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ph_memes2024-04-02 06:46 pm
TDM #5 - Paradesium [REPRINT]
[Find our plain text version here!] MOD NOTE: April's event for members will take place between April 12-25 and will impact the whole island. As such, any tags taking place here over that time will need to be back- or future-dated unless an alternative is discussed with a mod. Don't worry over the details of this too much--- time is soup, after all. Just something to be aware of. Thanks!
Pumpkin Hollow Gazette
4/2/24 | TDM #5 - Paradesium [REPRINT]
Content Warnings: individual CWs found per prompt in "Further Details"
Forecast: Very rainy! Chance of severe storms.
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 past March is 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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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?"
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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!
Dahlia Leeds || NPC || OTA
Most days, Dahlia can be found at the reception desk in Town Hall, utterly swamped in paperwork. With so many new arrivals lately, there have been a lot of vouchers to write out to the Oak & Iron for room and board, tons of job change and address assignment forms, just mountains of it. And now that she lacks a personal assistant, significantly more work has fallen on her.
When the door opens to Town Hall, her desk is front and center. "Be right with you," she calls out without looking up yet.
-Day Off-
Headed up to the hot springs? So is Dahlia. She's sitting patiently at the train station, reading something while she waits for the train. She seems to have a picnic basket with her as well. And there's no better place than a train for a captive audience.
-Lost and Found-
Near the entrance to Paradesium, Dahlia can be found running after some funny little creature that came above the surface, struggling in her fancy dress and high heels, drenched from the frequent rain. She stops just outside the cave. "You motherfucking--- Goddammit!"
She takes a moment to let out a frustrated sigh and cast around in defeat, apparently looking for help or options.
Lost and Found
"Do you not own a pair of boots?"
Hi. Resident nuisance in a pair of far more sensible shoes and a wide hat to keep the rain off, looking all dolled up for an exhibition down below.
"Like the dress is a choice but you could break your fucking ankle."
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Hah, gottem.
"What got stolen?"
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"A necklace. One of the plommons decided it liked it and snatched it from my things while I was trying to go to the hot springs. And then of course it started raining."
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Hm. Rich bitch like her wouldn't sweat an ordinary necklace. It's been a while since Darcy's thought about things in terms of favours and leverage, but...
"That sucks. You want me to see if I can get it back?"
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It certainly doesn't sound particularly valuable or stylish. Didn't Samuel mention a rather substantial number of perished siblings?
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1000 years late because world is a fuck
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Daily Grind
So he stands and waits, surveying the space quietly. His gaze drifts across her desk to a stack of files, which appear to be alphabetically stacked save for the fact that she’s swapped the ‘M’s and the ‘N’s.
Unable to stop it, a gently sympathetic smile touches his features.
“Bugger all, those in charge really don’t give the staff a break, do they, sweetheart?” He laughs sympathetically. “I’m tempted to speak to the mayor about the lack of staffing.”
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"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
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In fact, devoid of anything in the blink of an eye, a true and absolute neutral that is the product of nearly two hundred years of practice.
“I would ask you where you would like me to start, Miss, but I get the feeling that wasn’t a generalized question.” He replies evenly, just as perfectly devoid of emotion of any kind. “I’m sorry, have I come to the wrong place to sort the misprint on my vouchers or something?”
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"Ianto. This isn't funny. Just--- give me the stupid paper so I can fix it and stop playing games."
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Ianto.
No one has spoken the name in his range of hearing in two hundred years. Not lovers, not friends, not even his team. The last person to call him that…
…he can still taste Rose’s lip gloss from when he kissed her for the very last time. When he heard her say that name for the very last time just before he died.
And this stranger knows it.
“How…”
How do you know my name? Who are you? What have you done?
He can’t get enough air to finish the sentence, which is a single breathy word that’s barely audible, out of a face that has gone bone white with shock…
Oh. Oh, he’s in shock. And the world feels a bit—wobbly. Because he’s swaying on his feet.
Perhaps he should sit down…
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This reaction from him is distressing. Dahlia stiffens tightly and just stares at him as she attempts to process yet another situation with this man.
