thenearshore | 018 | Season Spirits

018 | Season Spirits

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~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[If Wendy hasn't said a god name in return, then...shinki? Not that it quite matters either way...]

If it's not meant to be used one-handed, then just lead the children away. I'll draw the threat to me.

[Riza isn't here, so Rekka can't defeat an ayakashi, if it does indeed turn out to be one. But she has a couple of tricks, and their goal is to get the children home, anyway.]

Do you know anything else about what's causing this?

Uh....

[Wendy glances back to the rest of the girls, and is only met with a lot of head shaking. She shrugs as she looks up to Rekka.]

I guess no one else really knows either. But a lot of weird things have been happening recently- my god's teapot got possessed.

[Is it really alright to be protecting them against something whose identity Wendy isn't sure of?]

[...Not that Rekka's one to talk, since she doesn't know its identity, either.]

I've noticed that...but that's benign. It's probably not connected. [Especially if it didn't happen during this hour. On the other hand—] It was benign, right?

[And then, after a glance at the children—] You don't have to go into specifics.

Well, yeah, but.... It's not like teapots can really hurt you even if they want to, right?

[Most of the time, anyway, with just a few circumstances, probably.]

So they didn't turn into something else? [Because that's one way she can think of for teacups to hurt. But that may just be her own biases talking.]

[Well...whichever the case.] They're too different... [If one thing could only go as far as teacups and other things can manifest enough to attack people, there's probably a difference somewhere, in power if in nothing else.] Taking care of the bigger threat takes priority. The lesser ones might even fade on their own after that.

[Which is probably something that doesn't even need to be said, but she doesn't consider it too important whether the two things are really related or not.]

...This kind of thing doesn't happen often, then?

No, it didn't. [A pause.] I mean, it hasn't yet, but you never know here.

[It's best not to put your money on any one thing, Wendy has found. From what she's heard and what she's experienced, all sorts of things can happen because of the Far Shore.]

[At the question, she blinks.]

You're going to have to be more specific.

That's a possibility. [The fact that "yet" is actually a consideration is a little worrying, but no more so than the possibility of ayakashi appearing at any time, so she sets that aside.] But nothing to worry about, if you and your god can fend them off. [Which is something that she just takes for granted, because she's used to the strong things giving off strong auras.]

I meant the possessed objects. [Or the spirits doing things like that at all, really.] Does that not happen often? [A pause, and then—] I got here not too long ago.

Well, it's not like I've been here for a long time either, but I don't think so? I-

[The girl whose she's holding suddenly leans in close, whispering into Wendy's ear, and she listens carefully before perking up.]

Oh! Uh, have you heard about tsukumogami?

I have. [It takes a second for it to click.] ...If that's the case, then they really are unrelated to what's happening now. [She stresses the "now" slightly, to indicate the children.]

[...And at the possible risk of scaring them—] What can you do aside from the bat?

[It finally occurs to her that if there's more than one threat prowling around, she might not be able to protect them properly. Some time ago back home, she'd had a hard enough time defending one person, so she shouldn't be overconfident.]

Huh.... Then I guess it's just bad timing.

[Anywhere else, and it might be suspicious, but Wendy isn't sure if that's just her or not. After all, the Far Shore is... weird. Even on perfectly normal days, she knows that ayakashi run around. Why not everything else, too?]

[The question has her shrug, fingers winding a little tighter around the bat.]

Well, I can make borderlines... But those only protect one side.

Probably. [To Rekka, largely-unrelated things happen concurrently all the time, so she doesn't think it odd.]

One side should be enough. [...She says, like she has any idea what form an attack will take. She may be assuming a few things about how borderlines work, based on the barrier ability one of her friends had.]

...As an aside, I haven't fought ayakashi yet. [And she doesn't sound bothered by it in the slightest.]

Oh.

[Welp. Wendy slumps forward a little bit, not happy to hear that. Because...]

I haven't really either. You know all about the stuff they can do, right...?

[She tilts her head slightly at the reaction. At this point in her life, she's not used to having her ability doubted, but this is a different place than what she's used to...] I'll deal with it as it comes.

[She knows the basics...] Besides, there are two of us. The reports don't make it seem like it's that powerful.

[Is she saying that because the children are here, or is she being overconfident again? Who knows! But she leans down to talk to the nearest children.] When you get home, I'll have to put something on your doors, to keep you safe. Don't take it off.

