TDM #10 - Wither and Bloom [First Edition]

[pumpkinhollow]

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette: Spring Issue

We ask that all toplevels include the age of the character (or at least a rough estimate) for TDM posts, to ensure that players both old and new can quickly make informed decisions about how to interact with a given character. We also ask that if someone lists a prompt as having an age preference, that it be respected. This is specifically for TDMs unless otherwise stated. Thank you!

Pumpkin Hollow Gazette

12/13/24 | TDM #10 - Wither and Bloom [First Edition]
Spring Pokémon Types - Grass, Fairy, Ground, Bug, Normal

WELCOME TO PUMPKIN HOLLOW

By Yorick Aberdeen

The crop for which the town is named.

Greetings, Hollowites, old and new! We are pleased to bring you yet another riveting issue of the Pumpkin Hollow Gazette. Or perhaps this is your very first one?

For nearly two years now, the mysterious ferryman has brought new and interesting faces across seas and stars and dimensional planes to reach our fair island. Since then, our community has grown larger and infinitely more interesting--- and we’re glad you’re joining us! Just in time for the weather to be just lovely.

This time of year tends to be a bit lighter on town-wide events due to this being a vitally busy time for our local agriculture industry, but we urge you to get involved with planting season and spend some time in nature. Who knows? You might even catch sight of our goddess of Land and Spring if you spend enough time among plants! Just don’t look into the trees--- they look back.

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!

SPRING WEATHER REPORT

By Phil Connors

The breeze will make your clothes smell great!

Start dusting those homes and beating those blankets! The days are getting longer, and with it, the winds are getting warmer. Spring is here! We’ll see some days that are still chilly and windy, but the more warm and temperate phases will get more common later in the season. We’re also entering the rainy period, meaning flowers are springing out of the ground and we’ll be seeing some very beautiful sunrises on misty mornings. Color is coming back to the isle, the frogs are in the rivers, and the insects and lambs are in the fields. It’s a good season to be outside.

Which means it’s also a good season to do laundry! Join us for our Community Laundry Day, where we all do our much-needed chores together and hang-dry our laundry in the warm and breezy weather! Join us on the green for some team washing. Water provided. Bring your own tubs, soap, and of course, clothes!

COMMUNITY EVENTS KEEP TOWN LIVELY ALL SPRING

By Timothy Stoker

The gazebo in town square, beside the festival green, is the place to be this season.

Legend has it that this time last year, a packed ferry arrived with a mass influx of offworlders, and an emergency potluck dinner was held to welcome the crowd. Now, this reporter wasn’t here just yet when that happened, but stories tell of a gathering of epic culinary proportions that heralded a new age of prosperity for Pumpkin Hollow. Sounds like something worth celebrating! Now that the weather has turned lovely once more (as elaborated on above by our own Phil Connors), the town has decided to celebrate the anniversary of the newly dubbed “Harbor Day” by revisiting that potluck idea. Drop by the Temple of Sacred Roots every other Friday from now until June to sample the cuisine of your new neighbors and local businesses. New residents need only bring themselves!

Also, in the spirit of spring cleaning, residents will also be selling or giving away their old items every weekend, weather permitting, in a series of mass yard sales. Some of our more modern residents supplied the term “yard crawl” for the event, which was deemed to be fitting. So come out on Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons to see what useful used items you can take off your neighbors’ hands! It’s a great way for new residents to decorate their new homes cheaply and get some new clothes.

And finally, on Wednesday evenings the Festival Green will be hosting “Swift Social” events (to be held in the Oak & Iron in the event of rain). A reimagining of last year’s popular charity speed dating event, this new Swift Social is expanded to include individuals seeking platonic relationships as well--- though that doesn’t mean romance is off the menu! The 10 Brass will be used to support the town’s medical community and the Autumn Leaves Dormitory House for Young Residents. So come out and make a friend or meet someone cute--- it’s for charity!

Fearsome Fae Antics Cause Town-Wide Trouble

By Melanie King

Up to no good, probably.

Things have been getting tricksy around town as, apparently, the fae population are staging the prank war to end all prank wars—or so local experts are telling us. If, like this reporter, you thought you were just having terrible luck with forgetting where you put things down or waking up with horrible bedhead, surprise! You've actually been caught in the crossfire of the fairies' games and may be entitled to financial compensation. (Not really. That's a joke.)

It looks like their antics are escalating significantly over time from harmless inconveniences to active dangers, so beware of any unusual sounds, behaviours or visual phenomenon you may encounter. Alluring or pleading voices from the woods, ghostly lights, critters acting oddly—if it's out of the ordinary, think twice. Or it might be the last time you think at all (at least, until tomorrow morning).

