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ph_memes2024-10-12 03:11 pm
TDM #8 - Harvest Havoc! [REPRINT]
Pumpkin Hollow Gazette
9/19/24 | TDM #9 - Harvest Havoc! [Reprint]
Weather Forecast: Detailed report within!
WELCOME TO PUMPKIN HOLLOW
By Yorick Aberdeen
The crop for which the town is named.
TOWNWIDE - Hello and welcome, one and all! As time marches on and the ferry continues bringing newcomers to our fair land, we start our newest edition of the Pumpkin Hollow Gazette with a warm welcome to anyone who has just made landfall in our accursed but cozy little town. It’s autumn, which means you’ll be just in time to join us for festive fall affairs such as Pumpkinfest and the Dance of Celestine! And we are predicting with 87% certainty that they will not go horrifically wrong in psychologically traumatic ways, per the recent numbers provided by the Pumpkin Hollow Board of Safety.
We invite you, as with all those who came before you, to enjoy your stay at the Oak & Iron tavern inn while you settle in. Please stop by Town Hall to discuss opportunities for work and more permanent housing! All newcomers get 100 Brass in their pocket upon arrival as well, so we encourage you to take advantage of this as well. Reach out to your neighbors for help if you need it, and don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Pumpkin Hollow Gazette whenever you need the local news!
WHO’S HUNGRY? AUTUMN HARVEST SEASON BEGINS!
By Timothy Stoker
A brief glimpse into the orchards of Starr Farms.
NORTHWEST HOLLOW (Farmlands) - Each season has its own unique charms, but few will argue the fact that fall is, without a doubt, the best season for food. And that’s never more true than when you’re living in a town with home-grown feasts finding their way from a local farm right to your table. Over the course of this year, Pumpkin Hollow’s farmers have been hard at work to provide for the town, and these next couple of months are when we’ll be seeing the payoff of their efforts here in town.
Due to high demand, it’s recommended you get your pumpkins early! They’re in no short supply, of course, being Pumpkin Hollow’s most iconic and abundant crop, but trust us when we say you’ll want to beat the rush for Pumpkinfest. There is a fantastic selection of pumpkins for carving and for cooking available at the market.
Last but not least, Pumpkin Hollow now has its very own u-pick apple orchard! The Mr. Mime of the former owners of Starr Farms, who were called back to the ferry some months prior, has turned their apple orchard into a lovely community feature with some help from friends and neighbors. For a small donation of wild berries for the little guy running the place, you can get yourself a hefty bag of fresh apples picked right from the tree by your own hands, including the first crop of “ghost apples” developed specially by the orchard. These pure white apples are said to be super sweet, great for eating raw or for juicing, and might even make you feel a little spooky.
Check the community bulletin or the information boards by the farm for apple schedules. Great as an outing with friends, as a date, or just as a way to get yourself some pie ingredients!
OCTOBER WEATHER FORECAST
By Phil Connors
A calm night after a long day's storm.
MARROW ISLE - We're finally getting a break from the heat waves, folks! The temperature is beginning to drop. Expect some chilly, foggy mornings, especially further into the season. That's when we could even start seeing frost on the ground. Don't put those umbrellas away just yet: the thunder might be done, but the rain isn't, and it can come on fast. Don't let it into your house. It just wants to sell you something.
SPECTRAL VISITORS RETURN WITH PLUS-ONES
By Cecil Gershwin Palmer
Strange, easily-befriendable creatures of all shapes and sizes!
LOCKWOOD FOREST - Making their repeat visit from their ghostly homelands, the spirits that visited us this time last year from Lockwood Forest--- the very same that have become near and dear friends to so many people in our town--- have returned! During this new stay in our forests, however, they've decided to bring along companions of their own. These new creatures, though distinctly more tangible, are not only just as mischievous as their counterparts, but are more emboldened to cause mild to moderate havoc in town, including thievery from our force of intrepid reporters. The little gem-eyed rascal that pilfered this reporter’s preferred pen remains at large.
