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

[priforprince]

The evening breeze shall ventilate me.

[ Hibiki that doesn't even make

Just as she says that, the air around her gets noticeably hotter. And smells a little bit like tea, weirdly enough. ]

[justclaws]

Surely we will be going inside?

[Haunted house.

[Over there.

[Yes, Kija did just invite himself along. Congratulations, Hibiki, you have acquired one (1) Dragon Warrior.

[It is exceedingly warm tonight. Thank goodness for this fan!]

[priforprince]

Of course.

[ But they won't be inside long. What's your point?

She doesn't seem to mind having the audience. The heat is unnerving, though. Her smile fades slightly, and she glances left and right to see whether some ill-timed and inconsiderate vendor had just begun heating their wares, or something. ]

[justclaws]

[Oh good she doesn't seem to mind.

[Or maybe she hasn't noticed. Kija is hardly going to question it, though. Bugs are awful, and while it is completely inexplicable that others should somehow not mind dealing with them, the fact remains that they can deal with them. It would be nice if Hibiki were rather bigger, but Kija is not about to complain about that.

[No, he is just going to follow her.]

It may be cooler inside, I suppose. Can you smell tea?

[priforprince]

[ Can she? Hibiki gives a subtle but experimental sniff. ] Not excessively.

[ Is there anyplace making decent tea around here, though? ....No? Alas. A false alarm.

No matter. It is hardly enough to disrupt the royal procession. ]

[justclaws]

My apologies. I must have been imagining it.

[How strange. Hopefully this is not a sign of some kind of mania.

[Kija puts the thought aside. Now is not the time to start doubting the evidence of his own senses. No, better to simply keep following Hibiki and hope he is not completely letting the side down by failing to show up wearing... well, something else. At least their destination is mercifully close.]

Is this it? It appears quite ordinary to me.

[No, he can definitely smell tea.]

[priforprince]

So it does. [ She manages not to sigh. ]

Still, if no one else is capable of such a rudimentary feat, I suppo---

[ And then someone has the gall to interrupt Hibiki by screaming their lungs out inside the haunted house. Her jaw snaps shut. ]

[justclaws]

[It takes Kija no time at all to decide that he knows exactly what the Princess would do if she heard someone scream; conveniently, it is the very thing that he would do.

[When faced with danger, run toward it.]

Quickly!

[Are you following, Hibiki?

[No matter, and no time to wait. Kija runs for the entrance, stopping short on the threshold and taking a quick, cautious look around. Perhaps-- Ah, no. No sign of the person screaming. That, he owns, is not too surprising. If the exit had been so close, then surely they would simply have bolted for it.

[How very strange. Even inside, he can see nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to indicate this is anything than the entirely innocent diversion it appears to be.]

Can you see anything?

[It seems safe enough to head inside.]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki did not run when Kija started running. Hibiki kept moving, yes, but at the exact same pace as before. Anyone screaming now is unlikely to be assisted by overexertion on their behalf. She shall defeat this menace, but in her own way. Gracefully. Setting her own pace.

Thus it is that by the time Kija's managed all of the above....Hibiki cannot, in fact, see anything.

Because Hibiki is not in the haunted house yet. She's coming, though. ]

Any true danger would be waiting further inside.

[ Obviously. Are you going all the way in or are you staying right here?

If the latter, please stand aside. She has

brace yourself

arrived. ]

[justclaws]

[It seems a good idea to get out of the way. If Hibiki is inclined to lead the way. Kija sees no reason not to let her.

[He follows, rather less impressively - though the robes are something of an advantage when it comes to keeping up with his companion. Stops short in the middle of the room, scanning (if not too carefully when it comes to what might be lurking in the shadows; there is danger here and he has to be man enough to meet it. Even if there are spiders--]

Then we must make haste.

[If there is nothing in here (as, peculiarly, does seem to be the case: nothing that cannot be explained as the work of human hands, and not very skilled hands at that), they will simply have to look further.

[Yes, that is a dark and unprepossessingily cobweb-hung corridor he is heading toward.

[They are probably fake.

[He hopes they are fake.]

Why create such a place as this? Are there not enough spiders in the world?

[priforprince]

Horror provides a stage upon which one's fears can be conquered without risk.

[ Sorry, if you wanted a different sort of explanation, you shouldn't have asked a movie star. Hibiki isn't thrilled about having to go through cobwebs either, but she at least manages to use her yukata sleeve to brush the lowest-hanging ones aside. ] Turning a true fear into a lie gives the illusion of mastering it.

[ ....was that better, at least, than her explanation of sparkling water? ]

[justclaws]

And that works?

[Spiders.

[Kija draws a breath, he forces himself forward through the cobwebs and maybe it would have been okay if one of them hadn't brushed against his cheek--

[Oh. That is cotton. Well. Now he feels a little bad for screaming.]

[priforprince]

As a self-delusion, yes.

[ The scream....irritates her. She is here in her position as a god, however, and therefore will behave as befits a god and swallow her irritation for the time being. He's only a bit character in this scene, after all...

Now, what sort of new stage dressing awaits them past these cobwebs? Hibiki presses onward. Nothing here has seemed to merit the sort of distress they were hearing earlier. ]