Shadowed Grove/Rumor Registry
Rumors
Shadowed Grove has 8 Rumors written about so far.
Shadowed Grove/IF-16.95
The Lost NPS Archives
In neat red block lettering, an NPS Standardized Irregularity Report is written on the trunk of a tree in this gloomy grove.
Documenting Researcher: [REDACTED]
Irregularity Designation: YS-[REDACTED] “The Lost Archives”
Irregularity Class: Native
Security Level: Home Run
Park Management Protocols: The “Lost” Archives do not need special containment procedures. It has never been recorded moving locations and seems unwilling to do so. There is to be no entryway leading in or out of The Lost Archives. All manner of entry will be through a small drain on the floor to be used only by Archivists with Fourth Blase clearance or higher. Under no circumstances should any light source be brought into this room. If any member of staff is asked about “lost” or “unknown” portions of the Archive they are to be instructed to respond with “The Lost Archives are called lost for a reason. They have been lost to time. There is nothing to find.”
The Lost Archives
The Lost Archives refers to a large room below the main NPS Archive basements. It is thought to have been in the Park since at least [REDACTED]. Notably, it is not so deep that it is [REDACTED] thus it is deemed safe for those with proper clearance.
This room is perpetually in darkness. Any light source brought into this room will show that it is a simple cave with no bookshelves, books or anything that might resemble an Archive of any sort. For this reason, it is necessary to be able to read the books in complete blackness as otherwise they do not seem to exist.
In complete darkness, this room is lined with bookshelves that stretch outward in every direction. It is thought to hold all information that has ever existed. The information appears to be roughly organized. With sections such as “Recipes” “Space Travel” and “Bones.” Upon reading a book within this room, the information disappears from the page as it manifests in the reader's mind. There have been [REDACTED] incidents of information returning to the same book once it has been forgotten by the reader.
Yellowstone Magic
After [REDACTED] years combing through this Archive, a shelf labeled “Blaseball” was found. This shelf contains one book on every Blaseball player who has ever played or will ever play and adds new books on its own. Notably, the information does not disappear when read like other books in this Archive.
For active players, the books are like any other book. They contain information about the player, including excruciatingly detailed biographies of their lives, their blaseball stats and everything else about them. The books for non-active players are different. They have no words and instead speak in a continuous, monotone manner about the player whose name is on the cover. The information spoken pertains to their predicted blaseball performance and nothing else. Known exceptions are previously active players, such as Washer Barajas, whose book is like that of an active player.
Addendum
These non-active player books have proved useful. Management of the Yellowstone Magic blaseball team has found a way to use these books to bring forth the player being described. At the request of Yellowstone Magic team management, a requisition can be filed with the NPS for a non-active player’s book from this room. This requisition can only be fulfilled by an Archivist with Fourth Blase clearance. The book is to be given to head coach Alf Merlinmeyer along with a vial of blood from the [REDACTED] pool.
The Yellowstone Magic's management has also found that they are capable to using "previously active" books to bring forth a player. Requisitions of these books are to be handled in the same way as "non-active."
Alf has taken to calling this specific bookshelf the “Shadows” for unknown reasons.Shadowed Grove/IF-25.35
In Another Realm
An adjacent realm that is connected to imagination and whimsy- particularly accessible by the spell scouts.Shadowed Grove/IF-32.92
The Old Place
In an obscure corner of the park, there is a run-down Ranger Station. Follow the fading road and you’ll come upon a small shack, it's weather worn walls leaning drunkenly to one side, pushing the roof into an odd angle. The windowpanes are long broken and the door hangs from its hinges, clinging to its place on the wall. Inside you can find remains of the rangers. Old coffee cups, notepads, and maps taped to the walls. There are scorch marks on the floor, the air smells of mildew.
The park is reclaiming this place, changing it into something else. Nature is crawling and creeping into the station. Grass pokes up between the floorboards, something is living in the cabinet under the sink. If you hold still for long enough (hold your breath for one second, one minute, one hour) you can hear something scuttling around the cabin, claws catching on the roughened aged wood, but you can never turn fast enough to see the source of the noise.
There is a radio in the corner of the station sitting on a small table. It was once a place of honor. Someone has pinned a copy of morse code above the receiver. The battery should be long dead, but sometimes it flickers on and an unearthly light shines from the screen of the small metal box. The soothing white noise of static fills the small cabin, cutting through the silence. Sometimes, if you’re here at the right moment, you can hear someone speaking on the other end of the radio. A tiny voice that never seems to come into focus.Shadowed Grove/IF-48.84
Shadows all the way down
This particular tree seems to branch off in two very distinct directions, as though it was deeply cut by an axe in a steady blow. The notes carved on it are arranged in two, clearly defined pyramids meeting at their tip, like an hourglass full of words. The words on the bottom pyramid seem to be written upside-down, with masterful precision. With closer inspection, one would see that some parts of the bark have been totally scraped, by what looks like big sharp claws, leaving parts of the text unreadable.
