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

Lavi | OTA

[lostinshadows]

A. Possessed Possessions

Get back here!

[Better watch out.

There’s a familiar silver bird hair clip suddenly zooming past you, quickly followed by a redhead.

Lavi chases after the hair clip, growling.]

Give it back already! That’s not even mine!

[There’s some giggling that can be heard as Lavi tries to grab the fleeing hair clip.]

B. Cursed Charms - Sick

[Honestly, he wasn’t even interested in any of the charms. Sure, they looked interesting, and eventually, he was tricked into holding onto one of the charms.

It took about an hour before the effects finally kick in, making Lavi feel sick.

Anyone who runs into Lavi might find him trying to balance himself by a nearby tree. There’s an arm outstretched to touch the trunk while his free hand was covering his face.

Feel free to come check on the poor soul. Just—don’t be surprised if he collapses the moment you’re in arm’s reach of him.]

C. Then Who Was Phone?

[After finally managing to get rid of the annoying charm, Lavi is seated around the fire, looking very much done with it all.]

How annoying.

[He looks over the text message again before he gently taps his phone against his forehead.

Can this whole thing be over now?]

Sick

[priforprince]

That is hardly the posture befitting an investigator.

[ MORE PEOPLE GOT KILLED, ONE OF HER IDOLS IS CRYING, CLEARLY THIS WHOLE MURDER NONSENSE IS A SLIGHT AGAINST SHIKYOIN HIBIKI PERSONALLY

ALSO SHE IS HAVING A VERY WEIRD DAY

but she has her horse back, so there's that. And here, therefore, is Hibiki on a purple horse. The back of her hair is messy. She does not realize this. ]

What do you think you're doing?

[lostinshadows]

Trying not to faint.

[He says it in such a deadpan voice that he might actually sound lucid for once.

Except he's not.

When Hibiki gets closer, he falters.]

[priforprince]

Gh--

[ Is he serious? Is he seriously about to fall over?

Hibiki, shocked, takes a step back on impulse. She does not vacate the scene entirely, however. ]

[lostinshadows]

[Groaning, he slumps against the tree and rubs his temples.]

....Something I can do for you?

[...Help?]

[priforprince]

[ A thousand thanks for not collapsing upon her person. Hibiki shall do you the favor of not going about her day, then. Yet.

She dismounts from Maxie to get a better look. ]

If that's your condition, you shouldn't have left the temple.

C

[meowbel]

[Meanwhile, as Lavi looked at the text message, he'll be greeted by a young girl who seemed excited about the whole thing!]

Yeah, it is but look on the bright side! At least we get to be nice and warm in front of the fire! That's gotta be a good thing!

[lostinshadows]

That's the only plus side from this whole thing.

[He sighs heavily.]

[meowbel]

Well, I've got another good idea! Let's liven up the mood by telling spooky stories?

[...Which may or may not go well]

I think you'll love it!

[lostinshadows]

Do you know any spooky stories?

[He raises an eyebrow at her.]

[meowbel]

Nope!

[And she seems so proud of it!] But I can make one up! That's still good enough!

B

[birdstheword]

Laviiiiii

[There's a very fimilar voice calling his name. If he dares to peek out from behind his hand, Hajime is standing there giving him a very curious look. She can tell something is off but instead she smiles, pointing at the tree.]

Are you making friends with that tree?

[lostinshadows]

Sure, why not.

[Sorry Hajime, he might sound a little more snappish than usual, but he tries to clutch at the tree harder when he feels himself getting dizzy.

He looks worn out, small beads of sweat forming as he fights against the sudden need to collapse.]

[birdstheword]

You don't look so good.

[Her hand tilts and she tries to get a good look at him]

Awful even. Are you love sick?

[She holds up two fingers and wiggles them]

How many do you see?

[lostinshadows]

...Four?

[Lavi, no. That's two.

But his eye is closing as he feels a wave of dizziness hit him.]

[birdstheword]

BZZT! Wrong but, good new, You win a prize! A good prize too! Nice job, Lavi!

[She skips over and grabs his arm, lifting it up she ducks under it and puts it around her shoulder]

A one-way trip to Temple o' Neith! ASAP!

C

[fullcowl]

[And suddenly Izuku's entire head clears and he's left looking incredibly embarrassed.]

S... Sorry about everything.

[lostinshadows]

Don't worry about it.

[He waves him over.]

I didn't exactly help with that either, so sorry for that.

[fullcowl]

Even if you tell me not to, I can't help it.

[But he'll come over, blushing a bit from embarrassment.]

What? I don't think you aggravated me that much?

[lostinshadows]

Aggravating you to cuss is something.

[But he sends him a reassuring smile.]

Glad to see you being you again, though.

[fullcowl]

I'm mostly going to blame the cursed doll.

Thanks... It feels a lot better too.

A

[kokuyoyo]

[This is certainly some commotion he wasn't expecting.]

[Seriously. Chikusa just wanted to go out and let Mukurou have some air again when there's suddenly a hair clip flying straight at him. He doesn't even really think, only jerks out his hand to form a borderline.]

[....That thing isn't fragile or something right-]

[lostinshadows]

Chikusa, don't break it!

[Lavi quickly skids to a stop before he runs into the borderline himself, though the hair clip bounces off of the wall. Instead of falling to the ground, it lifts into the air again, moving around as if it's angry.]

[kokuyoyo]

....Oh.

[Easing up- but not releasing the borderline- Chikusa watches the aggravated hair clip.]

It's just that...?

[lostinshadows]

Just that. Some ghost decided to possess it.

[And be a pain in the ass.]