Fiendish Floral Figures Take Root Around Town

By Yorick Aberdeen

How eerie!

Spring is a time of year characterized by new life and by fresh floral blooms. It’s said that the land is Serranai’s canvas, and flowers are her paint. There is no debating that watching the Spring goddess’s artistry come to life in her season of power is an activity beloved by all! However, the Department of Supernatural Affairs is currently investigating some strangely behaved plant life.

While sightings have been somewhat rare, locals have been reporting eerie structures made out of flowering vines or woven flower stems that take the shape of hollowed out humanoid silhouettes. The poses seem to indicate motion and appear capable of springing to life at any moment, but the strange figures never seem to actually move --- at least, not that anyone has actually seen. However, many have cited that upon looking away from the figures and looking back, they appear to be closer. Those who have had direct contact with these floral armatures of people are also reporting some kind of ongoing allergic reaction from the encounter. Symptoms include severe shortness of breath, unpleasant itching that feels like it is coming from beneath the skin, and intense bouts of emotion which vary from person to person.

The Pumpkin Hollow Board of Safety is currently investigating long-term effects of contact with these beings and advises residents to avoid them. They seem highly resilient to fire, impact, and tearing, and while cutting with a sharp implement seems to have some success, it’s inadvisable to get close enough to the things to use such tools in the first place. Local alchemist Aeryn Sallek and local non-magical chemist Sally Boyle are currently working together to develop an herbicidal blend that is safe for human skin contact and potentially consumption to try and deal with the flowery menaces, which the Board of Safety has begun calling “Hanahilators”. But don’t let the name frighten you--- steering clear of these freaky floral followers should be a more than sufficient safety measure until the threat can be dealt with. Probably, anyway!

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Further Details...

Yard Crawl

Participate in the Yard Crawl as either a buyer, a seller, or both! When you take on a job in Pumpkin Hollow, you are supplied with permanent housing outside the Oak & Iron as part of your start-up kit, and most of them are full of old and worn furniture and clothes left behind when they were abandoned. Get rid of some of it or find something new at the Spring Yard Crawl! Plus, some of the native residents will also be selling or giving away their own old things.

Here’s how the Brass shakes out:

• Buyers can spend 50 Brass and get a haul of their choice of used or free clothing, furniture, or small decorative items. All of it will be of decent to low quality and relatively unremarkable design, so nothing extravagant. (Although a lone exciting knick knack could be considered passable!) Reminder that newcomers are given their first stipend of 100B upon arrival, so new characters are welcome to participate--- you’ll just need to mark that on your ledger if/when you app in. Ask for help if you have questions about this!


• Sellers can make 50B off of their participation but must make a toplevel. Only apped-in characters that are not Laggards can participate as a Seller.


• Those who are both buying and selling end up with a net zero of Brass, but all the aforementioned rules apply!


• Transactions related to the Yard Crawl can be applied to a character’s ledger three times --- once per month for the duration of this TDM!

Swift Social

Under the Swift Social toplevel posted from the mod account, join the fun by posting a starter with the provided code to create a profile card! Then comment on someone else’s starter with one of the following icebreaker questions to get started:

Which would be more surprising to see on your doorstep, a unicorn or a walrus?
If you could commit any crime with no consequences, what would it be?
If you were caught in a trap and the only way to escape from it with your life was to do something genuinely impressive, what would be your approach?
If you had to live on only one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
If you were held at knife point and instructed by your assailant that you must call someone on their sending stone, and if they do not answer, you die, who would you call?
Which would be most frightening to encounter in a dark alley: a ghost, an alien, or a horse?
If you could have any wish granted for you, no matter how big or small, what would it be? (Cannot ask for more wishes, that’s cheating!)
What’s a subject that you could confidently teach an hour-long class on with no preparation?
If you could instantly become an expert in any skill, what would you choose?
Make your own!

Be advised that you must post a comment with your profile card so that any Swift Social partners you have can reference it for your age and preferences.

Fae Pranks

It’s a fairy prank war! A few of the local fae courts are using Marrow Isle as their battle ground, since the demons made it trendy. They’re mostly out to prank each other--- but they’re also happy to practice their tricks on you! And fairies have some very odd ideas about boundaries when it comes to pranks. Here’s a few examples of some of the tricks you might encounter, ranging from silly to genuinely dangerous:

• A truly outrageous amounts of butterflies


• Sightings of Edwin the Headless Postman, a Dullahan (this is a played character that a mod will tag out with, please leave an OOC note if you’d like to opt out)


• Will-o-wisps that lead you in circles or into danger


• Fae dance parties that will have you dancing yourself to death!


