ph_logs | June Event - Cukey-Scary [The Cucumber Festival]

June Event - Cukey-Scary [The Cucumber Festival]

**Plain text version here.

CUKEY-SCARY

Come one, come all!

The long-awaited festival to enjoy vegetables and welcome in the summer months has finally arrived - and this time, completely uninhibited by curses!

Pumpkin Hollow's streets are bright and bustling, adorned with green ribbons, baskets of flowers, and freshly arranged shop stalls to market their goods to the festival-goers as they mill about the streets surrounding the Festival Green. Cheering crowds watch performers perched upon stages, jaunty music played by thoroughly energized bands fills the air, and the smell of freshly-cut cucumbers is carried on the breeze.

Welcome to the Cucumber Festival, a sorely-missed holiday held exclusively on Marrow Isle. It is a festival begun at the town's inception to encourage the newly-established farming community, which was rapidly embraced from then on. Many smaller-scale gardeners dedicate vast amounts of energy in joining farmers to make the festival possible, and this year is more abundant than ever, thanks to the efforts of the new arrivals taking up the farming mantles. The merriment sprawls all over the Festival Green, and even further into the town.

One question yet remains: where to begin?

Cucumber Celebrations Commence!

Copious Cucumber Cuisine

With the cucumber harvest more bountiful this year than it'd ever been, the booths have a wide assortment of offerings - cucumber chips, fried pickles, bowls of salad, breads with chunks of vegetable in them, fritters, among the wide tide of other culinary delights. If you can make it with a cucumber, these people have!

Almost as abundant as the attendees are, the stalls and booths set up with cucumber-centric meals are easily found. much of it is cheap, even free in many cases, and scattered with them are other booths peddling artisan goods.

Challenges of Chance and Cheer

As much as Hollowites enjoy their food, there's rarely an opportunity that they pass up to incorporate games or rides into festivities, and the Cucumber Festival has an extremely wide variety to offer!

The Whirling Wyvern is a ride that stands shortly behind a neat arrangement of picnic tables. Rope fences wind around the ride, giving it a safe distance from any bystanders, and the surrounding area is littered with flour bags, densely stuffed to offer padding.

Watching it even briefly makes it very clear why the padding is needed: the platform, raised about two feet off the ground in the middle, begins to spin its seated riders, rotating faster and faster until they topple, roll, and fall off the sides, into the padding below. People can often be heard nearby making bets with friends to see who can stay on the longest. (It's not a recommended ride for anyone who's been drinking!)

Bumpermobiles is another ride, operating on enchantment instead of electricity and a switch, that may look familiar to some of Pumpkin Hollow's residents from more modern times! Though they lack the distinctive roofed building in favor of a section of paved road closed off with wooden beams, the small carts of the bumpermobiles resemble automobiles of the current time, outfitted with wide-edges to brace the impact they'll inevitably have on one-another! Each one seats two, but are able to be driven on their own, if you'd prefer to focus your conversations on heckling your fellow driver.

Hot Air Balloons are set up not on the Green, but just outside of it, taking a spot just off to the side that's unoccupied by booths or frequent foot-traffic. Each ride carries a maximum of three, not counting the operator, and gives any rider an impressive view of marrow isle for thirty minutes.

The Carousel stands in the center of the Festival Green, chiming cheerful music from the pillar in the center. Horses are joined by the addition of shimmering unicorns, beaked pegasi, and colorfully painted pony-drawn carts (which are crafted to be seats, for those who cannot climb on one of the other mounts).

The Wheel of Chance is a vertical wheel, perched between artisan's booths, offering low-stake prizes for a small payment! 5 Brass allows you to spin the wheel, offering one of ten available prizes:

a cucumber, covered in batter and fried, on a stick.
a goldfish in a decorative bowl.
a pair of pants, with several varieties to choose from.
a deck of playing cards.
a fine leather-bound notebook.
a set of six shot glasses.
a bottle of wine.
a basket of assorted fruits.
a glass-blown animal native to Marrow Isle, palm-sized, in assorted species and colors.
10 Brass. Double your money!

