TDM #5 - Paradesium

[pumpkinhollow]

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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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!

Comments

[listenforbirdsong]

Mairi waves back. "G'morning! That's me! Here to help plant?"

FINALLY I RESPOND

[actuallyawolf]

"Dimitri!"

When she sees him, Ylva all but launches herself at him to hug him tightly. She showed up early, too. "You're here, I'm so glad -- the hunting is great," she says, seriously, with a relieved sag, "this place might be cursed but it's real."

[actuallyawolf]

"All right."

She looks momentarily very stern indeed, and her pace grows brisk for a moment. "Do you want to start with hunting, or -- oh, I know a place where fiddleheads are coming up. We can get some of those. And cattail roots, and maybe some mushrooms, if we're lucky."

[lightconductor]

"Ah, you have my sympathy," Watson says. "And yes, you should. In the meantime, I suspect this hot water will do you some good. I'm certainly finding it invigorating."

[actuallyawolf]

The deer tries to dash, but a moment too late; its legs are caught under Nimona's claws. In the same moment, Ylva bursts in from one side, and leaps to seize the deer by the neck in a crushing grip -- and oh, the joy of sinking teeth into living flesh, to have lived one more day.

The deer is still strong, and kicks, and struggles.

[not_a_traitor]

"Exceptionally well," he says. "The fact that I can get a cup of coffee alone, and booze that didn't come out of a jury-rigged engine still?"

Gaeta would say he'd died and gone to the Fields, except... he kind of literally did.

"But... probability smiled," he echoes, thoughtful. "I like that. Better than 'luck,' or 'the will of the gods.'"

[actuallyawolf]

She takes her time; better to wait than to move too quickly and scare her prey off before she's ready.

When she moves, it's all at once, and there's a crashing of branches and undergrowth. A pair of rabbits come bursting out running in Leon's direction. Ylva is right behind them, teeth snapping at their feet.

Grace ("the Naiad") | Identity V & Sail CRAU | Existing Player

[moonlesstides]

A Thing Not Dead | Arrival

There is a dead girl who swims off the ferry, gliding through the air as if it were water as she searches through the town. Unlike most newcomers, this one seems to still have something with her - an old harpoon, rusty and worn, which never quite seems to leave contact with her right arm. Even at a parade rest it's always touching her, and more often she holds it in her hands, asking after people in a 'voice' that has nothing to do with ears, instead bubbling up through the mind as if from a great depth:

~There are those I seek~ she asks, tinged with exhaustion and more than a little desperation. ~Radiant Helena, who wears glasses over blind eyes. The duck-man Peter Starr and his mystical wife, Ava Starr, she of the loving deception. The gentleman Shouji of the many arms, the gentleman-magician Maxwell, the great sage of the lore carnal whose name is Max Maximum, Lord On High over all Maxes and his queen, imperious Valdis, have you seen them? Tell me you have seen them - ~

May Eternal Lie | Charity Drive

The idea of making dolls to help children has an appeal to Grace that she will not, in fact, be examining. Her work is frustrating to her, given that she must work around both her webbed fingers and the harpoon on her arm. There's also this...other problem.

Where dolls keep coming to life.

The moment a doll is found out of place from where Grace put it, she smashes it flat with the haft of her harpoon. It's an almost mechanical motion. Eventually they even start trying to beg for mercy, but they will find none.

But In Strange Aeons | Coast | CW blood, death, dismemberment

Water - a real, true sea. Grace could not be more delighted, and she takes to swimming in it quickly.

This proves to be a mistake which, in true Grace tradition, is going to hurt others a lot more than it hurts her. The first time a siren attacks her the mind control fails to stick entirely, and Grace runs the poor woman through on her harpoon and shreds the body into chunks. The second time is a school, and for the first time in their lives the fish-women learn what drowning feels like before the creatures of the Depths slaughter them en masse, predators from beyond a veil the native monsters never could have seen.

The third time, Grace is hunting them.

You might encounter her if you're out at sea for some reason, the first sign of her presence being water clouded with blood and her proud voice bubbling up in your mind: ~We will do this until you learn that I am not prey, vermin!~. But you may well also find her on the beach, dragging the corpses of sirens onto the shore and staring at them with a sort of hostile curiosity. These are not things which are not dead, the way Grace is. Why are they so insistent?

Rest in peace to whoever suffers the effects of an angered and desperate siren population. Grace is quite happy to keep killing them until they submit.

Death May Die | Wildcard

Come at me.

[not_a_traitor]

"Another place?"

Up go the eyebrows.

"You mean between here and -- wherever home was?"

[hate_gettin_older]

"So wait," and Edgar's halfway back to laughter by now, "who's got a wall with pictures and strings and shite? And how old are you?"

(Somehow, without him noticing, the overwhelming feeling of being on a train again has subsided into a quiet acceptance in the back of his mind: this is how things should feel, the sway and rumble, the vibration underfoot and all around. He's home, and he's close to people who he cares about, who care about him.)

[not_a_traitor]

He tilts his head, following where Siebren points. Years of experience reading star charts means he locates the constellation in seconds; he lets out a soft ah as the shape clicks into place.

(Though Gaeta expected, perhaps absurdly, that it would look more like the flag of Leonis.)

"Is there a story behind it?" he asks.

But In Strange Aeons (CW: insects drinking blood)

[blindwatchersees]

The beached siren corpses attract a butterfly, which settles upon the body to drink of its blood and salt. Then, another butterfly appears, and proceeds to do the same. Several more follow, until the bodies are swarmed with a rainbow of wings and tiny fuzzy bodies.

