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

Tatsuya Enomoto | OTA

[hackberrydragon]

a. I thought they were native to Australia?

HEY! NO! BAD BEAR!

[ If one would be wandering past a local park today, one would be able to catch sight of something quite unusual: Enomoto playing tug of war with a medium sized black bear using the saber he has strapped to his side. ]

Come on... give it back... good bear. Give!

[ And as he's tugging the sword, he's starting to back away and seems to be heading to a tree where another bear is standing in the branches. Said bear seems to be waiting for the right moment, as if wanting to get the ...drop... on Eno. ]

--

b. All up in flames...

[ Good freaking riddance. At least the bears are gone. You can find him by the fire, sitting and inspecting the scabbard of his sword. There's a small grumble as he holds it to the light.

There are tiny bite marks on the scabbard. Nothing too big but if you're picky, they're definitely there. ]

...you'd think a bear charm would keep the bears away...

A.

[redmare]

[It was quite a sight, seeing tug of war with a bear. Chinatsu wasn't sure whether to step in or not, ar least, not until he was about to stumble back into a bear trap.]

AH! WATCH OUT!

[Her feet move on their own and she leaps in to push him out of the bear's war, tumbling down onto the ground with him.]

[hackberrydragon]

Wait wha--

[ And before he can protest, he's bowled out of the way of the airborne ursine. By the time they come to a halt, he's darting his gaze between Chinatsu and the bears. ]

Uh... thanks. But... we should probably get out of here.

[ The bears look as confused as he is though. ]

[redmare]

[Chinatsu opens her eyes, looking at him, then at the bears.]

....Sounds like a plan.

[She scrambles up, tugging his arm]

Uhhh--- That way!

[Was there anything that way? She doesn't know. But as long as it was away from the bears.]

[hackberrydragon]

R... right!

[ He's quick to pick himself up, making sure he's not going to lose her in the chaos as he runs. ]

Hey! Did you happen to see any bears anywhere else?

B.

[sweetdeath]

If you want to keep the bears away, shouldn't you get an anti-bear charm?

[Logic!! ... Wait. Tsuzuki'd thought that the grumble was hypothetical, but there are some suspiciously regular indentations on the guy's scabbard. Almost like a semi-circle of...

... no way.]

Are those toothmarks?

[hackberrydragon]

Yeah, you'd think. I thought it would keep the bears away though -- same way charms against evil and illness do their thing.

[ There's a sigh though as he holds up the sheathed sword. ]

The bears. Got into a tug of war match with one of them.

[sweetdeath]

Wait. I thought you were joking.

[The humor slowly drains away as he stares at Eno's sword, and then, slowly, up at his face.]

No kidding. Real bears?

[hackberrydragon]

Real bears.

[ Looking at him with the most unamused stare. ]

They came out of nowhere, I tell ya. One ended up in a tree.

A

[revolutionfalcon]

[While Shun normally wouldn't be all that invested in this situation even if he did stop to point out this guy was about to get hit by a soon to be flying bear, it's the tug-of-war that gets his attention. In particular, there's something very familiar about the colour and style of that sword.

Pausing briefly as if to weigh up the possibilities, Shun lets out a hiss of annoyance and starts heading over, pulling out his own, much shorter sword.]

Stay where you are! [His tone is sharp, and carries easily. If Eno gets any closer to the tree, he risks getting in range of that other bear. The way Shun's gaze shifts from the bear in front of Eno up to the branches of the tree and back might be noticeable as he gets closer.]

[hackberrydragon]

[ And that voice causes him and the bear to jerk and just freeze in place, like a pair of kids who just got caught doing something bad. Even the dropbear's got his attention on Shun.

But the fact that he's been told not to move is telling him there's something else he should be aware of. All it takes is a turn of his head as he notices the bear up in the tree. ]

How'd that get up there...?

[revolutionfalcon]

[In that case, Shun's just going to keep going, kick off the trunk of the tree, and leap up onto the branch to join the drop bear. At the very least, he can probably stop it hurling itself onto Eno, and he keeps a rather close eye on it even as he goes to answer that question.]