(For any concerned about the wellbeing of the fish: the person operating the wheel assures the health of these goldfish, and that the bowls are simply for festival distribution. They do note, however, that you'll be on the hook, no pun intended, to provide the new home for the fish.)

The Cucumber Festival's Raffle is one of the most coveted opportunities to spend a small sum of brass and win one of the many prizes donated by the community, with all contributions going into community services and upkeep.

Each ticket costs 20 Brass, and each person may purchase up to 5 tickets. There will be three drawings total, granting a small prize, a medium prize, and a grand prize to each winner. One person cannot win more than one prize; if the same person draws a second prize after their first, it will be re-rolled.

To purchase a raffle ticket, please reply to the Pumpkin Hollow mod account comment with RAFFLE TICKETS as the title, also linked here, stating how many tickets your character will be buying. On JUNE 14TH, ticket purchasing will be closed, and the prizes will be rolled!

The prizes are as follows:

1st (small): a telescope, with elegant engravings in the metal, donated by Elias Coldwood.
2nd (medium): a set of two enchanted tea puppies, one glass and one metal, donated by Neil West.
3rd (grand prize): a basket-hilt sword, well-weighted, masterfully crafted, and delightfully ornate, donated by Dahlia Leeds.

Contestants Convene for Competition

Of course, what's a festival without a little bit of friendly competition! Over the week of celebrations, the Cucumber Festival hosts the following activities for any and all participants interested in joining in the fun.

The Cucumber Growing Competition is a celebration of the farmers who made all this possible, as well as a flexing of gardening prowess. Each cucumber is measured in weight, length, and color! The prize for the best cucumber in show is simply a ribbon, but among the Pumpkin Hollow farmers, it's quite a statement to have. Career farmers, hobby gardeners, and onlookers alike gather to see the town's farmers' handiwork!

The Cooking Competition follows directly after the Cucumber Growing Competition. While the larger of the vegetables don't make for very good foods, sacrificing flavor for size, the rest of the entries are cut up and used for a variety of dishes. Chefs of all varieties are encouraged to participate to show their culinary prowess!

The Great Turnip Smash-Off is a cheeky jab at the prior year's failed festival. Wielding any tools they like, including but not limited to one's hands themselves, each contestant is allotted three minutes to destroy as many turnips as they possibly can. The prize for the cucumber festival's first annual turnip slayer is a small trophy for bragging rights!

The Water Walk is a fun sport for all ages! Lined up in rows with metal spoons full of water, the participants must walk carefully to the end of the "racetrack" to a small glass of water, with a line denoted on the side at the middle. The first person to fill their glass to or above that mark wins!

The Variety Show occurs throughout the week, offering the stage to many people of assorted talents. The first day is booked up for magicians (sleight of hand, specifically - mages are politely requested to refrain from participation), and on the following Monday, a "feat of strength" competition will showcase the might of those strongest in Pumpkin Hollow! The other days are yet to be filled, and several festival attendants are waiting with clipboards to accept submissions. Many newcomers have talents they've never seen before, so new submissions of the musical, magical, or other remarkable talent alike are not only welcome, but strongly encouraged!

Carnival Complications

Of course, not all things can go entirely peacefully in Pumpkin Hollow's festivities, and the Cucumber Festival has never been exempt from this. Though the prior years' incident was far more disruptive to the festival's celebrations, several things begin to crop up over the span of the week.

Capricious Crashers

As the festival goes on, it seems that some poltergeists have seen fit to invite themselves to the party. Two games are affected, with varying results.

The Whack-a-Mole Game, during the first night, becomes the first item to start experiencing a mild haunting. Though the specters only make themselves known when the participant is alone, there's a distinct feeling of guilt that comes with each smack, not unlike stepping on a cat's tail without realizing it. Instead of the triumphant jingle that the machine lets out when the game is complete, a stark silence settles in, as though the entire festival has frozen in time. Only then does a whisper, no louder than a breeze, brush past your ear.

