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

[lostinshadows]

I was fine when I left the temple.

[He seems to be adopting a rather sick pallor enough that he rests his head against the tree.]

I started feeling like this about a couple of hours ago.

[priforprince]

And you didn't return immediately?

[ This is not concern for your well-being. This is disdain for the state of your brain.

This is Shikyoin goddamn Hibiki believing you have made a poor life choice.

You're welcome. ]

[lostinshadows]

Moving makes me sick.

[Again, said in a deadpan voice. Why do you think he hasn't bothered budging from this spot?

Don't judge him, Hibiki.

Although, there is a cassette tape sticking out from his back pocket if she looks closely enough.]

[priforprince]

[ So she sees. That is intriguing, but overall, Hibiki's trying to work up the momentum to ride off into the nonexistent sunset. He got himself into this mess, let him get himself out.

Except if he perishes from foolishness or is otherwise indisposed, who's going to catch that murderer for her?

SO BE IT, THEN. Here she comes, because apparently no one she delegates to is capable of doing anything correctly around here. Woe is she. ]

Your timing couldn't be more abysmal. This is hardly the--

[ She has to swat at a bird that saw the shininess of her hair from above and swooped down to collect some for its nest. This sort of thing keeps happening. It's distressing, too. ]

[lostinshadows]

[Lavi blinks once, peering up at the bird.

Hibiki, throw the cassette tape at them.]

...Has anything strange happen to you tonight?

[While he tries not to vomit on her. He doubts she'd appreciate that very much.]

[priforprince]

Don't change the subject.

[ That's a yes.

Also she'll decline being vomited on, so much obliged there. ]

[lostinshadows]

Just trying to figure this out.

[He forces himself upright again.]

[priforprince]

You're blaming your own irresponsibility on some sort of incident?

[ And yet. The water droplets in her temple. The way nothing has been quite the way she likes it - a painting askew, a vase, awry. The dead batteries in her TV remote. This bird.

The fact that today, her tea was late.

Hibiki falls silent in thought. ]

[lostinshadows]

If you've been experiencing bad luck all day, wouldn't you be curious.

[Lavi leans more against the tree trunk, rubbing his temples.

He tries to figure out when exactly this happened, ignoring the way his mind seems to grow fuzzy. Blinking a few times, he reaches back to grab that cassette tape.]

[priforprince]

I wouldn't say...

[ Not luck. She's been experiencing inconvenience. Which is worse. Each small incident might have been worth shrugging off, so she has continued to attempt to do so, but taken together, now that she's thinking about it...

Though he's moving for that tape. She frowns. ]

That's rather - outdated.

[ Honestly. Get a phonograph if you're going retro. They're classier. ]

[lostinshadows]

Inconvenience then?

[At this point, he's sure he knows her well enough to detect that.

He makes a face. Holding it seems to make him even more tired.]

Someone just gave it to me and I held onto it.

[Why did he hold onto it again?]

[priforprince]

[ This bodes ill. In fact, Hibiki gets the shivers just looking at the tape. Paranoia? Or, the sensitivity and refinement brought on by an elite upbringing as heir to a multibillion-dollar corporation? Or is it something innocuous as a tape containing a track with the number 1 in the title?

There are so many reasons why something could catch Hibiki's attention! And yet, this - this almost sentence-ender-like sensation... ]

Set it aside.

[ She gestures to make her point. Behind her, Maxie tosses his head and paws the ground. He is antsy too. ]

[lostinshadows]

[It's almost intriguing how even Hibiki seems to look wary at the sight of the tape.

Honestly, he never even properly looked at it, a mistake on his part, but thinking about it now, he realizes just how careless he's been throughout this evening.

So, he doesn't put up much of a fight when he sets the tape off to the side. While being separated from it does seem to help him a bit, a sudden wave of dizziness hits him enough that he closes his eye to orient himself again.]

[priforprince]

[ ....Bizarre. But, whether or not that's the root of Lavi's distress, he can't very well remain here in that condition. The script can only, therefore, develop in one possible direction.

Honestly. She doesn't even know where to box his doll. ]

...It can't be helped. I'll return you to your temple.

[ She'll come back for the tape later, maybe. Academic interest. ]

[lostinshadows]

[Likewise.

He's honestly surprised that you're still here.

But:]

Sorry for the trouble. [Now, do you even know where his temple is?]

[priforprince]

Hmph.

[ Hibiki bends down to try and loop an arm under Lavi to get him up.

It's a good thing she's impossibly athletic....

....and less of a good thing that something invisible is moving a banana peel into her path. ]

[lostinshadows]

[...Fuck.

If Hibiki slips on that banana peel, Lavi will try to catch her. And inevitably fall down with her.

This is a Very Bad Night.]

[priforprince]

[ You think that as if Shikyoin Hibiki is the sort of person who pratfalls! Laughable.

Shikyoin Hibiki is the sort of person who sees the pratfall coming, smirks smugly, and sidesteps it

only to step in gum instead. ]

Mrk.

[ Whatever's haunting Hibiki is getting smarter. ]

[lostinshadows]

...

[Lavi just kind of sighs.]

What ghost did you piss off.

[priforprince]

I never dissatisfy.

[ That was exceedingly unpleasant! But at least she has lifted her foot, and no residue clung. And everyone, especially geniuses, knows lightning doesn't strike the same pl--

Squish. ]

[lostinshadows]

You just stepped in gum, Hibiki.

[That's not very Hibiki-like, is it?]

[priforprince]

[ That she did. And no, it is not.

She makes a disgruntled grumbly noise in the back of her throat that might be interpreted as conceding the point. ]

[lostinshadows]

[He's sick, but he'll still manage a soft laugh.

Only to be interrupted by a coughing fit. Fortunately, he'll turn his head away from Hibiki so that he actually doesn't cough on her.]

[priforprince]

[ Much obliged. Hibiki leans away, as well. ]

Are you....worsening?

[ She is clearly very unused to this sort of activity. Both the "looking after a sick person" thing and the "asking somebody if they're okay" thing. ]

[lostinshadows]

[Ugh, he feels worse alright.]

...You know, you're free to leave me here. I'll get better soon.

[Eventually.]