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

[mithrarin]

This got a bit more exciting than I thought, huh?

[Dust is close on her heels, still alert despite his more casual tone.]

Guess I owe you a big apology...

[fortune_detective]

It's certainly more than I would ever care to experience again.

[She's swearing off haunted houses for good after this. No more spooky attractions for her. None.]

[She gives Dust a puzzled look.]

Apologize for what?

[mithrarin]

Dragging you in here. You wouldn't have come in if I hadn't insisted...

[And then all this happened. He feels a little bad about pushing into a haunted house when it legitimately terrifies her instead of being good fun. Not TOO bad, because it was always supposed to be harmless.]

[But putting her in danger? That he feels bad for.]

[fortune_detective]

[Naoto sighs at that. It's true that she really hadn't been all that keen on entering this haunted house in the first place. However...]

I agreed to walk through with you, didn't I?

[She gives him a small, warm smile. She really doesn't feel any hostility or anger towards him for this.]

You had no way of knowing that we'd run into ayakashi like this. And if anything, it's mostly thanks to you that we've been able to fend it off.

[mithrarin]

You did your part. Don't underplay that for a second. [And that part had suited his own style well, so that made things all the better.]

Still, I owe you one. And you're not going to argue me out of feeling that way, so you might as well not try.

[fortune_detective]

[She lets out a soft, exacerbated chuckle.]

Well, let's worry about getting out of her first. Then we can talk about who owes who.

[mithrarin]

Right. I'm thinking we might want to hurry our way out instead of leisurely enjoying it. Thoughts?

[Somehow, he doesn't think she's going to disagree...]

[fortune_detective]

[Naoto shakes her head.]

No complaints here. Shall we press on then?

[mithrarin]

Right. Let's go.

[And at that, Dust bolts into motions, charging down the hallway at a surprisingly quick lope. He takes the next door with his shoulder, crashing into a room full of dry ice fog and shadows without so much as looking. No more messing around!]

[fortune_detective]

[Well, guess they really are throwing caution to the wind here. Naoto takes off after Dust, following him as best she can. He really is very fast though, so she'll likely soon be sucking wind trying to keep up to him. She blinks in surprise as he barrels through the next door shoulder first. Despite the potential danger of their current situation and how much misery this little attraction has otherwise already caused her, she does feel a little guilty about wrecking the haunted house. It's not as if its makers intended for it to become infested with ayakashi after all. Again though, if it means they can get out of here faster, then Naoto will just keep any complaints or words of caution to herself.]

[mithrarin]

[Dust isn't explicitly trying to wreck anything, honest -- he's just stopped caring about pauses to appreciate the scenery. He barrels through a waving cloth curtain, past a startled employee who had been preparing a jump scare, and down a long passageway lined with spandex, through which hands stretch to claw at him.]

[fortune_detective]

[Naoto hurries to keep up. Admittedly, it does give her a little bit of pleasure seeing the slightly discombobulated employee who'd been poised to jump-scare them. But that smug feeling immediately fades as she reaches the passageway of hands. She skids to a temporary halt, staring at the way ahead with a look of disbelief. Seriously... how much more of this would she have to go through? With a mixture of a groan and a sigh, Naoto begins to trudge along again. Doing her best to swallow her discomfort and any potential cries of shock as the arms periodically fly out at her.]

[mithrarin]

[Dust charges on! For like half a dozen paces, then he comes to a stop, turning to look in her direction a bit curiously.]

Uh, we lost some momentum, here.

[fortune_detective]

[Naoto gives him a look of "Seriously?!" as she continues to struggle through the corridor of hands. She's trying her best here. She's already not too keen on jump scares or people touching her, or at least threatening to do so, without her consent. So this hallways is a bit of a double whammy for her. After a moment though, she does manage to struggle through. Once she's clear, she doubles over and lets out a deep breath that she'd apparently been holding that entire time. She then lifts her head slightly to look up at Dust, lifting an eyebrow that says "Are you gonna say anything else? Or we can just go already?"]

[mithrarin]

[Hey, they can't get out of here faster if they slow down for every adventure. Don't make him carry you again!]

[One awkward moment later...]

We've got to be almost through. Come on!

[Picking up as if he hadn't ever slowed down, Dust whirls to charge on ahead -- tromping through the next door, only to come to a total halt as his words prove entirely true. The exit awaits beyond, along with a couple of people who fortunately have failed to notice the Far Shore resident smashing out into their midst.]

[fortune_detective]

[Naoto lets out an irritated sigh, as she continues on. All of her discomfort and fear now turning into a kind of anger and just overall feeling of being done with this. Thank goodness though, it looks like they're finally free. It's impossible for Naoto to completely hide her relief about having this whole ordeal seemingly be over. She even picks up speed as she tears through the last of the haunted house and out the exit door. Finally stopping to catch her breath once she's clear of the attraction. She couldn't care if people were staring at them or not. She was back on the outside and so very grateful to be thus.]

[mithrarin]

[She can say it's fine all she wants, but Dust still feels immensely guilty at having coaxed her in. If he'd known...]

[Well, he didn't, and she'd agreed, but that just lessens it slightly, not alleviates it.]

So. After that... I think I owe you some ice cream or a parfait or something.

[fortune_detective]

[She looks up at him, still trying to finish catching her breath but also still smiling from the relief of now being outside.]

If it's all the same to you, I think I'll take a rain check on that. I really should meet back up with my god and inform him and the others of the ayakashi presence.

[mithrarin]

Yeah, I meant -- eventually. The ayakashi are a bigger problem. [Something he needs to get Takumi to come back here to help with.]

...Even if fighting them was kind of fun.

[fortune_detective]

[Naoto nods her head, grateful for his understanding. She also manages a slightly more cheerful looking smile as Dust reflects on their little confrontation with the ayakashi.]

Well, I'm glad at least one of us had fun.

[Truthfully though, she was very grateful to have him there with her to fend off the threat. She doubts she could have handled nearly so effectively if she'd been caught on her own.]

You are certainly a skilled fighter, Dust.

[mithrarin]

[...but he'd brought her in there to begin with. So.]

And you're really good with Borderlines. We'll swap tips someday.

[There ought to be some sort of comradely gesture they could swap right about now, but Dust doesn't know it. He's starting to wonder if he ever worked with anyone before...]