Rolling a D3, the spirits haunting the whack-a-mole machine will tell you the following:

a secret that isn't yours to have about someone in town.
a piece of gossip, a shocking recent happening that may or may not be getting around in whispers.
a lie, carefully crafted to impact the way you see one of your fellow townsfolk.

(Mod Note: the information given is always going to be about someone nearby. When tagging into someone's top-level with the Whack-a-Mole Game who's got secrets or gossip, provide a piece of information about your character that the spirits might've said! Additionally, feel free to request a piece of information about an NPC, major or minor. For a lie, anything goes. Have fun with it!)

The Candle-Shooting Game is the next to become haunted, though the haunting is significantly more straightforward. In an act of simple mischief, the flame will occasionally withstand blasts from the water gun that should have surely snuffed it, or the flame will go out just as you line your shot up. These spirits are aiming to ruin this particular game, but not your night.

Cards and Consequences

On the outskirts of the festival, there is a strange building set up. Just a small shack, decorated with celestial trappings and a mysterious air. Above the door, a sign painted black with gold lettering says "HOUSE OF CARDS". Is it a funhouse? A fortune teller? No one's sure who set it up. Perhaps another effort of Captain Tuttle or something.

There is a sign on the double doors that make up the entrance, which reads, "Admission is free, but you must enter in pairs." And true to its word, the doors will not open unless two different people take each door's handle. Otherwise it is definitively locked.

So, choose a companion and go explore! What's the worst that could happen? All you have to do is open the door.

| CONTENT WARNINGS: mild manipulation, unreality, snakes, possible character death. |

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Around and about

Does George actually want to be at a festival right now? He's not sure. But he knows himself, and knows what he's like if he's not seeing anyone other than clients on a regular basis. So to the festival he goes.

He can be found at various points, eating cucumber chips as he wanders, watching the rides or the talent show, without ever really participating. Occasionally he turns to one side, mouth open to say something, but whoever he was expecting to see isn't there. So he sighs, and moves on to the next place.

Wheel of Chance

Most of the games George doesn't even glance at, his dignity right now wouldn't survive losing a carnival game. The wheel, however, is low stakes and almost all the prizes look useful or enjoyable.

So he pays his money, steps up to spin the wheel, and.........

It's a fish.
Of course it's a fish.
The single prize he didn't want.
What's he even supposed to do with a fish?

House of Cards [closed to Siebren]

A strange building with a suspicious sign and enchantment should trigger alarm bells for George, and maybe it would if he weren't off kilter. As it is, he's just curious, and it's not long before he spots a familiar face.

"Siebren! It's good to see you again," He greets, warm and bright with no trace of the strange mood he's been in for the rest of the festival, "I don't suppose you'd be interested in joining me for the house of cards, would you?"

"I would be interested in exploring it with you, yes."

He holds the door open for George, and then startles when he realizes the landscape is hardly what he expected the inside of a funhouse to be.

"Are...are you seeing this too?" His voice shakes a little. He is very accustomed to doubting his perceptions, but having someone else to check him may help.

He definitely should have been more cautious about this.

"Assuming you are also seeing a cliff edge, yes. I am." George's voice and mannerisms betray nothing of the creeping dread he feels. So long as there is someone beside him who needs him to be in control, that is what he will be. That's what he does. What he's always done.

He peers over the edge, just in case there's something down there. There isn't.

"I suppose we must pick a door, perhaps... the star?"

“I’m fine with anything but the sword. I…have no desire to choose a weapon, where other options exist.”

For all that Siebren needs a lodestar in this strangeness, he is working hard to seem okay. This is magic or an illusion, but it’s not a failing of his mind. He can get through it. He will get through it.

“Is there any reason you lean toward the star?”