The Gazette reminds residents that while these little guys are exceedingly cute, just so very cute, we do recommend an abundance of caution, an awareness of one's surroundings, and a keen eye on anything that you would like to have continued ownership of. They have also been known to cause collateral damage to their surroundings and to each other, via setting things on fire. Or crushing them under rocks. Or freezing them in ice. Or hurling shadowy orbs at them. Or shooting leaves at them. Or casting psychic spells.
RESIDENTS WARNED AGAINST WOODLAND TRAVEL AFTER REPORTS OF WOLF ATTACKS
By Yorick Aberdeen
A photograph of the animals taken in prior years.
LOCKWOOD FOREST - Though there are many delightful visitors in our midst during these fall months, the changing of the seasons hasn't come without the anticipated perils. This year, it seems as though the wolf population of Marrow Island has increased dramatically - not only that, but they've become quite aggressive, and have begun seeking out those who go deep enough into Lockwood Forest. First-hand reports have mentioned that the wolf population this year is not only larger in number, but also in size, and have a few somewhat-odd mannerisms, but seem to be otherwise entirely normal wolves.
For the time being, Town Hall has advised for most of our townsfolk to steer clear from any forest strolls beyond the edge of the woods, and for the farmers of Northwest Hollow to exercise caution on the forested edge of their land. Additionally, Town Hall would like to request the assistance of any adventurers to attempt to push back the wolves. Adventuring parties who are successful in doing so will be rewarded with free food and drink during this year's Pumpkinfest as thanks for their tireless work to keep our community safe!
DISCOUNT DRINKS FOR OPEN MIC NIGHT: NOW WITH REAL MICS!
By Timothy Stoker
The lovely interior of the Empty Pockets Music Lounge.
DOWNTOWN HOLLOW (Empty Pockets Music Lounge) - After a great deal of confusion between locals and newcomers about the use of the phrase “open mic” to describe their “volunteer performer nights” at the local music lounge, Empty Pockets is pleased to announce the addition of new equipment for their stage! Through a collaboration with offworlders to create drawings of what a “microphone” ought to look like and a commission project with local engineers, we have now officially reinvented the microphone for use in Pumpkin Hollow. The local music scene is a flurry of excitement about this development--- local luthier Juniper Sweetwater already has expressed an interest in electric guitars and amplifiers. Seems like music and electricity will be getting a big boom here in town!
In the meantime, owner Dottie Siward has announced that drinks will be 30% off during open mic nights in celebration for a limited time! Check out the Empty Pockets Music Lounge any Friday or Saturday evening during the fall to take advantage of a little liquid courage, and hey, maybe put yourself out there. Could you be Pumpkin Hollow’s next big thing? You never know!
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Pokémon
Befriendable Pokemon make their semi-annual return! For the fall season, we will be seeing Dark and Ghost type Pokemon (with the exception of legendary Pokemon) in the forest that can be befriended up until this TDM leaves circulation in early December. Any character can have up to six Pokemon friends, and pre-evolutions of Dark and Ghost types that don’t have the correct type yet are also obtainable. (ex. Sprigatito, who can later evolve into a Dark/Grass Meowscarada.) We do not have Pokeballs in Pumpkin Hollow, but enough snacks or attention should be enough to get one to follow you home! Any Pokemon that have not chosen a friend to stay with will leave the island at the end of November.Wolves
The wolves mentioned by Yorick are, contrary to his assertions, not normal wolves. They are actually monstrous creatures from another world known as Balverines, who were once people. The Wiki entry for Balverines can be found here, but we'll summarize them down below as well! While werewolf-like in many respects, there are several key differences. Balverines can change at any time, night or day, regardless of the status of the moon. Commonly when first turned, a person will become a “lesser” Balverine who will transform by force every night after dark and lose all sense of self to the urge for bloodlust. However, with training and practice, that person can eventually become a “greater” Balverine, capable of controlling their transformations and retaining their faculties. This “greater” status can also be achieved automatically if the person is changed within the hour of midnight. Additionally, if the victim is infected at midnight during a full moon, they can become an exceptionally powerful White Balverine, marked by a pallid coat of wiry fur. Infection occurs when a person is bitten by a Balverine while still