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

[checkyourmath]

"Given my current assessment of the problem as a technological fault rather than, ah, something purely biological, it seems fairly unlikely," Siebren muses, then smiles in her direction.

"But of course, a low probability of success is no reason not to dance!"

[misbegottendreamer]

At this, she laughs.

“Oh, kena, some things never change. I think that, no matter what troubles have beset you, we will find a way through this. Well, we can get things squared away for you today, and then this evening, we’ll go dance on the hillside. Goodness, it feels like forever since I’ve flown.”

Yard Crawl

[checkyourmath]

Coming from a world where intelligent biological life was limited to the human species, Siebren is already quite impressed by the range of humanoid species native to the Emerald Isles. But this, this resident is particularly striking in its bright colors and unclear anatomical structures.

He approaches cautiously as the creature rummages through its craft materials, contemplating how much he could ask about its nature without being perceived as tremendously invasive, before throwing caution to the wind and making his presence known.

"Ah, g-good morning! I see that you have been quite successful in your purchases!"

[abhorrently]

"Yeah. If the amount of tears I saw shed were any indication, a lot of people were feeling like that." A beat. "You'd think that in a place where death doesn't stick, it wouldn't be as important as it is. But it feels almost more important in that case. Because there's a lot of people that did have it stick. And even when it doesn't, you still died. You still might feel some way about it. And one day, death's going to start sticking again, when everything's fixed."

One day, there will be funeral processions beyond that night. Strange to think that while so many people in stories strive to live forever, they're fighting for death to function as it should again.

[checkyourmath]

"Ah, I am nothing if not resiliant!" Siebren assures, gesturing in the direction of his teacup as the satchel of herbs drifts out of it to settle on his plate. "That is an excellent plan, my friend. Though, I am curious what form of flight you posess," he muses, completely missing her implications. After all, the possibly bat-faced woman could very well keep wings hidden beneath her robes!

[skeletonkeay]

The patch she's pointed to says, "GRIFTER'S BONE" in jagged font.

"Oh, that one. It's a band, but they're monsters. Hearing their music makes people kill each other," Gerry says casually. "Thought it'd be funny to make fake merch."

With a big stick, he stirs the dye vat, evenly coating the new additions and ensuring they're properly submerged. "Would you believe I've seen them play? I haven't heard them. I would definitely have died if I had. But I did see them."

[misbegottendreamer]

"I rely on you for flight, actually. I've never managed to work out a method of flight for myself. I imagine tonal magic could allow that, but it isn't something I've ever mastered."

[checkyourmath]

"I, ah, I would not consider that to be a form of flight, per se, being generated neither by buoyancy nor aerodynamic lift. I suppose a closer reference point would be found in electrohydrodynamics, which is still only roughly analogous. Your confusion is quite understandable, given the, ah, lack of public research regarding the phenomenon."

Was that rude? Perhaps the woman was using the word colloquially? She was almost certainly using the word colloquially, and now she's probably irritated.

"R-really, 'flight' is fine, I just... do not want to give the impression that I am, ah, some sort of bird?" Siebren adds awkwardly. "But of course, you are already aware that I am not a bird."

[staybizzy]

"King Bossypants decides he likes Miss Hadassah," Capochin guesses, "and she's either real flattered or not into it at all. And it definitely pisses off a bunch of people. Those're my predictions."

[elvaquerito]

Pokey lets out a soft hum, then tilts their hat up, ears pointed forward to catch any sounds from the old mill. "Not yet," they murmur. "I think we're clear. Let's go in carefully and find a good place to hide."

[misbegottendreamer]

She laughs again, but deeper down, something isn’t sitting easy with her. The cadence of his words is wrong. The rhythm, the syllabic choice, all of it plays like someone sight-reading a song perfectly when they’ve never heard it before. Everything he says and does could be characteristic of Siebren de Kuiper, but the tempo is wrong.

But it has to be him. No one could fake that melody.

Has Moira’s tampering just altered him that fundamentally?

“You are much too solid to be any bird that I have seen. And you smell much too nice to be a Cliff Strider,” she jokes, not wanting there to be too much dead air between them while she thinks.

[not_a_traitor]

Gaeta tips his head in silent acknowledgement. Okay, his expression says, but if that changes, I'll be there.

Maybe he can... who knows. Learn a couple spells from Neil. The more Neil tells him about magic theory, the less satisfying theory feels minus its practical component.

And then he frowns again. "That what?" he prompts.

[not_a_traitor]

It had better stay that way. As if it's his fault he had a frakked-up dream about --

Gaeta makes himself take a deep breath and shove the nascent anger deeper. It was pretty godsdamn clear from their respective dreams that she has her own issues with Cylon-like intelligences. Maybe Gaeta wouldn't be so blunt as that, but he can't exactly blame her for saying something he's thinking, too.

...Also, yeah, it's super obvious she likes rocks and he is more than willing to seize on the topic change. With another breath, he lets himself relax into a bit more of a smile.

"That's incredible," he murmurs, peering closer at the granite. "It's got to be something about the structure, but to have it break so cleanly no matter what size?" He glances up. "Does the type of impact matter at all, too? Same break lines with a chisel as a sledgehammer?"

