{"title":"Stories from Around the Netherworld","description":"\u003cp\u003eStories and comics from around the Netherworld, a sprawling dimension of monsters and ghosts, witches and wizards, mermaids and countless creatures that go \"bump\" in the night.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThemes range from slice-of-life grocery store shopping to fantasy dungeon crawling, often focusing where they mix. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eMagic is rich, the world is soft, adventures big and small are plentiful.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"our-turn-to-pass-out-candy","title":"Our Turn to Pass Out Candy","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Letter\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe morning was chilly and more than a little foggy, the bedroom is especially cold and still, the blankets a perfect combination of softness and warmth. Red Leaf, somewhat roused, was greatly enjoying not doing much.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA sound in the foyer announced the morning mail’s arrival. Awake, fully and instantly, Strawberry sat up instantly. “I’ll get it!” she giggle-shouted. A quick hand gesture magicked a bubble of water around her tail and, within a heartbeat, she was down the hallway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dryad remembered the day’s importance on the calendar and quietly counted the seconds, until predictably, “LEAF-FIE!” Ah, so it is our turn after all, Red Leaf thought to herself, pushing herself into a sitting position.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHalloween is celebrated regularly, throughout the Netherworld, throughout the year. Neighbors take turns offering trick-or-treat destinations, allowing everyone a chance to pass or seek candy. And this weekend \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Leafie, Leafie!” Strawberry giggled madly as she dove from her bubble back into bed. “Leafie! Wake up, Leafie!” the mermaid shook her wife excitedly — “We have! To get ready! It is our turn!” — and with increasing intensity — “To pass out! CANDY! Leafie! We have to go SHOPPING! LEAFIE! HALLOWEEN!!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dryad gathered the mermaid up in her arms and buried her face in her storm of hair. The mermaid made plans about decorations they would need, candy they should hand out, the amount of pumpkins to order, offered several questions, ideas, and a million other details without pausing for responses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Leafie how will we get ready in time? We have so much to do.” Strawberry rolled over to face her wife, anxious ocean blue eyes meeting bemused sunset copper brown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One haunt at a time, soft waves,” the dryad kissed her wife.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePlanning to Plan\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStrawberry fussed over the letter all breakfast, offering ideas and plans. Red Leaf kept quiet, offering commentary and suggestions, mostly letting her wife ramble. Both love Halloween and trick or treating, but Strawberry was by far more social and outgoing. This was her territory.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do you want a coffee?” Red offered and made enough for several mugs despite Strawberry declining — and true to expectation — the shopping-list-crafting mermaid absentmindedly drank the dryad’s in a single gulp. Red Leaf refilled their mugs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eGathering Costumes\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I am so excited!” Strawberry later beamed as she settled into their scooter’s sidecar. She adjusted her helmet strap, fidgeting in the water-filled compartment. She checked her list needlessly, having already memorized it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe scooter dutifully put-put-put-put-putted as they left Autumn’s Lost Wood, the forest surrounding their cottage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor about an hour, the mermaid and dryad browsed the latest costumes in The Illusionist’s Bureau. “Should I be a photo booth?” Red Leaf asked, holding up a wooden box. “I think it even\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e—” pressing a button, she set off a bright flash. A whirling sound followed, and from a small slit near her hip, Red Leaf’s costume issued a photo of a confused dryad and laughing mermaid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m going to be soup and sand witches!” Strawberry beamed. An illusion generating ring transformed the water bubble surrounding her fish tail into a bowl filled with broth, noodles, and cartoonishly large vegetables. She held a shirt up to her chest featuring a drawing of a tentacle sandwich and a conical hat above her head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCostumes, along with novelty spider rings, cobwebs, orange and black streamers, and seven dozen or so paper mache bats, ghosts, and cats were purchased. The shopkeep wrapped and bagged the accoutrements and set them aside to ship to their cottage. “You’ll come too? This weekend?” Red Leaf asked as she wrote the address on the bill of sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes! You must!” Strawberry insisted of the shopkeep, adding a treasure chest to the counter. The fairy clerk promised he would and rang up the extra order. “I don’t mean to brag but we are going to have the best candy,” Strawberry promised, her voice dipping into a conspiratorial whisper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eCandy Acquisitions \u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe couple’s next stop was to The Coffin Maker’s Cupboard, a grocery store in Peyroux, the tiny village nearby. A smiling, if mildly exasperated, Red Leaf pushed a shopping cart behind Strawberry, who flicked her tail slowly, propelling her water bubble. “Three dozen chocolate goblins, twenty bags of slime coins, how many bottles of cat whisker licorice?” the mermaid asked before answering her own question. “Ten cases of pumpkin juice, oh Leafie! Ectoplasm is on sale!