[The last line is way too commanding. She's...not good with kids.]

True... We have numbers on our side.

[Not HUGE numbers, but two against one is still on more on their side. Wendy supposes that's the best they can ask for.]

[The children at least react not badly to her tone, all of them nodding and giving various 'Yes ma'm' type responses. That kind of tone isn't what they usually hear, but it's close enough to the orders they often get from teachers. Wendy gets them all organized together in a small group and smiles up to Rekka.]

Anyway, I think there's a house near here belonging to someone, so time to go that way. What's the thing you have?

It's a charm. [She holds one out.]

...Don't touch it. [Nothing will happen if they do, but she wants to impress on the children that touching it is a bad thing. Just in case they accidentally jostle it off and pull down the protection.]

[It's thinking about that that she realizes that the charm would act as a kind of barrier (it is in fact a barrier ofuda), and here barriers are a shinki's domain... She looks at Wendy.] How long do your borderlines last? Can you do anything to this charm?

[Honestly, since all her tools are for fighting Horrors, she's not entirely sure this charm would even work as she intends, but at the very least, it wouldn't make anything worse.]

[The children immediately shrink back at the order, nodding, but Wendy leans forward when she's asked the question. Puzzled, she squints down at the charm.]

I mean.... They kind of take on my energy, but I've been able to keep them up for a while.... I could probably do it longer.

But... I'm not really sure what this is or how it works. I don't want to break it or something. [Which is... why she's not touching it either, whups.]

[If borderlines take energy continuously like that, then her plan—that of keeping borderlines up until morning—is probably a bad idea. (More like, 100% a bad idea, but who's counting?)]

We'll have to depend on this as it is, then. [She straightens.] Don't worry, it's very strong. [She says with a straight face. Technically, they are very strong (back home) so she is actually not exaggerating. Plus, what with the kind of god she's filling in for...embodying Rangda has to count for something. (It would count for more if she knew how to use her god ability or if she knew how to interact with Rangda's domains, but there's a first time for everything.)]

Let's get started. [She casts an eye over the children.] Which one of you is going home?

Oh. [Wendy's shoulders slump in relief. (What she doesn't know can't hurt her, gj).] Good.

Anyway, Ichino-chan's home is first. [From within the small group, a girl with pigtails nods, looking uncertain.] Do you think there's a certain way we should do this? I was just going to have everyone hold hands and.... go.

[What is planning]

[She considers it. Hold hands all the way to the door?]

That would...confuse them, I think. [Since Wendy and Rekka wouldn't be very visible to someone from the Near Shore, it'd probably look like a gaggle of kids to whoever opened the door. Which wouldn't exactly be a disaster if the children explained they were traveling home in a group, but it'd likely take longer.]

I'll go with Ichino-chan. [And Rekka can place the charm while she's at it.] If you'd protect the rest of them?

[If they do it one by one, it'll take a little longer, but..... Wendy nods confidently.]

Sure, you can leave it to me! I'll keep a borderline up until you get back. It should be simple from there, right?

It won't take long.

[Sure enough, she accompanies Ichino to the door, sticks the charm by the side of it, pauses a second to determine if the parent even sees her, watches the door close, and then she's back with the group.]

[Slightly unglamorous, but it would be better for everyone involved if nothing exciting happened during this excursion.]

What was your plan...? [She may have misunderstood some of the details.]

[Wendy's borderline is up and shining strong by the time she comes back, and she's got the girls sat down in a small group as they fiddle with each other's hair. At the sound of footsteps, Wendy perks up and is relieved to see who it is.]

Honestly...? Walk everyone to each house in a big group, fingers crossed that nothing weird happened.

[It was the first thing to come to mind.]

[Rekka was thinking she'd only need to escort a child up to their door, so their plans synergize, pretty much.]

Then let's head to the next one.

[BUT FIRST. She regards the borderline, and reaches a hand out to touch it.]

Got it! Yusa-chan, come on.

[As Wendy turns around to help another girl up to her feet, she's mostly oblivious to how Rekka is messing around with her borderline, up until she turns back to face it and sees her hand going through just a little.]

What?

[Her hand going through the borderline is not a good sign. But...maybe Rekka's just used to barriers that turn things away somewhat violently.]

What were you guarding against? [...Hopefully not a person, because if so, she may have some bad news.]

018 | Season Spirits

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