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

[spaghettification]

"Twenty-four hours, like all the others."

He offers a sheepish little smile to show that's a joke. When he lowers himself into the water, it's more floating himself down than climbing into the spring normally.

"It's arthritis. I stay off my feet, as much as I'm able, but a body still aches at the end of the day."

[decohere]

"From Earth, then?" Ava guesses in light of the joke. She's met enough that weren't to be mindful that the familiar day cycle isn't the standard.

She swirls her faded fingertips across the surface of the water, and yet there's no ripple at all, her expression going pensive. "Ah, living in a body that hates itself... I find relief in the heat too. But eventually start looking all shriveled up." A small giggle.

[spaghettification]

"A body and mind that hate themselves." His gaze follows the motion of her hand for a moment, and then he glances away. "Your physicality seems to be less than most people I know. I had heard of a woman on my Earth afflicted with chronal disassociation, due to a fault in a prototype teleportation matrix she was testing. Is your condition similar?"

[decohere]

"Molecular disequilibrium, is the name they came up with for it. Result of a quantum blast, nothing observed quite like it before. As much as they tried to find a way to replicate it," her words turn slightly bitter. "But. I've met others that have... described similar conditions from their worlds."

And those stories usually ended all in the same way. Eventually losing said someone to the laws of physics unraveling them cell by cell until nothing's left. Ava sinks lower into the water.

[spaghettification]

"The test pilot I'm speaking of was stabilized, though she did end up needing to wear a device that anchored her in the present."

He followed some of Winston's work on the matter at the time, though wasn't directly involved. that was shortly before his own accident.

"But I also know from scientific accidents firsthand, unfortunately."

[decohere]

Her hand automatically goes to her neck at the mention of wearing a device, to touch at a necklace that clearly isn't there, a hope that never got fulfilled. She swallows. "I was... contained within a realm." Trapped. Held captive. She knows others would describe it far more harshly.

"For two years. Where our bodies were effectively in stasis. But..." here, she can tell, that old familiar itch beneath her skin returning.

She has no idea how much time she has left.

"Yeah? What happened to you..." gently concerned.

[spaghettification]

“I was an astrophysicist on a Lucheng space station when an experiment went wrong and I was directly exposed to a micro black hole for several seconds. While I was evacuated as quickly as possible, it had lasting effects on me.”

As did being locked up afterwards. Also, did Max ever mention Lucheng Interstellar and the other mega corps of his world to Ava?

[decohere]

She has clear proof in front of her that he's survived the ordeal, seemingly intact... but the concern grows more pronounced. She knows there's more to surviving than just living through something. "More than just the arthritis, then...?"

Max has mentioned a few of his rivals and Overwatch itself, but this is the first she's heard of Lucheng Interstellar.

CW: discussion of effects of TBI

[spaghettification]

That startles a laugh out of him. “The arthritis is because I’m sixty-two. Sixty-three this week, if I celebrate by the local calendar instead of adjusting for what time of year I died, back home. But, yes, more than that. My body’s relationship with gravity was altered, and my mind…my mind was exposed to the void, which left its mark on me.”

Best to be honest and open now. Perhaps if she encounters him on a Bad Day in the future, she’ll treat him kindly.

“I am prone to bouts of confusion, fits of temper. Sometimes hallucinations.”

Re: CW: discussion of effects of TBI

[decohere]

She ducks her head down slightly with mild embarrassment, but there's still a small hint of a smile. "Happy birthday. That's about how old my father would be." Bill, if the timeline had continued on the same as when she had left. But she knows enough that it doesn't work like that. Elihas too, if he hadn't died in the same experimental accident that had made her this way.

"He was also a physicist." Both of the men she'd call her father, but she doesn't want to complicate a man she just met with her various daddy issues. "Though he was more... interested into tunneling into the Quantum realm. Just underneath reality. Than space. But I've... I've always thought it was rather fascinating. Everything out there. The stars." Apologetically, "black holes."

She looks upward at the sky, wondering quietly. If any of it is real. Or a projection, like what she had been trapped within. "I'm not always so sure either... when my mind is playing tricks on me. I can't imagine this place helping, knowing what's real."

[spaghettification]

“I’m still fascinated by black holes. I think I always will be. By gravity and the idea of harnessing the harness.” Steve Irwin never held it against the sting ray that killed him, and Sigma doesn’t either.

