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ph_memes2024-03-08 12:39 pm
TDM #5 - Paradesium
[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.
Page 1
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!
Forever Spoiler warning: RWBY v8-9 spoilers inevitable
"I thought the same." His eyes are wet with unshed tears right now, something Ruby has likely never seen. "But I am here. And I will always be here to support you. I can see that you are wounded. When you feel ready to tell me what happened, I am ready to hear it."
cw: vague reference to suicide
When you feel ready—when will she feel ready? Will admitting to everyone what really happened, that the cracks grew until she shattered, that she gave up, ever be something she feels ready to do? They wouldn't judge her, no, that's not what she's scared of; she's scared of the way they'd care, the way they'd fuss, the way they'd try to reassure her. In some ways, it's all she's ever wanted from both of her families; in others, it's the most terrifying thing she could ever face.
"...I-I was at home, for a few days," she does say, because that's not something she intends to hide. "I don't know how. I-I guess what we were told on the ship isn't— isn't as simple as that. But I was home. And things aren't— they didn't get any better."
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"I'm sorry, Ruby, that things were not better when you returned. I gather that they worsened and you, being in a position of authority, bear feelings of guilt for not being able to stop that?"
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There's silence, for a long, long moment.
"...every plan I made failed." It's quiet. Her head is low. "Not— not just failed, they made everything worse. We didn't just lose— a school, this time, we lost a whole kingdom. Atlas and Mantle are gone. I think most of the civilians got out, but even if they did, they've lost everything and been stranded in a kindgom we don't even know if it'll welcome them in."
Her message got out, she thinks. Telling the world about Salem. Begging the other kingdoms to help. But that doesn't mean Vacuo would welcome thousands upon thousands of Altlesians without issue.
"And even if they're welcomed, it doesn't— Salem still has two relics. Atlas still fell. People still died. Penny—" Her face scrunches, and she has to take a moment to breathe. "...me and the rest of my team fell into this place called the Ever After. The place in that old fairytale, The Girl Who Fell Through the World. Last I knew we were stuck down there."
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"This is the most terrible part of being a leader, Ruby. Every plan, no matter how well thought out, can fail. Every maneuver can be countered. Sometimes something as seemingly trivial as the weather, bad luck, bad timing... these things can lead to failure. The higher the stakes, the worse it will always feel. And like every good leader, you're take the responsibility for it." Yes, he will insist that she is still worthy of being named a leader. She stepped up when called, and if the support he's heard her speak of before was all she had this time too, then the odds were never in her favor.
"I have failed, too, Ruby. I have cost lives by my actions. It will never be easier to bear that, nor should it be. But I am proud of you for standing and facing the danger. I am sorry it couldn't be enough, but I love you no less now than ever I have. If we can complete the mission we've been tasked with here, there may be time for you to rally in that place. Swear to me that you will try not to lose faith in yourself."
cw: reference to psychological torture
She was meant to be the one who could step up and do what no one else could. She was meant to finish what people like her mother started. She was meant to be better than this, than the failure that Ruby Rose has amounted to. Jaune was right. Neo was right. Every word put in the mouths of those simulacrums of her dead friends and allies was true. She failed them. She has failed them over and over and over again.
Just like you were too late to save me at the Vytal Festival… I died in Atlas too, didn’t I? Can you imagine what that's like? To be completely and utterly failed... time and again... by someone who meant the world to you?
How many more people are going to die because of you?!
I’m trying to save everyone!
And yet with all your best intentions, have you ever stopped to wonder if you’d done more harm than good?!
It’s not my fault…!
How many more lives— do you have to ruin— before you realize— you’re not cut out— to save—anyone?!
Do you really think you can stand to watch more of your friends fall?
She wants to believe Peter. She wants to take his words as they're intended, let them be a comfort. But the words and wounds of others are still so fresh in mind.Please… stop…
Or are you ready to admit the truth? That the world would just be better off without you?
Ruby leans into him and breathes, trying to bury the raw memory deep, deep down. "...I swear."
sobbing
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She feels like she left a part of herself in the Ever After. Like the thread that connects her body and mind, connects Ruby Rose to Whoever She Is, has been stretched and frayed. Even feeling the regret she does for drinking that tea, in some ways it already feels as if she's abandoned herself.
Who is Ruby Rose? Who is it she's supposed to have faith in at all?
She breathes."...this place reminds me a little bit of home. Patch, I-I mean. The town's a lot bigger than the village, but... still."
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But when she mentions her home a thought occurs to him. "Ruby, do you happen to recall a visitor who came unexpectedly to your home one day when you were still quite small? He asked to speak with your father and you told the stranger he was upstairs?"
no subject
That makes her straighten up just a touch, without it being enough to disrupt how they're sitting. "Um— yeah. I-I think I remember that. It was..."
Her brow furrows a bit, thinking. It was such a normal day that a smaller disruption barely went noticed, alongside Erin's extended stay branching from the same memory.
"—that was you."
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"Right. He— was having one of his bad days," Ruby says, voice full of a distant sort of thoughtfulness. Whether she understands her father's behaviour in her youth more or less than she used to now is... hard to say. She knows what it feels like to barely be able to get out of bed, but... "I remember sending you up to him. Then Yang went back to trying to get me to do my homework."
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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.
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"I know that you feel the pressure to be fully grown now that you are of age, but I want one thing to be perfectly clear to you, Ruby. You can still come to me for help, of any kind. I could not support you then, but I will now. And always."
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Yang deserved so much better than she got. Only two years older and still raising her little sister. Ruby tried to make it easier, to just be okay, to not be trouble, but that doesn't change the reality that Yang barely had a life of her own. Even when she was finally meant to get her chance by going off to Beacon, Ruby was skipped ahead. No escape.
And then when she finally let herself have something that was just hers, finally told Blake how she feels, Ruby acted bitter, and cruel, and selfish. That's the last thing she ever really said to her sister, and now...
Ruby breathes. "I-I know, dad. I know. I'll— I'll ask if I need anything."
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Ruby does nod, but in evidence of the company she kept for the last couple years on the boat, she does also muster a joking: "What if all I need is a cup of sugar?"
good wrap you think?
yes!
Ruby manages a little laugh. "I think I can live with that."