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

[redmare]

[ Oh yeah, very nice. What a welcoming house. She follows after him, shuddering when the cold hits her skin. Shuddering a little, she rubs at her arms.]

Geez, the ac's a little too strong don't you thi--

[The door slams shut behind her, making her jump and yelp in surprise.]

[goingbananas]

[ Gotta hand it to the god of the place for making this place so festive! The old timey southern plantation aesthetic is pretty much unfamiliar to him, but honestly that makes their experience so much better. Don’t you just love learning exploring new places Chinatsu!! ]

Wow— [ He’d yelped when that door slammed too, don’t worry. However, he’d only cast a brief glance behind him before turning ahead to look around them. ]

Heh, guess we should’ve expected that. You wanna borrow my jacket for a bit?

[redmare]

[Him being surprised as well made her feel less embarrassed about it at least.]

I guess...

[She looks at his jacket for a moment.]

Thanks, maybe later. Maybe I just need to adjust to it.

[Chinatsu scans the house--at least, what she can see. It wasn't very well lit, as you'd expect from a haunted house.]

They've got the feel down, that's for sure.

[goingbananas]

[ Hey, it’s all part of the experience! He’s pretty sure he’s going to be doing a lot of screaming (and laughing) by the end of this, anyway.

But he shrugs at her refusal, before slinging the jacket over his shoulder for the time being. The place isn’t so chilly as to bother him to that extent, anyhow. It adds to the atmosphere, and he’s about to make some reply to that effect when something moves in the corner of his eye, and he lets out a little gasp of surprise. ]

What was that?

[redmare]

What?!

[She quickly turns to where he's looking, also taking a subtle step closer]

You're not messing with me, are you?

[goingbananas]

Why would I? [ He’s not Miyuki, after all. ] Don’t tell me you didn’t see that shadow moving over there?

[redmare]

What shado---

[Her eyes spot something move, although just briefly.]

...That's..that's gotta just be the lights messing with us. The candles didn't exactly give the best lighting.]

[goingbananas]

Heh…that must be it. [ He doesn’t sound convinced about it, though. Whatever it is, he’s braced for a jumpscare and the fact that nothing’s really sprung out at them yet is a bit…disturbing. ]

Hah, look at us. [ He tries a weak chuckle. ] We haven’t really explored this place yet, and we’ve gotten pretty jumpy already!

[redmare]

You are, maybe.

[Sure, Chinatsu.

So, it was between the creepy staircase or the sketchy hallway.]

Let's go.

[Up the stairs she went. Even if the lights were flickering like a warning, it was better than the hall was no light at all.]

[goingbananas]

[ Full of bravado, eh? He likes that. ]

Hey, careful…! [ He goes after her up the stairs, but far more slowly than she, for the steps are creating in rather an alarming way. ]

I get the feeling that we’re going to get dropped into the basement somehow.

[redmare]

Psh, they wouldn't actually do that, would they? Doesn't that only happen in cartoons?

[She continues up the stairs, pointedly ignoring the creaking. The sooner she got to the top, the sooner it'd stop.

There was a portrait hanging on the wall of the staircase though, and it made her slow down.]

...You don't think that's gonna move, do you?

[She did mean it as a joke though.]

[goingbananas]

Hey, you never know. [ It would be pretty scary if they got dropped downstairs, after all, but granted, the homeowners probably didn’t want to risk too much injury.

After making it up the stairs, he turns to look at the portrait. Then he raises a hand and gives it a wave, right in front of the painted eyes… ]

Nothing. Maybe it only moves when we turn away? [ But he’ll reach over to give it a light tap anyway. ]

[redmare]

Oh my gosh don't touch it!

[Why would you touch the "haunted" stuff? That's how white people die in horror movies!]

[goingbananas]

Don’t worry. [ He’s familiar with the tropes but he’s also dead anyway so #yolo ]

I just want to see if there are any holes or something in there and— [ And then the painting immediately drops to the floor, smashing him right in the foot and wringing out a too-loud yelp of pain and surprise for him.

Good job, Sanada. ]

[redmare]

[She couldn't even laugh, just shaking her head at him.]

Dumbass..

[Chinatsu leans down to pick up the painting and puts it back in its place.]

Let's move before you actually break something.

[goingbananas]

Ah… [ Well he can’t help a sheepish little smile for how idiotic that had been. But then a sly little thought enters him— ]

That really hurts, though~ Maybe I could lean on you for the rest of the way? [ He’s fine, if that mischievous grin of his tells her anything. ]