018 | Season Spirits

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Season spirits and spooky things
When: IC August 1-15
Where: The Near Shore and Far Shore
Summary: It's the time for spirits to get a bit more 'lively'.



August is a spiritual season in Japan with many people preparing for the Obon festival but many others get into the spirit in another way. All across Japan, people have begun to share their favorite summer ghost stories. Movie theaters advertise the hottest horror flick of the season, teenagers challenge each other to do trials of courage, haunted houses begin to pop up, and it feels like you can't change the channel without switching to some ghost hunting urban legend special. All of this talk about spirits comes at a cost, though.

July comes and passes easily enough but it's almost as if as soon as August begins, so do the incidents. There's an increase in spiritual activity and shenanigans on both shores. Some of them are harmless spooks but others are much more sinister. Arm yourselves with all of the ofuda and omamori you can find and get out there and restore peace!



Possessed Possessions

Inhabitants of the Far Shore may awaken to find their sheets trying to strangle them and shoes stomping on the floor around them. Others may go about their day and find out their teapots suddenly only serve lukewarm tea or their weapons are trying to take swings at them. They're just playful spirits that will abandon their hosts if you shove any ofuda/omamori at them or yell loudly enough. They aren't malicious spirits... they were only just trying to have some fun.

Spirited Festivals

There's a festival every weekend and some of them have set up haunted houses for patrons to visit. You have your standard haunted house thrills... costume make up, jump scares, special effects smoke, the usual! But it looks like some real ghosts have made themselves at home here. Visitors are going in and emerging hours later absolutely traumatized. It looks like once you enter, the real spirits walk you around in circles and give you real scares. There are some spirits here just to have fun thrills and these are spirits that can be chased away with regular ofuda. But it looks like the more violent ones are actually ayakashi out for vengeance. Be careful in there!

Cursed Charms

There sure are some weird trends out there, huh? The latest one is buying cursed trinkets off the internet and passing them off as gifts to unsuspecting victims whether it be to prank a friend or get revenge on an enemy. Cursed mirrors, dolls, fake ofuda, VHS tapes, and so on are being passed around the Near Shore and spreading all sorts of curses.

• Bad luck. As long as you're in possession of the cursed item, you'll be followed by bad luck to varying degrees depending on the quality of the charm.
• Fear. Holding onto this charm results in intense, crippling fear. The fear can manifest as an intense paranoia at all times or being frozen with fear in the face of danger. Some say you can even die of fright...
• Sickness. This charm is pretty straightforward. Having this charm just makes you feel incredibly under the weather and your health will worsen the longer you have the charm.
• Evil. Holding onto this charm results in you being followed attracting evil instead of warding it. Suddenly, you feel as though you are always being followed, as if something is stalking you and clearly out to get you. You begin to run into smaller ayakashi at first but they keep growing in strength and number until you can't fight anymore.
• Bad romance. Someone's meddled with a romance charm so it ends relationships instead of making them! People stuck with this charm are suddenly hyper aware of the faults of others. Everything gets on your nerves and you can't stand being around that person because they're just that annoying. It doesn't just work on couples! It also works on friends and relatives too.
• Bears? An oddly specific curse. It looks like someone has taken a protection from bears charm and made it so now you attract bears where ever you go. Some of them are nice but others...

You can try to destroy the charms but you will find that unless you have purification powers or rend it, the effects last. It looks like most people have been able to shake off the effects by simply disposing of them at temples and buying another charm to counter the effects.

Haunting Hour

There are reports of violent attacks at night-- people being pulled into alleys and attacked, school children being chased by slashers while walking home from school, homes being broken into-- and all of it is done without a single clue left behind to explain who did it. People are warned to be careful at night and as the sun begins to set, something happens. The hour between sunset and dark is supposed to be the scariest hour them all. At this time, the shadows are suspiciously bigger and darker and you constantly see things just out of the corner of your eye. Suddenly, the wind blows cold and there's a rotten smell in the air like blood. It's Oumagatoki, the hour evil spirits meet. Small time ayakashi and spirits on the verge of becoming ayakashi spill into the streets and begin to terrorize others. Protect the people of the Near Shore and watch your own backs.*

* These are just generic ayakashi! Nothing special, nothing specific. Feel free to make up and NPC your own two-bit ayakashi.

THEN WHO WAS PHONE?

