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

[letteropener]

I assure you, no permission was asked. If it had been, I would not be so displeased by this. [Not at all, really. Celestia is more easygoing than she seems.] And while a certain measure of this behavior can be appropriate between friends whose boundaries and tolerances are understood, I don't appreciate a stranger acting this way.

[lovemguns]

Ain’t gotta mean they’re ill-willed. [ There are different reasons behind stealing. Not all are intentionally nefarious. ] Ya’re over-reactin’, ma’am. It ain’t like it’s run off with it.

[letteropener]

I admit I think that holding onto what is mine and delivering a rebuke is not over-reacting, but I'm listening to why you think it is. [There are many, many tools at her disposal that could heighten a reaction, ones she is not using.]

[lovemguns]

Like I said, it ain’t seemin’ like they’re doin’ it out’a ill will.

[letteropener]

A prank does not have to have ill intent behind it to be a poor choice of prank. My pet Philomena once teased a poor pegasus mercilessly by dying on her. It was meant in good humor, but it traumatized the poor dear, and I would have been wrong not to insist Philomena apologize.

[lovemguns]

Sure, but’ra ya so weak’s to have this traumatize you?

[letteropener]

You prefer to wait until they do cause somepony pain, rather than guide them down the correct path now?

[lovemguns]

[ The correct path, is it? ]

They sure ain’t seemin’ like they’re up t’ anythin’ a the sort.

[letteropener]

And what if my crown had been a cherished relic, passed down to me from someone precious to me? Or maybe had been something I needed for magical reasons? They had no way of knowing that.

[lovemguns]

No they didn’t, but that ain’t matterin’, I think.

[letteropener]

And why does it not matter?

[lovemguns]

Because what matters is the reason for stealin’, an’ if the one who’s havin’ somethin’ stolen’s got the money or resources t’ make’t not actually matter.

[ He’s stolen so much from wealthy people like you have no idea. ]

[letteropener]

We've crossed a line in this discussion, then. 'Stealing' is fundamentally different from 'pranking'. It isn't well-intentioned mischief, but actual harm being caused. [Which is true regardless of the degree to which the harm can be obviated, but she really isn't trying to debate the ethics of stealing here.]

[lovemguns]

[ He shakes his head. ]

There’s different types’a stealin’, miss. Methods, reasons, victims. Maybe in th’ eyes’a the law it don’ make no diff’rence, but it does in the heart’a the matter.

[letteropener]

I'm not denying that is so. What I am saying is that I was treating this as a prank -- one in very poor taste, but ultimately harmless. Not as theft.

[lovemguns]

That so? How’s it in poor taste?

[letteropener]

[Hadn't she just explained this? Luckily, Celestia is patient and calm by nature.] Because it was enacted without any knowledge of how the victim would take it.

[lovemguns]

That ain't what in poor taste mean, lady.

[letteropener]

[Celestia turns her full regard on him, albeit without letting go of the tiara.] I am starting to feel like you are being contrary for the sake of it. A prank which takes no consideration for how it will be received is not one in poor taste?

[lovemguns]

I’ve always been a contradictory person. A prank’s supposed’a be to see reactions ‘a diff’rent sorts, I think.

[letteropener]

And yet I maintain that a prank which is actually cruel or hurtful to its victim is in poor taste, and stemming from that, a prank which the pranker neither knows nor cares how it will be received is in poor taste.

[lovemguns]

But you ain’t hurt nor’s it cruel.

[letteropener]

But our prankers didn't know that, you see. They had no idea how I would react.

[lovemguns]

Yeah, y’ said that already.

[letteropener]

I did. It is the key point. It is much like hurling a ball at somepony else. If they are athletic enough to catch it, then no harm done, but if they are unprepared or not that skilled, they will be struck. Just because in this case no harm was done, does not mean that behavior which can harm others should be ignored.