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

[lostinshadows]

Seems like the ghosts are really enjoying themselves this year.

[He rubs the back of his head.]

This is going to be annoying.

[And this is supposed to be a fun thing, isn't it? He was sure he heard some dolls moving earlier in some other part of the house, too, as part of the 'attraction'.]

[thevanguard]

Wait, are you telling me they're really real? I thought this was supposed to be some made-up thing!

[lostinshadows]

It's haunting season right now, isn't it? Real ghosts are--

[He suddenly cuts off when he hears a childish giggle. Blinking a few times, he tries to locate the source before he sees a porcelain doll standing behind Yata.]

[thevanguard]

[ Yata had heard it too. And nearly jumps another foot as he spins around to face the direction it had come from.

At least this time he's quick to spot the doll. ]

Is that... is it staring at me?

[lostinshadows]

...I think so.

[It takes a step forward.]

Don't freak out.

[thevanguard]

[ Too late. ]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

[ Way too late.

Yata immediatly steps back and practically shoves Lavi in front of him this time. ]

Kill it!

[lostinshadows]

Oi, oi, aren't you the one with the fire powers?

[Why is he suddenly being in charge of ghost duty?

But the doll is giggling again, tiny head tilting to the side.

"Let's play. Let's play.

Let's play."

Lavi watches as it slowly begins to rise up into the air, bemused.]

[thevanguard]

[ Oh my god, it's giggling and talking and flying and if Yata had any idea of which direction was the best one to run in, he would so be gone in .5 seconds.

But as he does not, at least Lavi has said the magic words to remind him he's not entirely defenseless here.

Which is why the floating doll in front of them promptly bursts into flame.

Only then it's a flying, giggling, burning doll. ]

[lostinshadows]

What the fuck--

[Grabbing Yata, he shoves him down as Lavi ducks himself as the doll flies overhead.

Lavi looks up warily, hand on his head as he tries to find a way out of this. Hearing another giggle, he looks over his shoulder to see another doll coming.]

...You've got to be fucking kidding me.

[thevanguard]

Why is it, every time I run into you, terrible shit happens?

[ Yata's voice is exasperated, neglecting for the moment that the dream fights they'd had had been entirely his fault.

He's not taking responsibility for this one though. Nope. He had nothing to do with this. They're obviously here for you, dude. ]

So if setting the damn things on fire doesn't work, what will?

[ Because he'll be honest here, 'kill it with fire' is usually his default in these situations. ]

[lostinshadows]

You act like I do it on purpose.

[You're the one with the creepy dreams.

and Lavi is slowly getting tired of the dolls.

So, when the other doll gets closer, Lavi forsakes all sense of self-preservation to pick it up and toss it at the flying doll aiming for them.]

[thevanguard]

[ Yata ducks when Lavi pitches the second doll over his head towards the first one (if only he'd brought his bat, they could play baseball). It gives an eerie wail as it goes flying overhead that raises the hair on the back of his neck but the throw was a good one and it has the pair of creepy dolls colliding and dropping to the floor in a burning pile. They both twitch but don't seem to be getting up again. ]

Are they dead?

[ Were they already dead? He doesn't even know at this point. ]

[lostinshadows]

For now.

[Come on, Yata. Time to go around and leave the burning pile of dolls.]

Let's get moving and find a way out of here.

[thevanguard]

Fuck yeah.

[ He gives the burning pile of... whatever that is, a wide berth, sticking close to the walls instead as he moves around it, eyeing it with skeptical disgust. ]

Ugh, it stinks, too. I am all for getting out of here.

[ Except they move out of this hallway and into the next and Yata stops short. And stares.

It's a hallway full of doors, over a dozen of them at least. So many choices and impossible to know which one might lead to the exit.

Somewhere up ahead, behind one of them, comes another of those eerie giggles. ]

....Shit.

[lostinshadows]

I'd say blowing our way out of here, but there could still be other people in this building.

[But the moment they step into the next hallway and there's nothing but doors, he stares at it, bemused.

He sighs, head almost hanging.]

This is insane.

[Lavi wishes he had something to go against spirits.]

[thevanguard]

....I think it's time to rethink your blowing our way out of here strategy.

[ Yata looks so very unimpressed right now. ]

[lostinshadows]

You're the one with the fire powers.

[He rubs his face.]

This is annoying.

[thevanguard]

[ Yata glances around them for a moment. ]

Only I don't know what direction to burn. I mean, we could just go down the hall and open all of 'em until we find one that looks like it goes somewhere else?

[lostinshadows]

Sounds like a plan. Just don't freak out if a ghost stands right behind the door and stares at you.

[Because that's going to happen.]

[thevanguard]

[ ..... ]

Uh. On second thought, why don't you go open all the doors and I'll set anything on fire that comes out of them!

[lostinshadows]

You're really not a big fan of ghosts, are you?

[But he'll go ahead and start opening doors.]

[thevanguard]

Sh-shut up! No one's actually a fan of ghosts!

[lostinshadows]

Ghosts aren't usually so bad unless they're the vengeful types, anyway.

[thevanguard]

I don't care, none of them are my type!

[ That.... didn't come out the way he'd meant it to sound. ]

[lostinshadows]

[Lavi laughs, opening a door.]

You know, it could always be worse.