All Hallows Week, 2026

From the 24th of October to the first of November the tavern keeps All Hallows. The lamps burn a little lower, the cobwebs are left where they are, and the room goes quiet in a way nobody can quite point at. Everything here runs on the building's clock, which is Mountain time.

The Mercer's stall

A turnip to carve, or a pumpkin if you believe him about imports. A guising mask, and a bedsheet with two holes in it. All four go back under the counter when the week is out.

At the bar

Lambswool, which is hot ale with roasted apples bursting in it, and soul cakes, spiced, with a cross cut in the top. Neither is on the slate after the first.

Carve a lantern

Carve your turnip or pumpkin, light it, and it sits on your table in the tavern. A turnip comes out looking surprised whatever you meant. That is the turnip, not your knife.

Go guising

Put on the mask or the sheet and call on the regulars. Each gives you a soul cake and a line. Tue never sets foot in the tavern, so that one means a walk to the forge. They need not all be in on the same night.

Nutcrack Night

Two nuts on the hearth fire, one for you and one for a friend. Whether they burn quietly together, jump apart or roll out of the fire is decided by the pair of you, so it comes out the same whoever puts them on. Once a pair, for the week.

Bobbing for apples

On the seasonal shelf at the tables. Hands behind your back and one d6: tap a die of your own or let the house roll. A six is the apple come up in your teeth. Anything under four is a wet face.

Ghost stories

At the hearth at nine in the evening, and the biggest of them at midnight on the 31st. Being on the floor while it is told is hearing it. Missed one? Ask the teller to tell it again.

The night

From six on the 31st until six the next morning: fog, the fire down to embers, and the regulars staying late at the hearth. There is a place laid for the dead. Nobody sits in it. Nobody asks who it is for.

Wire

Plays in a minor key all week. On the night, darker still.

Six to keep

Given only this week, and they do not come round again.

• Went Guising
• Carved a Lantern
• Cracked Nuts with a Friend
• Bobbed for Apples
• Heard Every Story
• All Hallows' Eve, 2026