alive. Dying to a Balverine bite or being struck with claws, which are more likely to happen during an encounter, do not cause a transformation. Existing greater Balverines do not intend to make many conversions to their fold, and lesser Balverines will generally only do this by accident, so actually acquiring the infection is quite rare. However, if this does happen, it can be cured by having silver placed inside the body, either via insertion (like with a weapon) or ingestion (such as swallowing silver shavings). Doing so is exceptionally painful and may result in death, but dying to any other means will not rid you of the curse. However, you may wish to stay a Balverine once the greater status is achieved, as Balverines are exceptionally powerful creatures. Things to consider! As previously mentioned, Balverines primarily fight with their strong arms and long claws with the occasional bite or lunge. They are also capable of jumping so high in the air that they remain airborne for several seconds and often use this ability to travel quickly or get behind enemies. They have incredibly thick skin and are challenging to kill without silver. They also tend to hide until they can lure prey into an ambush unless pushed to defend themselves. On very infrequent occasions, they may come into town to terrorize folks, but they will largely be attempting to get the jump on people who have gone into the woods. They prefer to keep their presence subtle and are also not necessarily accosting everyone who gets near. Good luck if you plan to fight them!Open Mic Night
Drinks at Empty Pockets can be handwaved for costs--- existing players can consider it part of their grocery budget, and test driving characters can just not worry about it. This prompt is just for funsies.In addition to all of the above, feel free to mine last year's Pumpkinfest post for prompts! Have a happy harvest, and may your lanterns ever be bright!
Heather Harne (OC) | new character, existing player | Age 27
In her wanderings around the isle, Heather has been collecting wild berries and trading them in at the orchard to pick apples. When questioned by the staff at the Oak and Iron about the sheer volume of fruit she was toting around, Heather explained her family history of distilling alcohol and that she was experimenting with the available materials.
...She was immediately told to inform City Hall that she was starting a business and get a house instead.
Well then.
After a little more research, Heather sets up in a house that's a short walk from a trolley stop. She can be seen asking questions at the blacksmiths' shops, or washing and preparing a series of wooden 5-liter casks, or even toting said casks on the train up the mountain, one tucked under each arm.
Feel free to ask her what she's doing. Eventually, it's going to result in alcoholic beverages... and she has high hopes for something interesting when it comes to these ghost apples...
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Pokémon
"Why are you following me?" Heather demands, stomping her foot for emphasis as she faces off with this big, strikingly blue sea otter creature covered in dark shells like armor.
The creature lowers his head -- incidentally, also getting that twisted spike of his shell-helmet away from Heather -- and grumbles out "Samurott! Samu samu rott murott!"
"Well you don't see any gills on me now, do you?" Heather yanks up one side of her blue linen shirt, showing part of her torso. "I'm stuck on land."
"Murott..."
"I have to do it alone. Any interference, any help, will spoil the spell."
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Open Mic Night
[Partial repost from TDM #8, with a new song!]
Heather has somehow acquired an acoustic guitar. (Probably borrowed from a local... she would have asked so nicely and promised to return it in perfect condition...)
She walks out onto the stage and takes a seat, strumming the opening chords to Wandering Child by Wild Rivers before starting to sing.
And as she does, all who can hear it begin to feel a little melancholy, thinking of past loves and lost chances...
"I wish I met you, further along
Gave you my older heart, still and strong
But I wouldn't have a fire like I do today
Oh it burns for you babe..."
...to feel those feelings and let them go, as part of what made them who they are. Those who still feel pain linked to such things... it's lessened somewhat.
"Oh, you got nothing on my tendency to be led astray
Oh, it took a blindside hit to show me the right of way..."
Not gone, but just... less pressing. Less sharp.
Such a strange thing, isn't it?
Pokémon
Anzu was just planning on heading home, carrying Snowflake (asleep, still in her walking harness), following a mostly-successful attempt to teach a fox (probably a fox) to go for walkies. It went well ... and then when he'd stopped by a café, she'd fallen asleep in his lap as he drank his tea. Adorable, but slightly inconvenient.
