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]

The most useful and abusable shit you can do with a shapeshifting power is kind of at the extremes. Sneak into someplace as a literal fly on the wall or trash whatever threat you need to trash as a dinosaur or giant fuck-off whale or some fuckery.

[Davesprite has a pretty specific idea of what he'd do with a shapeshifting power if he had one, and that's applying in full force here.]

[letteropener]

Physical force is not always the best way to deal with a threat, you know. Sometimes, but I do not lack for it already. Flexibility is very valuable, though.

[redotiertwo]

It sure fucking is sometimes, though, so having the option is a good bonus for that sort of power. But yeah, the mass limit cuts off a bit of that flexibility.

[So there is some element of power balancing there, even if it's not as obvious as it could be.]

[letteropener]

Well, again, I might agree with you more if I didn't have possession of magic. Becoming a massive dragon would not make that any more powerful, after all.

[redotiertwo]

That kind of proves my point more, though, because in that case you got an ability that does literally nothing to your existing power level.

[She's definitely right in saying size wouldn't do anything to the ability of her magic...but then, shapeshifting would essentially be a cosmetic power.]

[letteropener]

[Celestia turns a full, bright smile on him, not exactly bereft of amusement.]

You are thinking of power in terms of defeating a foe, but I have been given the power to make friends and understand them more effectively. There is very little I could have been given that could have made me 'stronger'.

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite just has to give her a real long look at that, because he feels almost like puking up rainbows just at the sentiment of that.]

Have you considered a career in moralistic children's television, because I'm pretty sure you'd hit that shit out of the park and into the fucking sun.

[letteropener]

[Perhaps someday Davesprite will see it in action -- if Princess Twilight Sparkle were ever to visit the Far Shore.]

I think I had probably better stick to ruling. I do a little good there too, you know.

[redotiertwo]

I mean, ruling is kind of hard to swing here when I don't think any of us even know who's properly in charge.

[Amaterasu is the main option, but she's also apparently a kid and not around very often, so it doesn't really help.]

[letteropener]

Well, the truth is, the best part of ruling is really just a matter of being a good example, giving good advice, and watching out for your subjects. You don't need to be in charge to do any of those things, honestly, though it does make them easier.

[redotiertwo]

That just sounds like doing what gods are supposed to do here anyway. [But he's not complaining about gods actually doing their jobs.

It's been long enough now that they're pretty well out of the part of the city they were in, and this area has enough scattered woodland to likely be where the bears initially came from.]

Oh hey, I think we finally made the great passage.

[letteropener]

And with all our charges in tow, too. [She turns her smile over her shoulder to the bears, then steps aside and gestures them forward.] Come along now -- this is where you should be, and I think you'll be much happier too.

[redotiertwo]

[The bears still seem more interested in the charm, though they're erring a bit on the temptation of getting back to the woodland. The ultimate effect seems to be that they end up looking between Celestia, Davesprite and the woods as if they can't really decide which to follow.]

I think we might've confused them with the charm-switching-hands deal.

[letteropener]

You should go back to your homes.

[Though Celestia remains sweet and gentle and kind, these words have an underlying edge that hint at the iron will necessary to be a ruler of a country. Did those bears really want to tempt her actually being stern?]

[redotiertwo]

[That makes the bears blink at her and then each other as if they're not quite sure what to do about that, but somewhat reluctantly, they tip their apathy and start to shuffle off. They're still glancing back toward the two every so often, though.]

Okay, that's one problem solved.

[letteropener]

And several more to address. Would you care for faster transport back to where we were? [Now that they aren't leading bears, they have options -- and putting some distance between them and the bruins might be wise.]

[redotiertwo]

Sure. I mean, there's always the chance they'll just start following us again if we leave normally. [Or relatively normally, considering they're both flying, but details. Davesprite just wants the rest of his day to be bear-free.]

[letteropener]

[Then say no more. Celestia lifts her head slightly, raising her horn like a wand as it begins to glow -- then magic flash-cracks around them, and just like that they are back where they started, with only a lingering memory of summery warmth on Davesprite's skin to hint at the power involved.]

[redotiertwo]

[Watching a magical unicorn/pegasus use her horn-wand to teleport them from place to place is definitely up there in terms of the weird shit Davesprite's seen and felt since coming here, but he kind of can't help remarking on it once they get back to where they were.]

You know gods can teleport without all the dramatics involved, right.

[letteropener]

That was hardly dramatics.

[Indeed, for Celestia, that is not much harder than walking. She barely has to exert herself.]

And I prefer to call on my own skills when I can, since being a god grants me skills I do not have.

[redotiertwo]

I dunno, I'd call the magical flash-bang special effects dramatics. [But that's just him and making special effects jokes, because that is kind of what it felt like.]

I guess. I'd probably teleport if I could, the closest I have is spamming flashstep which takes a lot out of you after a while.

[letteropener]

Flashstep?

Isn't that a dance move from a few decades back?

[Celestia never really much got into the whole Flashdance thing, so forgive her confusion.]

[redotiertwo]

Nope, nor is it the current questionable dance craze that is flash mobs. [Rather than explain first, Davesprite chooses to demonstrate. In less than the blink of an eye, he seems to vanish from his position and then reappear a few feet away, then return to his position at the same blinding speed.]

Stepping so fast it's like a flash, get it.

[letteropener]

[Celestia blinks once in surprise, trying to make sure she just saw -- or did not saw -- what she just didn't not see.]

...That is very fast. How does it not break the sound barrier?

[redotiertwo]

Beats me. Shenanigans, probably. [This is clearly an adequate explanation and definitely not bullshitting.]

I can't really think about it too hard because. You know. Shinki stuff.