“As for this world and it’s uncertainties, and how they may play with our minds, perhaps it might help to compare experiences, when perceptions are in doubt? Two minds better than one, yes?”

[decohere]

She nods in agreement of the arrangement. It's always been easier when she's had another perspective to get her back on track, whether against her paranoia warping the intentions of others into conspiracy theories. Or holding back her worst impulses when met with problems she doesn't otherwise know how to solve.

"Doing anything fun for the big Six Three?" Ava asks, to lighten the subject. "Last birthday I went to was a joint one for a skeleton and an omnic."

[spaghettification]

"An omnic? I had not expected to meet anyone else here who'd heard of them! Are you from the same Earth as I am? At a similar point in time?" Exciting, but also a little frightening to consider.

[decohere]

She had been far more prepared to explain the mechanical being, not a robot, than encounter somebody else that knew of the term. Still, she knows Max's type weren't considered to have much in the way of rights, in that world. She tries not to immediately go on the defensive to see where he stands.

"No, no. Though I did visit Monaco through a memory, once. But..." Ava pauses, runs fidgety fingers through her hair. "The last realm I was trapped in. We came from all over. Times and worlds. There were two of them. Though they looked and acted nothing alike."

[spaghettification]

"An omnic from Monaco?" Oh. Oh. Siebren lights up. "Perhaps a businessman, one who owns a casino and hotel there?"

[decohere]

"Maximilien!" Ava says with extremely fond enthusiasm, because the description couldn't possibly match another. "Yes, my best friend. You know him?"

[spaghettification]

"Yes, I do! He has the most marvelous collection of Greek statues. And his suits! I'm not one to wear suits often, but he has impeccable taste."

Fondness all around for that can of bolts.

[decohere]

Anyone that can appreciate how wonderful Max is, automatically wins her over.

"He taught me to play cards," Ava reminisces upon how they met, and all the hours spent together in the ship's casino. "And I've gotten to ride in two of his cars," she further brags. Because they're very nice cars. Far more expensive than anything Ava's ever owned, including the tech built to keep her alive.

"I miss him." She's already cried in 6's arms about it, so she'll spare the man she just met.

[spaghettification]

"I died protecting his hotel in Monaco from an attack." It's not something he wishes to belabor, but it feels relevant here.

[decohere]

"Oh," Ava breathes out, a touch regretful at their shared connection ending in such a tragic fate. She wonders if Maximilien even knows. Knows that he hadn't really cared much, about others. Before. "I'm sorry. Nobody's life should be worth less than property."

And now she's worried Max has gone and sacrificed himself, his wish. For the rest of them. Ava sits quietly with that for a moment, studying the man.

"He. Protected me. So many times," she wants him to know. That Maximilien was a good man, underneath the sleek cold exterior. More than just his money and fashionable suit and grand hotels.

[spaghettification]

Siebren is silent at hearing that for a moment, because no, it doesn't sound like the Max he knows.

"He must have valued you highly."

The choice of words is a very deliberate one, but his tone is gentle.

[decohere]

"Yes," Ava agrees softly. She knows she's a rare exception to have earned such sentiment. But it's clearly one returned.

Her smile doesn't quite reach her sad, sad eyes. "I wish you could have known the Omnic he became. He didn't quite like admitting it. But. I think a lot of people. Don't really get a chance to... show their better side. When the circumstances are so." Herself included, in the rare moments she can still convince herself she has a better side.

[spaghettification]

"I don't begrudge you your closer relationship with Maximillien."

That feels important to state. No hard feelings. There's a part of him that doesn't really want to feel anything about it at all. But he knows what he was to Talon, even if he pretended not to.

[decohere]

"My husband used to," Ava laughs.

"But really. How'd you end up doing some sort of expendable grunt work, when you were a brilliant physicist? Can't imagine the pay was that much of a draw."

[spaghettification]

It is a fair question. It hurts.

“In the aftermath of my accident, I was kept in a government facility. I was dangerous. I was worth studying. I was not something the public should know of. I was…it was years, I later found out, that I spent in that facility. Before I was broken out by Talon, who offered actual medical care, my own lab, if only I’d occasionally help them with ‘security concerns’ and other missions.”

He heaves a deep sigh. “To their credit, they did work to help me become more stable than I was. I would not have been of any use to them in my previous state, physically or otherwise.”