A little note is engraved under one of the roots, had one cared to inspect, words spilling from the perfect hourglass, untouched by the fierce claws :The Shadows seem to exist in some sort of astral magical plane, even I am not fully able to understand. It is very similar to ours, just mirrored. Each normal event seems to be somehow bound to a Shadow event. It is thus speculated that everything that happens above, also happens below. Everything is simultaneous.
The only proven influence of Shadows in our realm is exactly that : shadows. Upon the discovery of the Shadow plane, researchers quickly rejected their ridiculous "places where the light can't reach because something is blocking it" theory and settled into this more down-to-earth, saner explanation. Some even wonder if we, ourselves, aren't Shadows for another REDACTED. Shadows all the way down.
Sometimes, interferences happen. This is when someone gets a glimpse of a Shadow's presence, often in the reflection in a mirror, or in a body of water, instead of seeing their own image. It is speculated that they actually see is the Shadow counterpart to their presence, who happened to be standing in that exact same place, witnessing that exact same event. REDACTED may be possible passages to REDACTED.
The existence of this realm has quickly come to the attention of the different coaches and overseers of Yellowstone Magic, past, present and future, which by REDACTED somehow managed to communicate with the Shadows, and after an awful lot of paperwork, get a Contract signed with the REDACTED down there. The Contract states that, in the case of a Yellowstone Magic player being REDACTED and unable to play, or being chosen by REDACTED to be Foreshadowed, a Shadow must immediately Step Up and Emerge to replace said player. REDACTED, one of the few witnesses that have survived the sight of an Emerging Shadow, states that "after the chant the Foreshadowed player just collapsed into their shadow and sunk" and that "their shadow, in turn, simply stood up, brushed the dust off its jersey and materialized itself, bat in hand, ready to pitch"
Further research is needed.
If the "Shadows all the way down" theory proves true, that would mean the Contract is simultaneous in all realities, and thus it is, in fact, the fabled Infinite Paperwork foretold by the ancient archivists. I dare not think about that possibility, as infinite paperwork doesn't seem to be a possibility one would normally seek.
Shadowed Grove/IF-50.22
Darkness Within the Park
The Darkness Within the Park is most visible when the sun is low in the sky or hidden by clouds. When the Darkness within the Park appears, its presence is only gradually noticeable. A casual park goer will look at a tree, or a rock, or a picturesque brook and suddenly realize that the shadows are quite wrong. They’re bigger than they should be. But of course, how do you know exactly how long a shadow should be? Doubt is introduced to the mind of the park goer, and they typically move on, perhaps walking more quickly than they might have otherwise.
Should the park goer stay rooted to the spot, they would see that the Darkness Within the Park grows. The shadows, indeed longer than they should have been, will lengthen and become deeper, taking on a depth of texture that is perhaps a little more than it should be.
Any tourist foolish enough to stand their ground would find the shadows meeting and merging around them, taking on a weight and a presence beyond mere light and shadow. It would become apparent that there are things inside the Darkness Within the Park, stretching, moving, waiting to emerge.Shadowed Grove/IF-67.05
Off The Path
The places off the path, the places where things get lost.Shadowed Grove/IF-79.44
Water Within The Park
A Young, Ram-Straight Engelmann Spruce
The words spiral upward about the tree from its base, carved ever-smaller in a spindly hand that has a tendency to get lost in the shingle-like, lichen crusted peels of its greying bark. In the rain, the etchings ooze thin yellow sap, as if carved afresh.We believe this inscription, like others in the grove, refers to one possible reality for the "Shadow Roster" of the park's Blaseball team, the Yellowstone Magic. This may correspond with REDACTED, but it is impossible to say without investigations much further into REDACTED. It may also be relevant to the "Shadowed Behavior" of fan favorite players Washer Barajas and Wyatt Glover while in the shadows, as well as some conflicting accounts describing recent addition to the roster Tiana Wheeler. After consultation with divination experts, our best approximation of this inscription's function is as a ward designed to protect blaseball players in the team's Shadows from perception as long as they are at least partially submerged within the park. Its effect seems greatly diminished among players who have recently entered the shadows; in particular, Wyatt Glover was easily observed interacting with Spell Scouts in spite of being knuckle-deep in the Grand Prismatic Spring at the time.They shadows, castaway, drift in the tears of the land. The glaciers bleed and they walk among ye, unbeknownst, between fen and thumb and skies below. Let the depths play bed, the arrowgrass pillow as they sleep undisturbed by bear or whitefish or bat. Let their clothes, be they clothed, be unsullied by their home, eyes unclouded, breath easy, skin unburned, have they such anatomies.
When our name is called we shall answer, flanked in steam, from prismatic and dewdrop. The Sun will burn away our cloak of midnight, and we will walk on dry soil. Fear not the call, for you will breathe it. The chorus of night will be welcome among us, though she travels under different suns than we. Let that radiant barrier fall away.
I have already seen it.
Shadowed Grove/IF-84.42
From A Darker Park
Connected to Bluesky in some way.
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