[liesdontfindyou]

"It doesn't make sense. I left her that message before I left and she killed me anyway! If it was going to be enough to turn her against him, that... I don't know. She wouldn't have been following his orders. Even knowing what we both know about how quickly they can turn on people, even their creators..."

She breathes out. Thunks her head back against the door.

"If she did turn on him, I just... I just can't imagine it has anything to do with me."

That's not something she knows how to reconcile with her lived experience, with the things that haunt her nightmares.

Fiends

[misbegottendreamer]

She is not dragonfire, but she is kin of the burning heart of Nirn, and she does not ask any questions when a mote of pure flame comes to her, seemingly seeking its attention. Drelasa follows it without hesitation, and her arrival is announced ahead of her by the jingling of bells woven into her garb.

She knows what she’s up against when she smells the distinct perfume of those flowers. Immediately, she begins to sing, wildly, frantically, to draw attention to herself and away from the cornered man.

[incomingchoppers]

"Yeah!" says Radar with enthusiasm -- and then, with growing uncertainty, he repeats, "Yeah..."

He's trying not to stare at the way her mouth moves. He's almost positive it didn't look like that before, and anyway, even if it did, it looks wrong. He definitely would've noticed if she had a weird smile like that. (Saying anything about it woulda been rude! But he would've noticed.)

"Only what kind of things, though? I already hear a lot, I don't wanna go around seein' a whole lot, too, you know?" He punctuates that with a nervous, pitchy laugh.

[checkyourmath]

Any bird she's seen? Perhaps it is only a quirk of the Emeran translation, but that strikes Siebren as an unexpected turn of phrase given what else he has managed to discern about the woman.

"Are cliff striders a variety of bird, in your homeland? From the name, I would suspect that they nest along rocky outcroppings. There are quite a few birds in my world which behave similarly! I am especially fond of puffins, if you've heard of them."

cw: emeto

[misbegottendreamer]

“Cliff Striders and Cliff Racers are now extinct on the Vvardenfell mainland, and even in my youth, Cliff Striders were a rare things to see. Both species were known as terrors for the unprepared traveler, always eager to snatch up an easy meal, always reeking of their guano-covered nests and the half-digested fish they would spit up as a distraction. Yet despite this, they were something of a matter of begrudging national pride.”

Is this really what they want to discuss over tea? Really? Apparently so.

[checkyourmath]

"Primarily fish-eating, then? The same is true of most cliff-dwelling birds on my end of things, at least from what I recall," Siebren notes, quietly tapping the rim of his teacup. "That particular defense mechanism is more characteristic of carrion birds such as vultures where I come from, but it isn't unheard of."

[misbegottendreamer]

“They’ll eat just about anything they can get, but they definitely have a fondness for fish. I’m not sure why. Perhaps the fish have certain minerals that are beneficial to the cliffbeasts, or perhaps it is simply easy for them to scavenged beached slaughterfish when the sloughs fall low.”

She pauses, thinking.

“Perhaps they are not so fond of fish, and I am under this impression because I grew up in a place where water was plentiful. The cliffbeasts inland wouldn’t have had easy access to the sloughs, but they are most plentiful amidst the rocky crags…”

Pranks

[blindwatchersees]

The smile the old man wears is just a little too wide to be entirely innocent, a little too toothy to be wholly harmless. He seems utterly unperturbed to have a gun pointed his way.

“Well then. I suppose you should have known I was coming and done something to stop me, eh?”

His tone is jaunty, lighthearted, but there’s something ice-cold about his words.

Arrival

[blindwatchersees]

“Well, look who it is! You! How about that.”

The old man calling out to him is peculiarly familiar in a way Siebren doesn’t have an explanation for. It’s as if the man is someone he knows he should know, more so than anyone else, but the fellow utterly defies identification. Still, he seems to know Siebren well, considering the way he’s beaming as he approaches.

[coolhatluvr]

"Right." Patty takes the lead, senses and tail held high as she carefully pushes the door open and peers around. There weren't any mills in Drain, but they had lots of warehouses and manufacturies, so she immediately looks for a path up into the rafters. "Here," she whispers, holding her hand back out for Pokey to take. "How are you at climbing?"

[cyansoldier]

A smile. What is so infuriating about a smile? Is it the way the old man's eyes betray this common pleasantry? Wrinkles run along each corner like taunts etched in stone. Is it the fierce teeth set in the friendly mouth? No. No, it's the tone. The uncaring. He stands before her gun's muzzle— before her, a soldier, a concentrated fury— entirely non-threatened. She feels her pride shot square in the chest. Anger lulls in the wound-hole.

Even the forest seems to laugh.

Carolina keeps her long barrel steady. Sets her teeth.

"It's not too late. I can shoot you dead, right where you stand."

Re: Arrival

[checkyourmath]

"Y-yes, I am me!" he agrees, taken by surprise at the sudden approach. This particular stranger seems friendly enough, and Siebren returns the smile cautiously.

"I have been me my entire life, in fact. I trust that you are also yourself?"