In the evening, everyone will receive a set of coordinates and a message from an Anonymous sender,

I want to talk about the
mysterious things that have been happening
lately.
OF course, i
NEED
EVERYONE to come. so don't be
late! see
yoU.
:)

Everyone receives it and there is no way to track where the message came from. If you follow the directions, you'll arrive at a small temple on the outskirts of a city. A sacred fire is lit on the grounds for people to dispose of any cursed or old charms they may have collected. Hang around a bit and it'll become obvious that no one knows who has gathered all of you here tonight. The only ones around are gods and shinki. It doesn't look like any evil spirits are around so other than being invited to the middle of no where at night... there's nothing to worry about. If you wait around, nothing will happen. So while you're here, you might as well discuss the strange happenings! Or tell ghost stories around the fire.

Wildcard

Choose your own adventure! Feel free to make up your own prompts. Ronald Knox's player (diehardreaper) has offered up their temple as a test of courage in the Far Shore for those who want to try their luck. Check out their description under the Baron's manor.

In Summary:

• Beat the heat by feeling a scary chill
• Deal with cursed and spirit-imbued items
• Keep the Near Shore people safe
• Chat about your scary encounters
• Have fun~

Comments

[mithrarin]

Well. If I do have a power, it's... never come up, and I can't imagine when or where it would. So I guess that's about the same as not having a power.

[goingbananas]

[ He shrugs. ]

Sure, if you don’t mind my hitching a ride. I’d be really grateful~

[brohat]

I think so...

[He turns around and sees another hallway that's popped up behind him.]

Oh! Maybe it's this one!

[they're screwed.]

[redmare]

[Was that hall even there before?]

Man I feel disoriented...

[But with no where else to go, it was the only choice they had.]

[lovemguns]

[ He smiles at him. At long as the boy can focus on something else besides the pain, that’s good.

If he could remember that he could teleport... But his pace is brisk and he knows all the shortcuts, so they’re finally closing in on the temple, the gate is visible. ]

[smilingbullet]

[ He smiles at the compliment, ten shakes his head. ]

No, yeah, I know that. And it would. I know some people put some stuff at the temple school, but using that place might be inconvenient to Hakkai. Maybe some other old temple could be restored and used for it.

[nopixiedust]

[Whether or not Natsuru is sticking closeby for reasons that totally have nothing to do with how scary it is at night on quiet streets, Wendy doesn't mention anything about it. They are done, after all. So instead, standing on the tips of her toes, she tries to see how far the nearest street lamp is.]

[Hopefully, a street sign to let them know where they are will be there too. She thinks she's gotten a little turned upside down.]

Yeah.... And we should get something, too.

[Taking Natsuru by the hand, she starts to lead her along again. This is probably the right way...]

Like ice cream! There are stores still open, right?

[nopixiedust]

[Hastily, Wendy thinks. The power she could give to Hibiki had been immediate knowledge, and this is-]

I think you can make shadows- a physical thing? You can control them, or something like that!

[priforprince]

[ No. No, it was not the way to resound with the young lady.

Hibiki smiles. ] Perfect instincts.

[ Their next steps are the sort that might sweep a lesser woman off her feet. But in a good way. Hibiki is a very good dancer, and fully intends to both overwhelm while showing off her beautiful partner. ] Is this more to your liking?

[ She's just about got all the information she needs from this dance, now, but she wants to find the perfect resonance with her partner first. ]

[thirdbeauty]

Eh?

[Despite her surprise, there is not a hint of resistance to be found, and Wendy easily takes the lead with Natsuru trailing behind her. This also handily distracts her from focusing on how creepy the shaded parts of the street are, and turns her focus to where Wendy seems to be leading her.]

Ice cream? [Not that she's complaining, but color her confused.] Er... yeah, I think so. It's not that late...

[junkyarddog]

[When Ken looks up and sees the temple they're approaching, it's a reminder of which of the (many) temples he'd broken into as a kid belonged to Butch. And it gives him the chance to ask a question he didn't know enough as a kid to ask.]

How come your temple's a farm, byon?

[fortunesmiles]

You know, it's strange. You'd think there could be only one creator of the universe, and most religions I know of from Earth had their own deity or being they associated with that. I could believe that it's all the same deity, simply going by different names, but...I doubt that's what Neith is, right? I'd assume the god responsible for the existence of the universe, and thus responsible for the creation of all other gods, shinki, and human followers, would be the one in charge of everything...but I've never heard of there being one central authority in the heavens. And there's gods from every culture and religion I've ever heard of, so...are there multiple gods of creation? And what is that supposed to mean? They can't all be responsible for the same act.

Are some of the gods fake? Or are gods created by people, and not the other way around?

[kagenonadeshiko]

Just those two. I don't have any more on me.