(I don't want to do this, I don't want to keep doing this, I can't deal with this right now, when will it be over, why can't he just leave me alone, I'm so tired---)
Snap out of it. Concentrate. Your ex disappeared off the island, now for the second time in a short period, and is back. Last time it happened, he was weird and different. But he remembered. This time he's more like he was the first time, and he came in completely nonchalant with new resident paperwork and eyes devoid of recognition.
This isn't the same man.
(That doesn't make it any better. I'm still here with him again. I still can't move on. I can't breathe and I hate it.)
I know. But still.
Tightly, still staring at him, she pulls over a chair. Then she scoops his paper off the floor and begins working on the necessary corrections, no longer looking at him, jaw clenched.
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Lost and Found...
Tilting his head, Junkrat observed how she was dressed — out of her element — before hopping down from his horse and stepping closer. ❝ I regret to inform ya', this is a no cursin' zone, luv. Gonna' have to write ya' a ticket... ❞ Was he messing with her? His playful smirk gave away the fact he absolutely was. ❝ Seriously though, Enforcer Fawkes at ya' service. ❞ A slight bow of his head was given. ❝ I'm guessin' by your outburst, ya' need somethin' blown up? ❞ Oh please, please say yes.
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"I know the law, sir, I helped write it." She smirks back. "But since a constable is here, maybe I can ask your help in catching a thief."
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Then, comes the offer for a piggyback ride. Oh good grief. There is no way for this not to be awkward. Dahlia has half a mind to ask if bridal style might work better, but then he'd be without the use of his hands. And a fireman carry would be even more undignified.
She looks down at her fairly standard Victorian but definitely not adventure appropriate outfit and sighs. "Alright, hang on."
Dahlia takes off her overskirt, stuffing it unceremoniously into the bag she's carrying with her hot springs towel, then discards her crinoline entirely. It belongs to the forest now. This leaves her in a much more reasonable underskirt and with a number of hidden knives now visible. She has one holstered right where her skirt pocket would be, two smaller ones strapped to her ankle, and one that had been shoved into the cage of her crinoline that she now holds. Then she hoists herself onto her new companion's back. Predictably, she's pretty light, being a fairly reedy woman. "Fawkes, right? That's what you'd said your name was?"
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Before she hopped onto his back, Junkrat took his axe in hand so she could make herself more comfortable and not have to worry about the blade. And once she was on, he carefully stood up, ensuring she was securely holding on. She really was light! At her question, he turned his head to the side to see her out of the corner of his eye. ❝ That's right... But seeing as ya' got your thighs wrapped around me, think we're past formalities—please, call me Jamison or Jamie. ❞ She could probably tell there was a playful grin on his lips from her vantage point.
Although the cavern might already have had lighting, he flipped on the small lantern on his belt anyway, and they were off into the mysterious cave. ❝ Can ya' give me a description of the suspect and what was stolen? Did they look dangerous? Like, should I be ready for a fight? ❞ This would have been so much easier if he had the tech from his world. But it was what it was. At least his company was cute.
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There's a moment of debate where she thinks about sharing her nickname, but no. That's for family.
"The thief was a plommon. A little monster that looks like a cross between a cat and a lizard. It stole a necklace. Clear pendant, hollow, full of little stones, gold chain."
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-Day Off-
She glances over at the other woman at the station, might be spying to see what she's reading. All Ava has with her is a towel folded in her lap. This woman clearly seems better prepared for the trip.
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Dahlia produces a brush from her bag, offering it. "Maybe this will help?"
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"But once I got old enough that they wanted me to start suiting up, I refused to let them cut my hair. They had to design a hood instead." Her last bit of identity when they had stripped everything else from her, shoving her into complete anonymity for their purposes.
She accepts the brush, running it through loose curls that seem to frizz out more with the motion. It's been a long while since she's been able to treat her hair with something to smooth out the texture. "I'm sure it's more practical to cut it off." Though said with a tone indicating she has absolutely no plans to do so. Though certainly not willing to have it as long as to her knees.
Lost and Found
"Hardly the right shoes to be chasin' after Grummites in, ya know." He himself is barefoot, with a considerable amount of dried mud and grass caked around his feet. It honestly probably does provide a little protection. The rest of his clothes are almost pristine, and he gives off the impression of a well-kempt gentleman poet.