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

Cursed Charms

[redmare]

[Chinatsu has her earphones on, pretty oblivious to her surroundings. She's standing there tapping her foot to the rhythm of the music, waiting for the pedestrian light to give the go signal when she suddenly feels a weight on her shoulder.]

Wha--h-hey! What do you think you're doing?!

[She presses her hand against his face, trying to push the stranger off of her]

Get...off..!

[How was he so heavy?! It was like dead weight!]

[koshien]

[ poor chinatsu just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. mei's not trying to be purposefully obtuse or anything--he's just tired and dizzy and his head hurts--so luckily when she pushes on his face, it makes him sway backwards to his feet.

mei blinks, trying to get his blurred vision to focus properly. vaguely, he thinks he might pass out. ] ...sorry. [ and continues to sway just a little bit.

what're you gonna do chinatsu. he does not look good. ]

[redmare]

[Her anger subsides when she notices the state he's in]

H-hey are you okay? You don't look too good..

[She extends her hand to either side of him, as trying to balance a jenga tower with most of the side pieces taken out.]

[koshien]

[ in reality, mei probably isn't that bad. he's probably running a fever, and he's got a headache, but mei is just a big, huge baby who never gets sick. so, when he does? of course he has to be a giant drama queen about it.

he groans a little when she puts her hands on either side of him, then reaches up to rub his face with his hands. ] I don't feel good...

[ does he have the foresight to apologize to this nice girl? nope. too busy Dying, don't you see. ] I need to...temple. Back to my temple...

[ he's Suffering. ]

[redmare]

[His body felt hot. Was he running a fever? What the hell was it with guys and going out when they're sick?!

Temple? Oh, was he a shinki too then? Or a god?]

Which temple? Where is it?

[Chinatsu lifts one of his arms and puts it around her shoulder. She wraps one arm around his waist to hold him up against her and support his body--he's heavier than he looks-- and holds his wrist with her free hand.]

Hey! Stay awake! You need to tell me where to go.

[koshien]

Hmmm... [ ah.. .pretty girl helping him out? seriously, mei's blessed...

he does in fact lean all of his weight into chinatsu's side, his arm wrapping around her waist and gripping loosely in the fabric of her shirt. it's nothing like his usual, too strong baseball grip, and he blinks a couple of sleepy times as his overheated brain registers the question.

and he points. up. and more up, to a large cliffside. ] That one.

[ rip.

he pauses. ] 's Masa-san... he'll carry me.

[ sir not appearing in this film, buddy ]

[redmare]

[Chinatsu follows his finger.... What the hell was this guy doing all the way out here?!]

...Yeah, sorry, not Masa-san.

[He really is sick if he thinks she's gonna carry his all the way there. She pushes him up a little more.]

Alright, let'a go. Just keep leaning on me, okay?

[Chinatsu doesn't rush the walk, taking breaks when it seems he's out of breath. ]

[koshien]

[ if only. masa-san would definitely carry him! mei could complain at him and he'd still do it! man, he misses him. (not that he'd ever admit that out loud, that'd be tantamount to suicide.)

instead, he just leans on the girl, winding his arm around her to keep his balance and his footing. with the world spinning the way it is, he closes his eyes and just focuses on putting one foot in front of the other, taking steps forward.

he's quiet for a bit, before: ] ...thanks. [ wow how many times have you said that word in your life, mei ]

[redmare]

[Chinatsu let's out a small sigh, making sure to give him ample support.]

Don't mention it.

[She continues to walk until she notices a vending machin up ahead.]

Hey, let's stop here for a sec.

[She places him down on a near by bench before heading over to get him something, returning with a pocari sweat in her hand.]

Here, you need to drink.

[Twisting the cap off for him, Chinatsu hands it over.]

[koshien]

[ being cared for by a cute girl... this is heaven.

he takes the drink from her without much in the way of a thank you this time, taking a sip. it's cool and nice going down his throat, and he makes a sick-sounding chuckle noise. ] I actually hate this stuff.

[ but it mostly just sounds weak, and considering he downs the entire thing, yeah, he's getting over it. ]