[With all the sneaking and running she'd been so focused on doing before then, Ayumu had honestly forgotten she still had it.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That's something Shun can work with, and he immediately moves out of the glare of the nearby streetlights and into a darkened area. Reaching a hand out, he focuses his attention on trying to draw the shadows to him and form them into something. Preferably a weapon, but on this short notice, he'll take what he can get.]

Then we'll have to hope this works like the other powers like this I've used. [He got a crash course in Reisi's quickly enough, but they also didn't have an ayakashi bearing down on them at the time.

Said ayakashi finally slips fully into the alleyway, getting its bearings and scenting for a moment before it spots them. Its legs bend as it coils itself up, ready to spring in a second or two.]

[redotiertwo]

Mass range limit is a pretty severe limiter on the kinds of shit someone could pull with a shapeshifting power, though, so that's something to even the field.

[In theory, it means she can't just go and turn into a fly for infiltration or a dinosaur for fighting.]

[redotiertwo]

[That sure is some existential ramble on the nature of gods, but thankfully, Davesprite has a good head for lengthy diatribes. He goes off on them himself often enough, so he listens relatively closely to Komaeda's summation of the issues there.

And honestly agrees, because he's had similar thoughts himself. This place in general doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense.] I'm pretty sure it's gods are created by people here, though don't quote me on that. But it's the only real explanation for shit like that, and how we've somehow got people still worshipping gods that should have gone bust thousands of years back when their societies did. The closest thing we have to a central authority here is Amaterasu, and even then she's not really one.

[declamando]

It usually does if you're fighting ayakashi with your god. That's somewhat the point of it, in my experience. [There's a slight smile at that. She doesn't work with Natsuru often, but she has done at least enough times to have used her power.]

[letteropener]

Oh? Why do you say that?

[Celestia doesn't really deal in infiltration by nature, and her full range of magic makes her a terrible foe in combat without a need for immense size. Instead, what her power has given her is greater access to the world of other intelligent beings, most particularly humans at the moment.]

[Friendship is one of the greatest magics in existence, and Princess Celestia has been handed an insight into it few can match.]

[mithrarin]

Well... if it ever comes up, I'll let you know. [And color Dust skeptical.] Maybe my power is just to be competently sharp as a sword.

[forsakens]

[ Apparently, he had never really like expected anyone to be this ridiculously clingy. He's not used to people needing him or being attached to him, even if it's for the wrong reasons. Hell, if he could get rid of her quickly, he would have but who knows what her God would do if their Shinki ends up hurt.

That and he would rather not put Zero in danger. The other was not someone he felt completely attached to but he was a God that expected nothing of Ichiru and Ichiru had done nothing but be spoiled by his kindness. The last thing he needed was for the Zero to get hurt like he did the last time trying to protect him for whatever sentimental reasons the other had, ]

[redmare]

[Ah-- this felt better. More structure. She could definitely feel the confidence in her moves.]

Yeah, better.

[The corner of her lip tugs into a smile as they got more into it, but the more they got into it, the more Chnatsu would lose that mindfulness of her partner and start to push against her hold.]

[redmare]

[At least he wasn't saying anything. This was humiliating enough as it was. While she was walking slowly, her gaze was hard as she kept her eyes on his back. She was still bothered about earlier, and that was apparent from how briskly she walked and how tense her fists were.]

[kagenonadeshiko]

Thanks. I'll make sure to do that.

[Ayumu spends quite a bit in the medicine room when it's unoccupied, mostly just reading the books but she's tried to mix a couple of medicines of her own now and then. She doubts they're anywhere near as potent as the ones Hakkai makes but he's the god, not her. She's just an apprentice.]

Well, I'm full. Wanna head back now?

[Ayumu's not in any particular hurry to go back to the temple in the state it's in but she's not going to insist Hakkai keep her company if he'd rather get some rest.]

[reformedsinner]

I suppose we should... [He pushes his chair back, getting to his feet, and blinks as the world abruptly sways sideways and goes, at the edges, sparkly and black.

Oh, dear. So he hasn't quite shaken the illness he'd been starting to feel yesterday after all, he thinks, and tries to subtly lean on one hand on the edge of the table while he waits for the vertigo to pass.]

[priforprince]

[ There she goes again. Hibiki smirks knowingly. ]

You were made for the spotlight.

[ They keep turning, Hibiki refusing to relinquish that lead, just to see what Chinatsu would do. Almost...there.... ] Your heart longs for it. Secretly.

[ She says this with absolute confidence. ]