But then he spots a young woman he'd never met yelling at an enormous ... creature. Definitely a creature. Maybe a walrus? No, walruses don't have legs quite like that, do they?
And the creature's yelling back, and the woman's getting more agitated, but the creature's not backing down. It almost seems like they're arguing.
So he approaches at walking pace (as much he wants to rush over, he's old and his back's bad, and the ground's slippery), and says as pleasantly as he can manage under the circumstances, "ah, I'm not able to tell which one of the two of ye's being bothered here, but need either of ye help with t'other?"
Partially woken by Anzu's voice, Snowflake squeaks in her sleep and swishes her tails, before settling down again and beginning to snore like a very soft teakettle whistle. Anzu absentmindedly strokes her head, looking from the blue creature to the woman and back again, and trying to decide what exactly the Samurott is.
Not a unicorn, he decides. No cloven hooves. Up close, it does rather look like an otter, however.
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The Samurott drums his forepaws against the ground, and though it might initially seem like a frightening display, the way he shakes his head is rather too much like a child throwing a tantrum. The incongruity spoils the effect, even as he growls out, "Rott rott rott!"
"I'll stop calling you a selkie when you stop bothering me! Rude ol' thing, comin' up to a lady and asking where her fish tail went off to!"
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"Fish tail?" Anzu says, raising an eyebrow. "I understand, darling, I may well be compounding the intrusion of thy privacy here, but ah. Has the selkie reason to think thou should'st have such a tail?"
He ducks his head, apologetically.
"The river delta and the harbour by where I live, they're not in the best state," he explains. "It's ah, owing to the docks and the industry and the difficulty of paying all due attention to a city's infrastructure during a blockade. I'm afraid of wights what dwell in the water, the Talons sees few. And in any case, I do hope I commit not no further rudeness pointing this out, but thine eyes glow not, which ... ah, well, such a fact alone suggests the world I come from is as alien to thee as this world is to the both of us. So worry not, dearest, the question is made in good faith, without no intent of mockery, in light of the fact I'd discern not one way nor the other."
His eyes do glow; and in the low late autumn light, his irises and ocelli cast cyan and gold highlights along the underside of the arch of his brow, and on the slopes of his crooked nose.
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The look Heather gives Anzu after that speech is blank and uncomprehending. What's this about poorly maintained docks...? (Funnily enough, she does have an interest in infrastructure given her studies in engineering... but how could he know that?) And further... Wights? The glowing eyes and some expectation that hers should glow as well? Thee'ing and thine'ing like a King James Bible?
In the end, she lifts both hands in a helpless sort of gesture and asks, "What's all that when it's at home?"
Translation: Please say whatever you just said again, but simpler this time.
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Anzu snorts, and grins broadly.
"Beg thy pardon, darling," he says, amicably. "I have no bloody clue what thou might be, only guesses, and from thy reaction, I can tell such a sentiment goes both ways. Unlike some here, I'm, ah, quite used to people what aren't the same shape as others, but I've met not many, what are like thee — the city I live in, the waterways are too polluted."
He tilts his head back and to the side, looking up at Heather.
"Were the two of us back where I lived before mine hopefully-temporary death, an undina is what I'd call one like thee. Mine husband would say kupalka or mavka, but the medical manuals would call thee a rusalka. Selkies I know of, however, but they live much further West—" he pauses and glances at the Samurott. "But, ah. I've never heard of one quite like this one."
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"Finfolk is a broader term for the fae who live in water. The rusalka can be counted among Finfolk, although they prefer freshwater, and my kind -- the merrows -- live in the ocean," Heather says. "If you know of selkies... they are originally from the seas around Scotland. They are seal-shaped, but can take people shape when coming on land. We're similar. Merrows come from Irish waters, and when we're not in people shape, we are very large. We look like a mix between fish and human in our true shape."
She gestures to the blue beast, and says, "I can understand this one, and he says 'I'm not a selkie, I'm a samurott'. Which is... the same as the noise he makes, funnily enough. I am not sure, but I might be able to understand him because he's close enough to one of the Finfolk, and because of the powers linked to my voice."
She flashes Anzu a tight little smile. "I'm making an effort to keep it from affecting you when I talk. I always have to make that effort."