• Missing objects


• Mysteriously spoiled milk


• Your hair got braided or extra tangled while you were asleep


• Weird sounds in Prague Mill after dark. Is it haunted?


• Strange women crying in the forest or by the Bluffs, but when you approach them to try and help, you find yourself suddenly in life-threatening danger!


• Create your own! Have fun with it, get spooky or goofy as you see fit.

Floral Fiends [cw: body horror, death]

Loosely inspired by the Hanahaki disease and the film Annihilation, Hanahilators are uncanny figures made out of flowers that move when they are not being watched. If they catch you, they will grab you, but seemingly have no interest in harming you as they will relent as soon as they’ve touched you.

However, once you have pollen on you, the effects begin to take hold, and flowers begin growing within your body, first in your lungs and then pushing into the rest of you. These parasitic blooms feed off of your strong emotions and are influenced by the emotions which define you. (Feel free to use the Victorian flower language to determine what kinds of flowers you get!) Once strong enough, the vines begin feeding on your body, destroying it and leaving behind a brand new Hanahilator. But don’t worry, you’ll be back to your old self tomorrow, so enjoy the opportunity to explore the island as a ghost! Apped in characters should remember to fill out a Death Certificate! It’s a relatively rare encounter, so don’t worry about running into one if you don’t want to.

Pokémon

Each season, new types of Pokémon can be found in nature around the island! They cannot be captured as the technology does not exist on Marrow Isle, but they can be befriended and kept as pets. Since there is no PC, each person can have no more than six. You can befriend any Pokémon whose primary type matches the list at the top of the newspaper. (Eevee can be caught in any season.) Legendaries are off limits for obvious reasons, and mythicals can be encountered for fun but not kept! Evolutionary stones can be found in Paradesium, the magical subterranean jungle beneath the mountain to the North. Every type will be available at some point throughout the year, so if you don’t have access to your fave yet, check back next season!

Comments

[tehilim127_1]

"Well, you'd think so! But it was more that she told him no, and he was the Great King. And kings generally don't like people to get the idea that they can say no, even for something small. So -- Vashti was out, and Achashverosh was in the market for a new queen. And his advisors said hey, why don't we gather up all the unmarried girls in the kingdom, and let the King take his pick? And here's where we meet some of the other important characters in the story."

She pauses for just a moment.

"In the capital city of Susa, where all this was happening, lived a man named Mordechai who was a Jew. And he was raising a girl named Hadassah, who was either his cousin or his niece, and who was also called Esther."

[abhorrently]

It is alive, and so is Fever, springing to her feet. The sound is harsh, offputting - and she's half tempted to scream back, meet aggression with her own. Until something flashes bright in the corner of her vision, and her foe and her are face to face.

She sees how small the opponent is, reflexively reaches for force, because it will track and hunt, even when there is something nimble and swift. Bigger spells can be sidestepped, can be covered, but not this - not the darts of bright red light that collide in blows stronger than her arm could ever make.

"Tormentum."

She hunts as much as she is hunted, after all. Three fly towards Vespertine - but Fever's evasion backwards is not perfect, she slips a little on damp leaves, and she knows it leaves her open.

[vespertineactivity]

Porcelain cracks, shatters under magical force, and Vespertine laughs. It's not a real laugh, its instinctive intimidation, and hollow. And if it wasn't out of control, it would retreat here, back off, find another route to its target, if even it wanted the kill. But it's not, so instead...

It goes completely limp for a moment, and then tugs hard on a particular thread. The third dart hits it as it flies, shaking it up something fierce, but the silver thread is strong. In the blink of an eye, it's up in Fever's personal space, and returning the favor. A certain twist of the internal cords and an expenditure of power, and both of them are launched into the nearest tree, Vespertine pushing off mid air to land back on the ground.

Something is wrong. Everything finally feels right, but something is wrong. The satisfaction of violence suffuses it, and yet something is wrong. If it could just remember. One of its arms is twitching, and its not for show. A cord's slipped its anchor.

[misbegottendreamer]

“I could see in my earlier years. My eyes were taken by the blessed blight.”

[hate_gettin_older]

"Yeah, course." He recognizes that forced brightness too well, and knows better than to try and push through it with someone he barely knows.

"So," glancing at the list of suggested questions, "want to ask me something or do I ask you?"

[not_the_last]

It's the work of a moment to pull out the blank journal she keeps notes in, and one of the local cleverly made pens with its own internal inkwell, and pass them across the table to her new acquaintance.

