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

[decohere]

Ava doesn't particularly pay too much mind to how long she's gone as she rubs at her sore arms and legs, though her eyes widen when she returns. "Oh, thank you," she takes the unexpectedly welcome blanket gratefully, taking a moment to unfold it enough to drape around her shoulders and across her lap. She leaves enough of her arms exposed so that she can freely take the mug as well, inhaling the sentimental scent. And sighs out.

"Never realize how much rest I need until I finally sit down," Ava admits. "But yes, quite a few of us. Still missing a lot of... friends I care about. It's been hard not to worry, but this is a chance at a new sort of life. That I didn't think I'd actually get."

[tehilim127_1]

While Ava arranges the blanket around herself, Zivia takes the seat opposite her and settles down with a sigh of her own. She gives a rueful smile and nod to the first thing Ava says; it's very familiar to her.

(It wasn't when she was Ava's age, though, or at least her best guess at Ava's age. She wonders if there might not be some kind of chronic illness involved.)

"Missing friends -- from the ship, you mean? I'm sorry, that sounds rough."

[decohere]

A small nod. "We had... been captured, by a woman threatening to put us on display in zoo enclosures. Or trade us off. So... I don't know what. Became of them," and that's the hardest part, not knowing if they're safe from harm. Or waiting on her to return... Ava blows at the steam across the top of her mug.

"What about you? Must have people you miss." And not even the advantage of arriving with a group of survivors.

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia looks startled for a moment at Ava's first words, and then ... possibly the best word for the look that comes over her face is offended, on Ava's behalf. "That's -- good lord. You don't need me to tell you that's dreadful. Where was this?"

(And if she doesn't answer that second question, most likely it's just that she's distracted by the first point. Right? Right.)

[decohere]

"On the ship, Malin took over the realm by enslaving the... the Captain. Put as all in prison cells. Was transporting us to the Exposition Universelle. Parisian World Fair," Ava stares down into her mug.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened, from there it's a blur. But I promised... promised I'd come back for them." For Skulduggery. For Cassandra. For everyone she could... "But here I am. And I have no idea where they are."

She doesn't miss that her question goes ignored, staring at Zivia, quietly searching her expression.

[tehilim127_1]

That expression slowly shifts into something softer. "I'm so sorry. I hope you see them again, either here or ... if you're able to go back."

She folds her hands in her lap, takes a breath. "And yes, there are ... a lot of people I miss. And things." A small, ruefully humorous twitch to her mouth. "And things that are also people."

[decohere]

"Don't think there's anything left to go back to," Ava sighs out regretfully. The realm was already on the brink of complete collapse, even before they were taken hostage.

She takes a careful small sip of the tea to test the temperature, sniffling from the warmth of the steam releasing a bit of the residual stuffiness.

A sad nod of understanding. "Would it help to talk about them?"

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia leans on the arm of her chair, and looks pensive.

"Honestly I don't know. I keep ... worrying about what's going on back there without me. Wondering who's going to feed my cat."

[decohere]

It's something she was never particularly good at comforting others, back on the ship. Because Ava herself had never wanted to go back. Had been relieved, honestly, to be free from her world. To be safe from her body destroying itself, from the agencies trying to track her down. Happy to be amongst new friends, people that cared about her.

But she's been through enough, to better understand the feeling. To not dismiss it as a weakness, getting hung up over something that simply can't be changed. To not give advice however well meaning that summarizes as get over it.

"The way I understand the movement of time. However much passes here... might not at all back home. That if you went back, your cat wouldn't have known you left. And the way I understand cats, would still act as if it's starving," she giggles. "That's the way it makes most sense to me, at least."

[tehilim127_1]

The last words do get a small smile and a little huff of laughter. "Oh, she would, definitely. Mazal's favorite performance piece is Cat Who's Never Been Fed In Her Life, Not Once."

And, sobering again: "I suppose that's better, in a way. That everyone I'm missing won't have any time to miss me." Her mouth twists in something like a wince. "It doesn't feel better."

