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

[revolutionfalcon]

[That's something Shun can work with, and he immediately moves out of the glare of the nearby streetlights and into a darkened area. Reaching a hand out, he focuses his attention on trying to draw the shadows to him and form them into something. Preferably a weapon, but on this short notice, he'll take what he can get.]

Then we'll have to hope this works like the other powers like this I've used. [He got a crash course in Reisi's quickly enough, but they also didn't have an ayakashi bearing down on them at the time.

Said ayakashi finally slips fully into the alleyway, getting its bearings and scenting for a moment before it spots them. Its legs bend as it coils itself up, ready to spring in a second or two.]

[nopixiedust]

[At his extended hand, shadows shiver and flow to it like water. While there's nothing in the texture like metal or wood, it is undeniably solid in his hand although it still shifts strangely to settle into whatever he first thinks of. It's also still connected to the original group of shadows that he focused on...]

[Stuck where she is, Wendy at least has a good vantage point to see when the ayakashi shows up.]

There it is- do you think it could make a wall or something?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Whatever Shun first thought of was essentially something pointy, so the shape it ends up in is something akin to a javelin - a simple, pointed bar. The connection to the original group of shadows is somewhat of an inconvenience, but Wendy's suggestion of a wall gives him an idea, and he brings up his other hand to join the first.]

Better idea. [As the ayakashi leaps at them, Shun focuses his attention on a slightly more specific image than a wall - that being creating a series of similar spikes to the first out of the same group of shadows, all pointing right towards the creature flying at them. It's not dissimilar to a wall, it's just one a hell of a lot pointier than what Wendy was probably suggesting.]

[nopixiedust]

[Well. Whatever works, works.]

[Wendy's triumphant whoop might be a little louder in Shun's head, but she'll apologize later. There's no way to dodge something while you're in mid-air, after all, and she takes a savage little delight in the sound of impact.]

Got it!

...Right?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Even as Wendy says that, Shun's moving for a decisive follow-up.] If not, then we will now.

[He pushes both hands out, and the spikes that are piercing the ayakashi get larger and longer, practically tearing it apart. The telltale white flash rips through it, and it starts to dissipate even as they watch.]

[nopixiedust]

[Well, that certainly leaves no doubt about anything. Wendy has no shame in feeling smug at the whole event. Her and Hibiki don't often fight ayakashi... so it feels good to get rid of them at a chance like this.]

That went pretty well.

[revolutionfalcon]

Better than I expected, considering. [Most of the shinki he's had with vessel forms this silly haven't had powers that lent themselves to rending, bar Reisi who was just unnecessarily powerful in general.

After a quick once-over of the area to make sure nothing else was following that creature, Shun inclines his head as if satisfied.]

Come, Wendy. [And as soon as her form reverts, he'll add one more thing:] Yokuki, I release you.

[Apparently that's all it takes to make the name he gave her shatter and vanish.]

[nopixiedust]

[Landing as she takes form again, she pauses with her arms stretched up over her head.]

Wow, you didn't waste any time, huh?

[revolutionfalcon]

[The frown Shun gives her at that question indicates pretty well that he doesn't understand the problem.]

I was going to have to do it anyway. It might as well be now.

[nopixiedust]

I'm not complaining, you know... [Although she wouldn't have minded much about staying nora, either, but they both know that.] So, what do you plan on doing now?

[revolutionfalcon]

Continuing my patrol. It's not just ayakashi that are out of control right now. [And he patrols thoroughly under normal circumstances. With things as they are now, it only enhances the need for it.] You?

[nopixiedust]

Go home, probably? I only meant to drop by a store for something in the first place... [Her shoulders roll up in an easy going shrug.] See you around, then?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun seems satisfied enough with that answer, and he nods a little.] Look out for yourself on the way back.

[It's not exactly a safe time to be out alone, but he imagines Wendy shouldn't have any trouble fending what's out there off long enough to get back home.]