"Can you say anything you've ever heard said in your presence?" she asks Megapon. "Or only things you've heard recently?"

[not_the_last]

She's thinking something oddly similar as she seats herself with practiced grace. Well-spoken, elegant; either born to a high social station or studied to behave that way.

"My home's called Whitestone," she tells him. "It's a little city-state in the mountains; my family's been there since it was founded. And yourself?"

[2onostromo]

Just me.

"Great. It had better stay that way."

Impossible to tell what's what here, aside from the usual hinderances of advanced technology, not to mention magic.

She'd like to think— as would most humans with intimate knowledge of the living world— that she could tell the difference between man and machine with ease. Of course she could, couldn't she? No amount of synthetic fibers or gesticulating facial mechanisms could imitate true humanism. There had been whispers among the company of 'experimental technology'; never did she consider this technology might extend as far as total imitation.

She'd like to think this.

And then she'd met one such imitation.

It seems that so has he.

"Gaeta." Ripley nods, ticking off a box in her mind.

To no one's surprise, her rocks ease up the tension. Easier on the eyes and pallet than human-synthetic horror. She leans forward on her elbows, appraising a cluster of green crystal like it were a prized show animal. She, too, brightens up a little.

"Isn't it? I've seen plenty of mining planets and all the ore you can think of, but half the stuff on this table are concentrates I've never heard before, let alone seen in any scientific journal or planetary reading. This one—" she picks up an opaque, yellow stone, "—turns black when it touches water. Then the water turns orange and the whole concoction starts to get hot. The granite-looking one over there splits in perfect lines. Not once or often— but every time you cut it."

Can you tell she likes rocks?

[elvaquerito]

Ah, perfect!

Pokey begins scribbling in the journal. Their handwriting is messy and hurried, but legible.

i can store a certain amount of phrases in megapon's reservoir. its a lot more than it used to be but i tend to cycle out phrases dont use much after a while.

[liesdontfindyou]

"Right." CT clears her throat and sits a little straighter, picking her pen back up. "Thanks, Valdis. I appreciate it and I promise I won't let this distract me too badly from my work."

end

[redlightgreenlight]

"Good."

Now off to finish a few things before finding the right time to approach this Carolina.

Siebren de Kuiper | Overwatch | 63

[checkyourmath]

_{[Mun Warning/Note: While this man has no connection with the departed Baron of Blank, Siebren will usually play along with someone who claims to know him rather than clarifying. I anticipate this being very confusing, which is potentially part of the fun?]}

Arrival

He isn’t dead. That’s a small comfort, but a comfort nevertheless, as Siebren is released from his onboarding with little instruction beyond a map highlighting the tavern downtown. He isn’t all that good with paper maps– from what he’s seen so far, the technology of this entire island leaves something to be desired– but making his way to the Oak and Iron shouldn’t require more than a few wrong turns unless something else catches his interest.

Yard Crawl

Investigating yard sales, it turns out, is much more interesting than looking for a tavern. He’s hesitant to make any purchases, so new to Marrow Isle that he doesn’t have a good sense of what brass is really worth beyond the weight of the metal itself. There’s no payment required to pick things up and look them over, however, and with all the clutter on display Siebren won’t have any trouble wasting an hour or two poking around.

Wildcard?

_{[Nimbus look I’m in DWRP again, I'm being supportive! I’ll try not to get overwhelmed this time… TT_TT ]}

Yard Crawl (Float?)

[misbegottendreamer]

She knows that melody.

Well, it isn’t a melody, exactly. Rather, it’s a sort of strange whistling hum, the result of impossible vibrations caused by a certain gravitational anomaly.

“Kena!” she calls out, heart overflowing with joy. He’s back, he’s back when she had thought she might never see him again, and all of her resolve to mend her broken heart and move on melts back into the churning caldera of her emotions. She moves with such urgency towards him that she actually stumbles a little, the rhythmic ringing of her bells “choking” for a second as she fights to regain her balance.

Re: Yard Crawl (Float?)

[checkyourmath]

A sudden noise and jingling of bells is enough to draw his attention away from the folded rug Siebren happened to be examining at the moment, even if he isn't sure what the masked woman is shouting about or why she sounds distressed.

When she stumbles he reflexively puts out a hand to steady her, regardless of whether the stranger is actually within arms' reach.

"A-are you alright?"

[misbegottendreamer]

“Y-yes! Oh kena, I… I had no idea what to think, when you disappeared. I didn’t know if you’d ever return. I missed you so dearly!”

