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

[prince_of_beasts]

"Gilbert?" Dimitri asks because time is soup. He has a suspicion; he's wondering how strongly the Wyrd can rhyme. It's an aside to the invitation, though. He sniffles a final time, and gives a threadbare smile. "I'd like that. Tea sounds lovely."

[stonecoldtop]

"A dear friend of mine, I'm sure you'll meet him soon enough. I was lucky to arrive here with him." He smiles warmly, and though there's clearly at least a little more that could be said on the matter, he's not divulging further.

George leads the way, true to his word it's only a three or four minute walk to his place from where they are now.

[prince_of_beasts]

... the Wyrd really does like to rhyme.

"Told you as much, didn't I, wot?"

Dimitri swallows around the heartache. At least the house is mundane; he's not sure he could cope with another Hollow. "It's a lovely place," he says warmly, before his expression turns concerned -- "I ... am not sure where I'm meant to stay tonight. Are there measures in place for new arrivals?"

[stonecoldtop]

"Thank you, I've only just moved in. No real personal touches yet, but it'll get there."

There's a little pride in his voice, but not much, not when he hasn't had any input beyond a thorough clean and polish of anything and everything in the house.

"There are, the town is quite accommodating on that front. The Oak and Iron tavern, will have room and board for you as long as you wish."

He waves Dimitri into the lounge room, hovering at the doorway himself, "Please, make yourself at home, I'll only be a moment. How do you take your tea?"

[prince_of_beasts]

He'd assumed there must be some way of accommodating new residents, otherwise the town would be overrun with desperate castaways, but it's good to have it confirmed. Dimitri takes a seat -- reflexively charting entrances, exits, and potential weapons takes the edge off his nerves. There's a moment's delay before he catches up with George's question. "Milk and a little sugar, please." Sheepish, he adds, "As mild as you can bear to make it."

[stonecoldtop]

George nods once before he disappears into another part of the house.

It hasn't even been long enough for water to heat before he returns with a mug in each hand. The one that's barely had a teabag waived over it is handed to Dimitri, the other he sips from before taking the seat opposite.

"There now, I'm sure you know I have my share of questions, but why don't you start where you feel is right"

[prince_of_beasts]

Another sting of grief. It's a familiar pain; it doesn't make it any duller. Dimitri scoops up his teacup, one hand underneath it, the other wrapped around it just enough to steady it, and takes a sip. "It's perfect. Thank you."

He swallows the lump in his throat, and gingerly sets the cup down. "I think it's obvious that I'm not one of the Lost. Not fully, at any rate." The Wyrd eddies around him, and there's a whisper of something like a Mantle, but Dimitri lacks any Mask. "All that's here is what I was born with, more or less. I didn't traverse the Hedge, and I wasn't ... taken, as such. Not in the usual way.

"On the ship, I grew close with another pair of Changelings. Survivors of a cannibalistic House, and a Keeper that called itself Master." Just in case Dimitri's off the mark ... though he doesn't think he is. "At the time I had only a vague impression of what they'd been through, and I had no desire to press for details. But something happened -- I couldn't tell you what, or why -- that threw us into each other's memories. It was there I met that would-be Master in person. And for the same reasons that drew my friends and I together, I survived at its table."

Dimitri shuts his eyes to take a breath. His head aches. " ... sometimes I think it would be better if I had not."

[stonecoldtop]

There's a slight clinking of stone on ceramic as George readjusts his grip on his cup so he won't break it as his fingers tighten. Silently reminding himself that he signed up for this, and that Dimitri clearly needs it.

"Anyone would be better off having never seen the other side of the Hedge. And if you mean if you hadn't survived, then you may not have the physical markers, but I'd say the sentiment places you firmly amongst the Lost regardless."

He smiles, tight and forced, but sympathetic. There's a way he gets through this conversation offering nothing but a friendly ear and knowing comfort.
It's a tempting path to tread.
It's also a lie.
Even if it's only by omission, that won't make it any better if and when it comes out later. If it comes from someone else.

"I don't want to detract from what you've been through, I cannot imagine what it would be like to not only go through hell but to see people you are close to at the worst point of their lives while you're there. But I need make it clear up front that I am not well liked amongst my fellow alumni, and for good reason. I am not going to describe my deeds unless you ask me to, and even then I may not. Suffice it to say that I was the Butler there for a long time, with all that entailed."

[prince_of_beasts]

Ossie and Giles had had the buffer of familiarity; perhaps more powerfully, Dimitri's own terror and self-loathing, and his desperate need to keep their friendship in light of it. With a stranger -- a pulse of sheer hate wracks Dimitri's chest. He shuts his eyes again, this time against a stab of pain through his skull, keeping a strangling grip on reason.

"Then we are both damned, and I have no right to judge you," he says. When he opens his eyes, his smile is bitter and dry as deep winter. "I wasn't its Favorite in my time there, but I was a novelty, one it enjoyed. It liked the color red, and I am very good at shedding blood."

Dimitri's expression breaks. His gaze drops. "I never harmed a Servant. That is all I can say in my defense. By the time I escaped that place, I was more grieved by what my friends had seen of me than the other way around. I'll say to you what I said to them -- all that matters to me is the person you are now. I'll ask nothing that you don't volunteer."

[stonecoldtop]

The more he thinks on it, the more his mind tries sink back into old habits, the thought processes that saw him through it. The Favourites were hard to dethrone. Especially the one with the uppity valet.

George holds his cup close to his face and inhales deeply, enjoying the smell of the steam and the warmth of it against his cold marble skin. The tea isn't anywhere near the quality he's used to, but it's serviceable. Or at least he can convince himself it is, which is enough to pull himself back into the present.

"I certainly like to think I'm a better man now, despite my detractors, but I'll leave you to be the judge of that," he says with a smile, "You seem a very charitable young man, Dimitri, I won't let misfortune of circumstance sully my opinion of you either."

[prince_of_beasts]

Dimitri's smile is thin and tense. "I'm glad I've made a good first impression. I'll do my best to live up to it."

His gaze drops away again. " ... thank you for this. Truly. It's ... good to know someone who understands. Especially in circumstances like these, where so little is familiar." He sniffs, and has to blink rapidly a few times. "At least I have my tongue back."

[stonecoldtop]

"That's quite alright, dear boy, what few of us there are should band together. I don't suppose you had the services of a Freehold to fall back on aboard that ship either, did you?"

George is curious about the tongue statement, but an educated guess says it's not something to pry into right now when there's already enough tension.