"It seems... the most harmless, given the options. A weapon implies a fight, which I'd rather avoid. A cup implies food and drink, I have my reasons for being suspicious of such things in a place that isn't what it seems. The wand and star equally could imply magic, but the star is passive where the wand suggests a caster."

"The star it is, then." Siebren steps forward to open the door, stepping into the small temple-space behind it.

Religion was a null signal for Siebren when he was younger, but his accident complicated his view of the universe. Expanded it. He thinks he understands something of what the Omnics call the Iris, the force that enlightened them, from his exposure to the black hole. Despite that, though, he still doesn't know what to do in a church.

No, a temple.

"Give of yourself now, and venture toward a better future." Reading the plaque quietly, he looks over his shoulder at George.

He's only getting less comfortable the further in they go, and they've barely even started. George is very glad of his control over the Mask, had he entered with someone who could see through it the worry lines that crack through his stone features would be more than obvious.

Is it safer to play the game and offer something which could later be used against them, or to reject the premise entirely and risk retribution?

He watches Siebren. It doesn't make the choice any simpler.
"It seems we have two options, I chose the last, so which do you prefer?"

"I think that question isn't the correct place to start. Do we have anything that we can offer? That we can afford to offer?"

He reaches into his pockets, feeling what's there and coming out with a couple of brass and a pair of some sort of technological devices, each the size of a ping-pong ball, but in the form of a dodecahedron that's been hollowed out, a circular hole on each face.

"I could leave one of my hyperspheres here, if we decide that's what we're doing." He'd only just gotten them back, washed up on the beach after the Stag Beetle.

"You raise a good point, I hadn't thought of that." He's so used to just having things, that he still hasn't adjusted fully to the idea that he doesn't. It's a strange feeling, having to worry about whether he has the means before he can give something away.

"I have fifty brass, which is... all I have left." As much as he hates to admit that, "Or my jacket, I suppose." It's a nice one, well made, and the only one he has, but still seems inadequate under the circumstances. Especially when Siebren is willing to part with something that looks far more valuable, both in financial and sentimental value.

"I'm afraid I haven't very much, and what little I do, I don't tend to carry with me."

Siebren sets the hypersphere on the offering plate.

"My...close friend works at the forge. Perhaps someday she'll help me construct another. In the meantime, I still have one. It is good enough."

Is it strange that he feels lighter after setting the object down? For all that they're fidget toys, stress balls, his hyperspheres have also been weapons. Letting even just one of them go feels like saying goodbye to that chapter, in part.

"Onward, then?"

"Onward." George nods, "And... thank you."

The door opens to the outside, at once a relief and deeply disconcerting. The fluid movement of time untethered to the laws of physics familiar in how wrong it is.

He feels rooted to the spot. Staring up at the moon because at least that is wholly different. He never saw the night sky in all the time he spent in the House.

He does not want to do this.

"I should-" he clears his throat, "That is, you ought to know that I have had some struggles with perception in the past, and the longer this lasts the more likely they are to re-emerge. If I lose my grip on when and where we are, I may become quite cruel."

Siebren gives George a quiet sidelong look that lasts long enough to perhaps feel awkward.

"I am accustomed to cruelty. And to a mind that does not want to stay in the present. While I'll do my best to get you out of here with all due haste, I don't want you to spend your focus on worrying about me and how I may react to you." There's nothing but warmth and sincerity in his voice. He offers George his hand, palm-up, in an almost casual manner before letting the rest of the situation draw his attention.

"Doors. Are we more dexterous or sinister?"

George doesn't shift, he can see Siebren watching him out of the corner of his eye, but he just keeps staring at the moon, still as a statue.

He nods once when Siebren finishes talking, and finally turns to look at him when he offers his hand. None of George's internal debate reaches the surface in the moment or two it takes for him to decide what to do with it. He smiles a little, and holds Siebren's hand.

"Dextrous, I think."

George Elsworth | OTA

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