[tisnotthehouse]

[He cackles with open delight.]

What a broad-minded human you are! Yes, there are many qualities of your species that I find strange -- even frustrating, at times. But in the main I find you quite appealing; it's striking, how well my species seems to get along with yours. I wasn't always organic, you see; I took a liking to this shape and made it my own, but my original body was an inorganic construct. A robot, if you prefer that term, although I assure you I am no one's servant.

But yes...yes, I remember that world. It must have been near-entirely volcanic relatively recently to generate such massive basalt formations -- but HR2225 is a main sequence star; it has been stable for at least two billion years. How to account for such rapid heating and cooling of a planet so far removed from its Hadean epoch? If I'd had the proper tools I've had sunk test bores to look for signs of a 'planet cracker' asteroid impact, but alas. That was beyond my ship's capabilities.

flower power.

[abhorrently]

"Is that all they need to perish? Some kind of flame?"

The person he's stopped reaches up to lower the cloth she'd been using as a makeshift hood over her fluffy hair, looking out at the plants. A pity they wouldn't offer more than spell practice, but Fever will take her small joys where she can. Perhaps the rain called them forth - but a storm can put them down just as easily, and her eyes are focused on the beings, not him.

[xiaoxiuya]

"I wouldn't call it an empty gesture," Shen Qingqiu says automatically, unable to bear any criticism towards Luo Binghe that didn't come directly from himself. Only he knows how to do it right. "But..." He coughs into his sleeve. "This master has often wondered whether Luo Binghe was really happy, dividing his attention between so many young flowers..."

How could he really love any of them? And they, seeing so little of him so rarely, how could they really claim to love him?

He smiles up at Luo Binghe, unbothered now by his close proximity. "This master's claim to the title is dubious anyway. If his majesty wishes to give this one face, he might call me 'laoshi'...but it is by no means a requirement."

[checkyourmath]

This woman missed him? Siebren is flattered by the thought, even if he still has no idea who he's addressing. He suspects that a fault in his cybernetics is to blame, which wouldn't be unexpected if he almost died before arriving here.

"I am very sorry to have worried you," Siebren bluffs, giving the stranger what he hopes is a reassuring smile.

Assumptions are going to make this so painful :3

[misbegottendreamer]

“Have you gotten moved back in yet? I can help you, if not. We have so much to get caught up on. Magne and César had their wedding, kena. I wish you could have been there.”

The womer takes his hand out of habit- Siebren might notice the strangeness of her gray, hairless skin and the presence of what feel like and appear to be something akin to sharp antler nubs protruding from her fingertips.

Oh no :3

[checkyourmath]

"Well, I am sure the wedding was lovely. I do hope that I can make it up to them, given my absence. Might you have any suggestions?" Siebren asks her, fishing for any hints at his relationship with... well, with any of these people.

He's startled when she touches his hand, not because of her claws but the familiarity of the gesture, and he takes a bit too long to reciprocate.

"I would not mind assistance with, ah, catching up on things?"

[misbegottendreamer]

“Of course. Perhaps we could go to my place, unless you have your heart set on something here? I made some fresh bread not too long ago, and there’s no one I’d be happier to share it with than you.”

There a very deliberate weight to her voice, a clarity that is at once natural and unnatural. It makes up for what the mask takes away in terms of intention.

[checkyourmath]

At her initial suggestion, Siebren hesitates. Before the distraction of the public sale, he was meant to be heading for a tavern, the 'Oak and Iron,' and he may already be running late for... whatever he was meant to do there? Wherever this woman lives, visiting with her will only further delay that nebulous meeting and probably result in him getting lost further from downtown.

On the other hand, she just said something about fresh bread, and he suddenly feels very hungry.

"Ah, no, I was just... I'm not sure what this textile is made from, but it's very soft," he muses, giving the rug another couple of pats with his unoccupied hand. "I haven't made any purchases."

[misbegottendreamer]

"Hmm. We could ask the owner to hold it aside for you, in case you want it for the house, but I wonder if you have much need for soft rugs on a day to day basis. Perhaps it has some visual appeal as well, but I'm hardly going to be able to weigh in on that," she laughs.

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

"Yeah? That makes sense," says Leon, listening patiently through that whole thing as he wrings out a shirt that hadn't gotten quite as dry as he wanted it. "Kind of like how ballerinas all have to start pretty young if they're gonna be flexible enough later in life."

He will not elaborate on why this is the first comparison to come to mind, and hurries to move on before Shen Qingqiu can question it himself.

"What do unrighteous sects do, though? Use the powers of cultivation for evil?"