "and a large one at that. 21st century London, if you're familiar. I gather that's not a certainty."
lasthumanvoice: (Default)

[personal profile] lasthumanvoice 2024-03-25 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
"Some of my best friends are mooches! And interns. Almost every intern we ever hired was a mooch." Including him back in the day, of course. He gestures to the blanket with a broad, shameless grin.
crushed_pearls: (Default)

[personal profile] crushed_pearls 2024-03-25 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Nah, see, being nocturnal gets you 'cute frog' at most," Erin counters. She's smiling, and it's downright anticipatory. "To hit vampire you've got two basic career tracks. Down the Carmilla one you suck women dry, but down the Dracula one you've gotta graduate from a magic school where the headmaster is Satan, so -"

Leaning in, hands on the bar, "- you got a fun story for me involving the Sorting Hat or nah?"
tehilim127_1: (pleased)

[personal profile] tehilim127_1 2024-03-25 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
A dawning, delighted smile; and in a musing voice --

"You don't say."
yournewsidekick: (cat: eepy)

[personal profile] yournewsidekick 2024-03-25 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
"'Course."

Outwardly, Nimona doesn't appear to change, but as she leans against Edgar's chest, she feels heavier than she did a second ago. Like a weighted blanket settling over him, or the best hug she can manage when she still doesn't want to be human.
closureisformovies: (amused)

[personal profile] closureisformovies 2024-03-25 02:16 am (UTC)(link)

That's all the confirmation Alice needs to plonk herself down with him. "That sounds familiar. Every newbie we ever get lives and dies on the mini doughnuts and biscuits the big boss lady puts out. Why not, right. Free food."

Except of course Alice herself has been bringing her own food to work for a long time, now.

graveling: (tell me more)

[personal profile] graveling 2024-03-25 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
"I wouldn't kid you about such things. Cecil threw a huge pizza party when it was finished. The toppings were...interesting. No pepperoni, though."

Angel sets a glass of cool water in front of Zivia.
pineapplesalmon: (a quick suggestion)

[personal profile] pineapplesalmon 2024-03-25 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
César is surprised when she speaks up and hesitates at his work, then smiles down at the new little twin set of leaves he made grow. "I'd appreciate the help."

He hums for a moment. "... You know, I'm fine working in silence if you'd like. We can just vibe. Quiet companionship is nice."
abhorrently: (think.)

[personal profile] abhorrently 2024-03-25 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
"What's 'just vibe'?"

That slang, regrettably, does not exist in Faerun.
notinflictthem: (Fleming)

[personal profile] notinflictthem 2024-03-25 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Hawkeye's pleasantly vocal at every nip and bite, his head tilting back.

"Get to know me better, then," he teases, "you're already off to a good start."

His hand drifts up to the small of her back, tracing small circles over her spine.