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Should we get dinner to make at home while we are out here or do you want to go to the diner?” Red Leaf asked, picking up a bottle of swamp stock they would need tomorrow night either way. She looked up to see Strawberry deciding between two flavors of lollipops. “Let’s get both, love.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But is it too much?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes,” Red Leaf chimed happily. “We will grab a bite at Creepy Crepes and review our plan, what do you think?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, please” the mermaid said, blushing in mild embarrassment at the large pile of treats. Her love of the holiday matched her love of spoiling friends and neighbors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlong with the candy, they procured printed treat bags and globes that would, when bounced, brighten with light and follow the bouncer. They found sticker packs and jack-o-lantern candles, faux vampire fangs, and lightly enchanted rings that detect and enhance costumes. Strawberry invited the store’s cashier, the monster bagging their groceries, and everyone in line behind them to come trick or treat that weekend.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You won’t be able to miss it!” she promised “We are in Autumn’s Lost Wood!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Diner\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRed Leaf later watched her wife drink the chocolate bat sprinkle milkshake later as they finished their meal. Bright and energetic, Strawberry encapsulated joy in abundance. “Leafie this is so good! Try it!” Not for the first time, not even for the first time today, Red Leaf silently marveled at her wife’s luminous spirit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dryad took a sip of the milkshake, “Definitely having one of these,” and raised a hand to call a ghostly waiter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStrawberry beamed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Cottage\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA cozy, moss and lichen covered log structure with stone accents, it is picturesque in normal times and downright frightening tonight. Illusions covered windows, making them appear broken and full of spiderwebs. Ghosts pop up and zoom about, teasing and delighting and terrifying. Cobwebs stretch from surface to ground, the perfect backdrop for things hiding and lurking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack-o-lanterns with faces delighted, scary and scared, line the path to the cottage itself. The autumnal smells of cinnamon and burning leaves and waxy candles in pumpkins fill the air, drawing you in, singing the songs of Halloween, lost places, moonlight spells, pacts made in the dark. Secrets. Wishes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA giggling mermaid, dressed as a bowl of witchy soup, awaits you at the cottage porch. She is flanked by a smiling photo booth dryad, taking pictures of all the trick or treaters posing in their costumes. Strawberry hands patrons a token bag while Red Leaf loads up offered buckets, pillowcases, pails. Candy,  of course, and spells, magic scrolls, more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll are invited to partake of cups of cider, hot chocolate, cold root beer, to explore the cottage and the surrounding forest. To dance and sing. To carve up a pumpkin companion — it comes to life after the last knife slice! Floats and follows, bobbing in the air, howling and laughing and merry-making.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrick or treat!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Netherworld Post Office","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42628126277693,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0568\/7499\/1677\/files\/netherworld-post-office_our-turn-pass-out-candy_v01.jpg?v=1778728950"},{"product_id":"icy-hands-of-wintery-doom","title":"Icy Hands of Wintery Doom","description":"\u003cp\u003eFutura inserted a peppermint stick into the candy keyhole and turned it, locking his front door. An elven wizard, Futura defies tradition and lives in a gingerbread house, a confectionary architecture style typically favored by witches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is perhaps the only non-wizardry thing about Futura, who otherwise keeps the traditions attributed to magical scholars deep in his heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA snowball hit Futura on the back and the sound of howling laughter filled the surrounding forest. “Good morning, master wizard,” a voice rang out, its owner having vanished before the ensuing volley of retaliatory magic was inevitably cast.