pumpkinhollow: (Default)
pumpkinhollow ([personal profile] pumpkinhollow) wrote in [community profile] ph_logs2024-06-08 10:59 pm

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:

  1. a cucumber, covered in batter and fried, on a stick.
  2. a goldfish in a decorative bowl.
  3. a pair of pants, with several varieties to choose from.
  4. a deck of playing cards.
  5. a fine leather-bound notebook.
  6. a set of six shot glasses.
  7. a bottle of wine.
  8. a basket of assorted fruits.
  9. a glass-blown animal native to Marrow Isle, palm-sized, in assorted species and colors.
  10. 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:

  1. 1st (small): a telescope, with elegant engravings in the metal, donated by Elias Coldwood.
  2. 2nd (medium): a set of two enchanted tea puppies, one glass and one metal, donated by Neil West.
  3. 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:

  1. a secret that isn't yours to have about someone in town.
  2. a piece of gossip, a shocking recent happening that may or may not be getting around in whispers.
  3. 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. |
haveyoutriednotdying: (heres the thing i cant do anything right)

Hypnos | Hades | this is both a reply to charon and opportunity for others to tag in

[personal profile] haveyoutriednotdying 2024-06-14 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Tucked into the back of Charon's boat, with a rope tied around a thin ankle to keep him from drifting too far away while he floats and naps, is Sleep Incarnate. His soft snores provide some background noise to the boatside shop.

At his station in the House, any time anyone wandered too close, he would jolt awake-- but here, tucked in with Charon's wares, he sleeps more heavily. He's off the clock, after all, and Charon wouldn't let any dangers get close.
bloodorobols: (sighs)

When your baby brother is a stowaway....

[personal profile] bloodorobols 2024-06-15 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
Charon doesn't often have the patience to entertain the lackadaisical way Hypnos conducts himself in his daily routine. If it could even be called that. Still, he hadn't had the heart to eject his younger brother from the nest at one end of the boat when he'd set out to go and provide his services in a strange little place that hovered between the living world and the deeper realms.

Occasionally, the end of Charon's oar will lightly tap Hypnos where he sleeps, a soft grunt requesting a replacement item when something is purchased from his selection of wares. It's his way of justifying keeping the incarnation of Sleep here in the surface sunlight.
haveyoutriednotdying: (you're already halfway out the door)

[personal profile] haveyoutriednotdying 2024-06-16 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
Some of Hypnos' early memories are just like this, laying tucked away in the back of Charon's boat while his older brother goes about his business. Back then, Thanatos was the one dutifully helping their brother restock his shelves-- but it's been a very long time since then, even by Godly standards. Even Hypnos can manage to wake up just long enough to plop whatever item Charon asks for onto the oar.

It's happening more often than usual, though, and eventually that fact creeps its way into his thoughts, drawing him from his domain. "Lotsa customers today, huh?" Hypnos sits up in the boat for the first time since he first laid down in it down in the Underworld, rubbing at his face and blinking... and then blinking and squinting some more because ow who turned the lights on so bright?

Oh no wait that's the sun? "Huh... didn't know you were changing your route up today, Charon!"
bloodorobols: (sighs)

[personal profile] bloodorobols 2024-06-29 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Charon grumbles, positively pleasant as he regards Hypnos with his hands around the shaft of the oar, his hat tipped back at a rather jaunty angle. they seemed to like it when he wasn't glowering at them from beneath the deep shade of his hat.

Mmnnh, he replies easily. They were invited. Well, he was, and he didn't really see a need to drop Hypnos off at home before he set out. Surely the Lord of the house wouldn't mind him being out of the house for a bit.
haveyoutriednotdying: (and god it's never been so cold)

[personal profile] haveyoutriednotdying 2024-08-10 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
"Wow, it's been a long time since I've been topside..." Not since the whole debacle with Zeus and Hera... but Charon wouldn't have brought him here if it'd bring an angry Zeus down on them, right? So it must be fine. "That was nice of 'em to send an invitation... uh, who invited you to where again?"
bloodorobols: (Default)

[personal profile] bloodorobols 2024-08-18 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Many of them couldn't leave the Underworld at all, and frankly he couldn't really see Hypnos ever coming up with a reason on his own to try. Just having him along for the ride is about the long and short of it.

Hnnhaaaah. The local pantheon, specifically the goddess that might most closely resemble their own Demeter in her domain. An auntie they haven't had the opportunity to see in a long, long time. Getting leave to come here had probably taken some doing on Nyx's part, unless Lord Hades was distracted yelling at anyone else within earshot...