One of them chirps a little thank you to Grace as she hauls yet another cadaver to shore.

[hate_gettin_older]

"Yeah. Uh -- three places, actually, did anyone tell you about the cursed fuckin cruise yet?"

coast.

[abhorrently]

The corpses are why she approaches at first. Mortanne would accept clean bones, Angel had said, and she needs some - granted, she could just hunt and get bones that way, but if a corpse isn't being put to better use?

And then, drawing nearer, the young woman is familiar. Another survivor. Later in coming. It feeds the slow banked embers of her own hope that some might still show their face later.

"Good hunting?"

Crouching down near a body, she almost pokes it, but thinks better and takes off her gloves before doing so. No need to stain Annabel's work.

[prince_of_beasts]

"She sounds lovely. I can't wait to meet her."

Dimitri picks up his pace as the paddock comes into view. He shortens his stride to match, letting César reach the paddock first, but he's visibly eager.

[lasthumanvoice]

"I'll be on the look out. If he's a dweeb, he must be picked on, by ancient rite." Cecil grins, putting some cheese on a cracker.

"Unless he's your dweeb and no one else gets to?"

[prince_of_beasts]

"I am!" The young man bows. "Call me Dimitri. To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

[spaghettification]

"Soothing. I could remain in here and become soup." Siebren offers a sheepish little smile to show that he's joking.

[spaghettification]

"Leo is the lion--some say it represents the Nemean Lion who Heracles defeated as one of his epic tasks from the goddess Hera. Fairy tales, the myths. But they're pretty. They meant something to our ancestors."

[batteryacid]

"If you wanted to be taught, I'm sure the current maintenance people would train you. Or maybe you could climb trees and scout game for hunters?" Eddie shrugs. "Again, just brainstorming here. I'm used to being a problem-solver."

It's pretty much necessary when you own a small business.

[batteryacid]

"I'll do what I can to help you live good lives here. I don't know if I can promise 'peaceful', what with how often something shows up to spoil important events, but... it can be a good life. Angel and I are building one."

"Wiiiick..." a little voice pipes up. And a small, candle-shaped ghost with yellow eyes and purple flame comes floating into the room.

Eddie smiles, and holds out a hand so that Lucero the Litwick has a spot to land. "Ah. One of the ghost animals I mentioned. This is Luce. He's probably curious why I'm not outside. Luce, this is Peter. He's starting... a fruit farm."

The candle-ghost peers at Peter, brushing aside his waxy fringe for a moment to look at him with both eyes, before the melt falls down again. "Lit!" He gives a little bow.

[prince_of_beasts]

Dimitri accepts the hug briefly before it starts to feel confining. He squirms free, but keeps a hand on Ylva's shoulder.

"I'll take any degree of cursed over that slipshod illusion, if it means solid ground and animals. And grass." Dimitri sighs. "And air I can breathe. I'd forgotten what it was like, not to be battling heat exhaustion constantly."

[misbegottendreamer]

"Yes. Shor- who also has aspects called Sep, Sheor, Lorkhan, and Lorkhaj- is said in may stories to have been killed at the dawn of the world, when the other great spirits saw his proposal of the world's creation as a form of treachery. The different races of Tamriel have very divided views when in comes to Shor- some view him as a noble trickster, who pried the gods away from a distant and indolent state to create something greater than themselves. Others see the world as a mistake, a fall from grace, with Shor as its cause."

"The Dunmer see all spirits as our ancestors, though we favor the Daedra over the Aedra, for they are more active in our lives. Likewise, when we depart the world, we remain watchful over the living, joining our ancestors as lesser spirits that will one day grow to approach their knowledge and power. Therefore, Shor- though I rarely called him by that name, before meeting him face to face- is an ancestor like any other spirit, whose word is to be considered and heeded."

"As I have said before, I cannot see. I could not tell you what shape he took by my own senses, though I know he was small, and my companions said he was in the shape of a black fox. What stood out more to me was the sound of drums in his voice, deep and steady, like the heartbeat of the world. I sang with him, when we faced his ancient foe together, and it's the doom-drum of his voice that gave me a shred of hope to contest the poison song."

Those... sure are words.

Strange Aeons

[theydrewfirstblood]

John's feeling caged in, so he just...walks. He grabs Co, tucks her in the breast pocket of his work shirt, and starts walking. Brisk, to feel the air stir against his face, walks until the ache in his bones settles, until he's alone and Co's little beak occasionally pecking at the fabric across his chest is the only thing that disturbs him.

He's finally slowing down, finally becoming aware of the smell of clean salt air enough to enjoy it, to consider pulling Co out to find a patch of sand and let her flutter around when he sees blood on the ground.

Pulling out his knife, he flips it with the flat tucked against his forearm, down at his side as he follows the trail...to a strange woman just sort of...scowling at a corpse on the sand. Woman's armed, so he doesn't sheath his knife, but he does keep it at his side and obscured as he takes a few more steps forward and calls out, erring on the side of peaceful intent.

"You okay? Those things come after you?"

[moonlesstides]

The girl's head snaps up, baring sharp teeth in a silent, feral snarl. This close, those angry red lines on her neck that might have looked like gills from a distance are more clearly scars, dissimilar from the ones gouged into her arm and leg that are so deep they should still be bleeding. Plants, sharp and flowing in a current that is very much not here, poke through her clothing.

She plants her harpoon on the corpse and swims up into John's face with a shocking turn of speed, faster than most humans could ever run. Her voice bubbles up into his consciousness as if from a great depth: ~They tried to, broad one, to their continual regret. They will learn that I am not prey.~

Her right hand is a bit behind her hip, open as if to receive something...