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e“I will get you yet, Mushroom!” Futura snarled as he dusted the snow from his cloak. He glowered as he headed into the forest for the day’s work: researching wintertaste fungus.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike many wizards, Futura spends much of his time researching extremely nuanced aspects of the area surrounding his home, measuring enchantments and their effects on the local environs and developing new ways said magic could be harvested.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd like many adventurers living near a wizard, Mushroom, a forest gnome, spends much of his time tormenting Futura.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat evening, upon returning home, Futura brewed a pot of onyxcrush coffee and laid out the notes he had taken. One pot of coffee, two cubes of precisely measured sugar, one small pitcher of icecloud cream, one spoon, one saucer, one cup, one journal, one inkwell. Futura is so regimented his clock chimes all retired years ago, there is simply no need to announce the time when routines do not waver.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wizard sat down in the study’s sole chair and poured one of the three cups of coffee he would drink and began to review his notes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e“Mushroom.” Futura glowered. He set his research aside and started pacing the room. “The gnome must be dealt with, these distractions are mounting.”\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom a small cubby on the south wall, Futura withdrew a scroll and cast an Illusion of One Whom is Known spell, summoning an image of his feisty forest foe. The scroll, its magic spent, burned to ash-less smoke. In another room, a ledger automatically catalogued the scroll’s use and ordered a replacement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt wasn’t until the logs in the fireplace popped that Futura realized he had been staring at the illusion’s summer-warm brown eyes. Futura caught himself smiling with a startle. Annoyed, he waved his hands frantically through the illusion, dissolving it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe eyes faded last.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe next morning, on schedule, twelve minutes after sunrise, Futura turned the peppermint key into the candy keyhole and locked his gingerbread front door and, on schedule, Mushroom threw snowballs — but they went through Futura cleanly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What is this?” Mushroom called out merrily.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e“YOUR DOOM!” Futura cried out, bringing down an entire cloud’s worth of snow onto the gnome. The “Futura” at the door flickered then vanished. An illusion.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMushroom, howling with laughter, climbed out of the pile and slowly got to his feet — just as Futura himself was knocked down with a snowball hurled from another, unseen, party. Mushroom laughed louder than before, grabbing onto a tree to steady himself. Unfortunately for Futura’s dignity, Mushroom’s belly laughs shook the tree so hard a batch of snow fell on him, and at this, Mushroom guffawed so deeply he fell over into the snow, rolling around on his back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What was that?!” Futura demanded!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\n\u003cem\u003e“Your \u003c\/em\u003edoom, apparently, master wizard,” Mushroom giggled as he began making a snowball.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That was the good miss Strawberry, and undoubtedly her wife, Red Leaf, not far behind. We best prepare a counter attack if we are to survive and drink cocoa later,” he gasped, mirthfully and breathlessly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“On the same side?” Futura involuntarily brightened at the idea of participating in a snow war. For the first time, ever, his notes and work were forgotten, left to wait in his satchel and scroll tubes. “Together?” he asked tentatively, his voice a half-octave higher, cracking in anticipation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNone of this had been planned! In fact, this is the very opposite of his plans! You can’t just have an unscheduled moment of spontaneity!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMushroom winked and handed him a snowball. “It’s a date!”\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFutura paused a moment, watching Mushroom run in the direction of the unseen Strawberry and Red Leaf. “Date?” he repeated, with a soft smile and a softer tone. His reverie was short lived.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We best run! They will have a fortified snowbank nearby, we must catch them before they reach it!” Mushroom called back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDirect action, now clear, Futura adjusted his winter cloak and reviewed his prepared spells, mentally sorting them into a list ordered by situational novelty.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Netherworld Post Office","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42966105620541,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0568\/7499\/1677\/files\/winter-doom.jpg?v=1769764584"}],"url":"https:\/\/netherworldpost.com\/en-ca\/collections\/stories-from-around-the-netherworld.oembed","provider":"Netherworld Post Office","version":"1.0","type":"link"}