Compassion and Oblivion

The Lost Books: A Pelican Town Spirit's Eve

Author's Note:

Hello, friends!

I hope everyone is handling well as summer has come to a close and Spooky Season is upon us. Anyone else's immune system flipping them the bird right now? 🙃

Lol, anyway, in honor of Spooky Season, I figured it would be fun to whip up a chapter detailing my favorite festival in the game - Spirit's Eve! Every year, without fail, I go and get that golden pumpkin. Even when some of the other festivals become redundant in such a long playthrough, the Spirit's Eve Festival never does. Especially with the Seasonal Outfits Mod by Poltergeister!

The mod not only gives each NPC a cute and seasonally appropriate outfit for spring, summer, fall, and winter, but it also gives them all costumes for Spirit's Eve (along with much more!). I absolutely recommend the mod if you're a PC player and your rig supports modding!

In this chapter, I will be referencing the Spirit's Eve costumes from that mod.

Enjoy!

"Momma won't let me go in the maze again this year!" the little pumpkin sobs as he clings to the skirt of your gothic vampiress costume.

You kneel down beside him, giving his cheek a reassuring pat, and stroke the tear from his face with your thumb.

"Oh, Vince! It's okay, buddy. I've not done the maze myself, but Sebby's told me it's pretty terrifying. He's not going in there either!" I murmur comfortingly, wanting to reassure the small lad that he's not alone in staying out of the maze's mysteries.

Vincent sniffles. His hazel eyes are wide as they give you the perfect amount of pout to tug at your heartstrings. "I'm a big kid now! I can do it!"

You tilt your head in sympathy. In all honesty, you are entirely too stoked to see what the town has been buzzing about the last few days in anticipation of this festival. Apparently, Rasmodius, Linus, and Marlon are in charge of this town event, and they don't allow Lewis to lift a finger. When you had first heard that particular detail, you figured the old Mayor might appreciate the break in party planning. Yet, you weren't all that surprised to learn that the lack of control over the event actually made him a bit nervous.

From what you'd observed about the event so far, it's bound to be one of your favorite Pelican Town festivals yet. Of course, your body is exhausted after a long day on the farm, and the fact that the gates didn't open until 10PM. Perhaps it was due to that exhaustion that everything seemed so lifelike.

Well, the skeletons in Marlon's display were obviously real - though, you wouldn't try to convince the rest of the townspeople of that. They were all fairly convinced the monsters were nothing more than well-programmed animatronics. It's for the best that they didn't know otherwise.

However, you could hear the frightened hoots and hollers from the grown adults who are currently roaming around inside the labyrinth. Legend has it, there's a grand prize at the end of the maze, if you can find your way there in one piece. Surely, the 'in one piece' part of that rumor is exaggerated, right?

You took Vincent's hand and gave him a confident and reassuring gaze. "Alright, my little pumpkin! I will escort you through the maze, and I will protect you from all of the haunts and frights that are hiding inside."

The young lad's eyes light up as a gasp flies past his lips. He lets out a shout of delight, and throws his arms around your neck in a hug so tight that your windpipe nearly collapses. You look up at Jodi in search of her approval of your idea, and she gives you a hesitant expression - probably concerned about the potential of him having nightmares tonight, or being too afraid to go to sleep in the first place.