That's what I should be asking you. We're too far into the city for bears at all. [He's...honestly not entirely sure how the bears would have made it to this park, but there's a lot going on right now that doesn't make sense.]

[hackberrydragon]

All I know is these bears showed up when I picked up this charm..

[ He's still holding on to his sword though, hissing softly as he tries to keep his grip tight enough that the bear can't jerk it out of his hands. ]

H... hey! What're you doing?!

b.

[mostsuitable]

—Or that it might perhaps attract less dangerous and conniving bears.

[Is Munakata's addendum to the sentence that Enomoto left trailing off.]

Looks like you had quite the eventful evening.

[He glances over at the sheathed sword in the other man's hands, which is partly the reason Munakata had come over in the first place. That pummel and hilt, the guard, the scabbard... they all seem uniform to his own, except his scabbard has additional golden embellishments.

Lifting his gaze to the other man's,] Are you injured in any way?

[hackberrydragon]

[ Some odd instinct in him causes him to jerk, both in surprise and as a reflex. Like he should be at attention or something.

But he forces himself to calm down, shaking his head at the question. ]

Eventful's one way of describing it. Nothing's hurt though... but this got a few scratches on it.

[ Another sigh as he traces one of the marks over the scabbard. Sure it's not so bad but still... it was so flawless previously. ]

[mostsuitable]

[He looks it over again as Enomoto traces the marks.]

Weighed against your well-being, that's hardly of any consequence...

[There's a brief yet somewhat pregnant pause before] How long have you had this sword?

[That's... a harmless question, right?]

A

[thevanguard]

Uhh....

[ Well, this is certainly a strange sight to come across. For a moment, Yata can only stop his skateboard and stare at the guy playing tug-of-war with a bear of all things. But from his vantage point, he can also see what's lying in wait in the tree and he calls out a warning before the guy gets.... dropped on.

He coulda sworn those were a myth... ]

Yo, dude! You're about to be outnumbered!

[hackberrydragon]

[ Nah man they're just normally native to Australia. What this one's doing in Japan though is anyone's guess. But Eno does pause, glancing at the direction Yata's calling out from. ]

W... wait, there's another one?!

[ Still trying to yank back that sword. Bear still seems adamant about keeping it. ]

[thevanguard]

Head's up!

[ Yata calls out to him, but the guy's not moving.

So he reacts without thinking, putting on a burst of speed on his skateboard and lunging for Eno, physically dragging him out of the way as the bear up above him gathers itself and takes a flying leap...

....Dropping right on the spot Eno had been standing a moment before. ]

B

[kokuyoyo]

That's assuming they all work...

[Chikusa is sprawled nearby, watching as more and more people fling charms into the fire. He'd thought it might be a trap, and had looked around accordingly, but.... It seems like it might just be a regular thing. Maybe a god with a bad sense of humor.]

Although these sort of did...

[hackberrydragon]

I guess they do kind of work...

[ He's glancing over at Chikusa, having chucked his charm into the pyre the minute he got here. ]

Just not in the way anyone thinks it would...

[kokuyoyo]

With how many charms were spread around and being passed onto people, that was probably on purpose.

[Slowly, he shrugs.]

It's only a matter of why....

B

[candyconsumption]

[ He overhears the commotion... and he casts a glimpse to the side, looking over towards Eno. Oh... there's a face he hasn't seen in quite some time. He lounges a bit back on his arms, looking over to the pretty boy. ]

...Bear charm, Eno-kun?

[hackberrydragon]

[ There's a tired little breath before he speaks, placing his saber back on his lap. ]

Yeah. Picked up a charm from a temple. But it attracted bears instead of keeping them away.

[ And a smile and a shrug that seems to say 'them's the breaks'. At least both bears and charms are gone.]

How's your day been going?

[candyconsumption]

There have been worse ones. It seems things have gotten lively. Ironically.

[ He looked down at the weapon on Eno's lap. ]

You fight?