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

[redotiertwo]

That sounds way more like a thing we could actually pull off. Wall writing is my fucking forte, neon orange is the new blood red and nobody will tell me otherwise.

[And keeping them in for a while would just about guarantee they'd be bolting for the exit as soon as possible. This is an exciting prospect.]

[kokuyoyo]

I don't think they'll be able to while you're pulling this off.

[Turning his phone to silent and tucking it away, Chikusa checks his position.]

...I should be able to draw a line from here without being seen.

[redotiertwo]

Well, that's the fucking end goal, isn't it. [If nobody can tell Davesprite he's wrong, he can carry on the delusion and everyone can be moderately content with things.

Giving Chikusa a mild thumbs up, Davesprite scopes out the room.] I should be able to write a thing whether you've got the borderline up or not, so I can make that show up when the next group actually gets into the room.

[kokuyoyo]

What's the usual time inbetween groups...?

[Are they going to keep getting bombarded or will they be allowed to be mildly lazy assholes just fucking around in an empty haunted house is the question.]

[redotiertwo]

A couple of minutes. Having a shitload of people in the haunted house at once kind of ruins the effect, you know.

[So mildly lazy is sounding good right about now, though they've spent a fair bit of those few minutes already.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Listen... Those minutes were spent researching, okay? Still, Chikusa does ease back for some waiting.]

Wake me up when it's time.

[He doesn't close his eyes.]

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite just watches him for a few moments like he's trying to see how long he can keep his eyes open while supposedly sleeping, then just shakes his head a bit and keep watch.

In a few minutes, there's the sound of footsteps from the other rooms, and Davesprite prods Chikusa with his tail.]

Good not-morning, sunshine, it's showtime.

[kokuyoyo]

[As it turns out, pretty long, although he does blink eventually. What's more important is the barely existent swat he makes towards Davesprite's tail as he shifts forward again with his hand at the ready.]

Good to go when you are...

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite leans out a bit into the next corridor to see how long it's likely to be before their group arrives - it's a pretty typical case of a couple of girls pretending to be more scared than they actually are and a couple of dudes pretending nothing can touch them.

Retreating back to the edge of their room, Davesprite gives a thumbs-up and looks inside, focusing for a moment. There's a glimpse of orange neon text suddenly scribbled across the walls before Davesprite closes the door.]

We're good here.

[kokuyoyo]

Need a refresher on your lines?

[Last chance before his phone disappears forever. Chikusa's clearly not expecting him to, however, as he makes himself comfortable with the phone already gone.]

[redotiertwo]

The lines are already written, dude, all is well with the world. [And good thing, too, because those noises are starting to come much closer to their corridor. A moment or two later, a group of four older teenage boys and girls comes through the door from the previous room, either laughing or looking faux horrified.]

[kokuyoyo]

Good.

[That means he can focus on listening as the group's footsteps echo dully against the walls of the little room, and he waits for everyone to finish before drawing out a borderline.]

[redotiertwo]

[They go so unnoticed by the group that one of them ends up walking straight into the borderline after a few moments, and though they hadn't looked too worried at first, now they're definitely looking a little rattled. Looking around at the walls, the two boys start pushing against the barrier in hopes they can pretend they're entirely okay with this situation.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Chikusa doesn't really smile much. Somehow his genes missed the memo on how to pull off that particular facial stunt. Still, there's a certain easy relaxed slump to his body similar to a cat's as the guys try in vain to break through his borderline.]

[He's suddenly realizing why Davesprite has been doing this.]

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite also doesn't smile much, but he is watching the situation unfold with a vaguely satisfied air. He's not planning to let it go on long enough to be more than a bracing freakout, but it's still a job well done.

For them, at least.]