Pokemon
"Eh? You understand what he's sayin' or somethin'?"
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Instead, to Snakes, she says, "You'd think so, but this one wants to argue with me. Says I need help because I was silly enough to lose my fish tail. He don't know what he's talking about. It wasn't silly, 'twere scary."
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"How does he know you, uh, lost it?" he wonders.
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After another brief pause, Heather decides she's said enough that she might as well say it all. "I had a magic cap that let me change shape. It got destroyed, and I have to make a new one before I can take the shape of a merrow again."
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"Sounds frustrating it got wrecked. Is it hard makin' more?"
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The Samurott grumbles a little over the idea that things could be dangerous. Heather reaches out and lightly tweaks at one of his curved whiskers. "Worrywart," she says, a note of teasing in her voice.
She straightens up again and looks at Snakes. "I've already been changed into a merrow by my merrow kin, and that was the most dangerous part. If I use the wrong materials in making the cap, it simply won't work, and I'll stay a human. It can't make me what I'm not."
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"Sure," he says. "I'm up for it."
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As they reach the tide pools, Heather hums softly, low in her throat. And then she trails the toe of her shoe in the water, so that it skims the surface, and flicks the water upward in a small spray. The water droplets rise and spread out, and then -- somehow, they stop in midair. Heather makes a gathering, pulling motion with one hand, and then the other, with a slight twist to her wrist each time. The little droplets of seawater follow the motion and trail out... leaving streaks of color in the air -- soft seafoam green and jewel-bright aquamarine.
Heather keeps making those pulling motions, carding her long fingers through the air, and humming that low, quiet tune. The streaks of color grow longer, and twine around each other, growing into a fluffy mass, and then--
Snap!
Heather clicks her fingers, and the colors she's pulled out of the seawater gain substance. The fluff drifts to the sandy ground. Heather bends down, picks up a handful and holds it out to him.
"Here," she says, "you can feel it. It's the material I'll spin, and when it's yarn I'll knit it into my cap."
If Snakes summons his courage to touch the stuff, it will feel like fine, soft lambswool.
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She shrugs. "If I make the cap and it doesn't work to change me back, then I unravel the work and try again. Maybe I could make something else with the yarns that don't work..."
The tag-along Samurott is poking at some of the fluff that remains on the ground. When he raises his head, it sticks to some of the barbs on his shell armor, which startles him. He gives a surprised cry and pulls away more sharply, gets tangled even worse, then crashes sideways to the ground.
"Oh dear!" Heather cries out.
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He nods. "If you've got so much of it, maybe you could sell winter hats and scarves or somethin'. People'll be wantin' 'em soon."
He jumps in surprise when the Samurott gets tangled up. "Uh oh. Uh, don't keep movin' around, Pal. That's makin' it worse." He wonders whether to approach or if he might get attacked if it's scared.
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She hops backward -- out of range of the thrashing, frustrated beast -- and asks Snakes, "Please, can you cover your ears?" She explains hurriedly, "I've got an idea that might work but I don't want it to get you, too."
The Samurott rolls, and his back leg strikes Heather's leg as he gets closer, leaving a set of short scratches from his claws on her calf. Heather gives a hiss of pain and stumbles back.
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"Well, I've got no use for the red rocking chair
I ain't got no money, baby now
I ain't got no honey, baby now..."
The Samurott stills as the music's magic begins to affect him. Heather steps closer carefully, wincing a bit as her weight briefly rests on her injured leg. She reaches out, touches him gently, and strokes at his thick fur.
"Who'll rock the cradle?
Who will sing a song?
Who'll rock the cradle when I'm gone?
Yes, who'll rock cradle when I'm gone..."
The Samurott huffs, and his eyes drift shut. With one more sigh, the beast falls asleep. Heather turns and gestures at Snakes. (It's a phrase is American Sign Language.) A moment later she realizes that she shouldn't assume Snakes understands. Instead, she indicates that she is no longer singing, and then mimes taking hands off of ears.
Then Heather turns to untangle the fluffy fibers so they are no longer snaring the big Pokémon.
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