[decohere]

Ava giggles at the mental image of a cat's dramatic performance over an empty food dish.

"No, I suppose it doesn't," she shakes her head sympathetically. "But it's what helps me keep my worries to the present, at least. But before I knew my husband was here, being separated from him... there was nothing anyone could tell me that made it okay."

[tehilim127_1]

"He is here, then? I wondered, when you introduced yourself as Mrs back there -- it didn't seem polite to ask, though. I'm so glad."

And she does seem glad, if a little ... wistful? Something.

[decohere]

A very delicate little smile that she hides against the rim of the mug, a bashful nod. "Yes, he is. We talked about... finding a world like this, to build a life in. So it almost feels like a dream come true."

A glance. "But... it must be hard. Being here alone."

[tehilim127_1]

A small, resigned smile, and a tip of the head. "Well. Yeah. But I'm making friends, and that'll help."

And after another pause, she adds "It'd be a lot harder, I think, if I had a husband back home. Missing my cat is hard enough."

[decohere]

"I'm sure you'll have an easy time making friends. You've been very kind to me," Ava comments, setting the mug down carefully before wrapping herself tighter in the blanket. She trembles a bit, but not quite from cold.

"What's your cat like?" There had been a variety of shapeshifters on the ship, a few cats. But the only one she had been close to was Siffleur, who wasn't quite a typical house feline.

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia smiles fondly. "She's very friendly. Takes a few minutes to decide whether new people are okay, and then starts headbutting them to demand pets. Doesn't like to be picked up, but if she really likes you she'll lie down next to you and snuggle. Also, very weird for a cat, she likes the shower and every so often she'll meow for me to turn it on so she can play with the water."

[decohere]

Ava laughs at the last bit, it certainly contradicts what she thought she knew about cats. "Must be hard, having a whole routine together. Having her always by your side, and then she's... not."

Ava's feeling that sort of loss, without Fio to spend her dinner with every night. Without Maximilien to gossip with over cards. Without the Captain to go bother with another round of truth or dare...

"I never had a pet before. But now I have a horse. Don't even know how to ride one."

[tehilim127_1]

"Yeah," Zivia says, and repeats it a little lower, "yeah."

There are ... a lot of names that could fit into that sentence, for greater or lesser values of always by your side. Mazal is just the most immediate, and in some ways the easiest to talk about.

"You have a horse?"

[decohere]

She can only assume, but she doesn't poke more at it.

"Mhm, came with the whole... farming arrangement. She's nice." To Ava. Not much to anyone else, but...

"I braided her hair." Like her own is currently styled, so they could match. "But I'm afraid to try out the whole riding thing." Because she'd do it wrong and hurt the horse, or make it upset... "And the weather has been so rainy lately." Or maybe it's always just like this, she's not sure.

[tehilim127_1]

"Huh. Do you want to learn to ride? There's got to be someone here who could give lessons. Nothing wrong with not wanting to ride, of course, and just keeping the horse for company. Or to pull a cart, maybe."

[decohere]

"I don't know..." Ava frowns thoughtfully. "I'm. Not exactly..." she raises a transparent arm in demonstration, hoping it's self explanatory enough. She's afraid she might fall right through.

"I used to have a special... suit. To help me. Control it. And. A chamber I could sleep in. To stabilize..." but she has none of that here.

[tehilim127_1]

Zivia's eyes widen; the transparency wasn't visible to her before, or didn't register, and she can't suppress the momentary shock.

"I'm sorry," she says after the first startled silence, "I didn't realize. That's ... not just a visual effect, is it."

[decohere]

"No... no, it's. A condition I've had most my life. It makes physical contact with things... difficult. Moreso lately."

[tehilim127_1]

"Because you don't have the, the assistive devices you mentioned?"

She's frowning now, studying the problem.

[decohere]

A slow nod. "The technology here just isn't... advanced enough." Or else she'd be taking everything apart to salvage the components necessary.