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

[thevanguard]

[ Oh, he hears it, alright. It has him giving the other guy a skeptical sideways glance because are you fo real, dude? ]

Uh. Sure. If you want? We gotta find the thing first. Don't suppose you noticed anything weird here, did you?

[ ...You can try, Reisi. ]

[mostsuitable]

[Look him over again, and anyone could tell Reisi is fo real. Always.

Anyway, Reisi examines their surroundings before replying.]

Other than a wafting foulness in the air, nothing in this area. It's possible there's something in the direction that smell is coming from, or that whatever it is will soon come this way.

[thevanguard]

[ Yata considers that a moment, swinging his skateboard back and forth underfoot. ]

I don't wanna wait for it to come to us. I think we should go find it instead.

[ Impatient much? Him? Naaaah. ]

[mostsuitable]

[He hums as he thinks.]

Very well.

[Not that Reisi minds. In fact, he finds Yata's eagerness somewhat endearing.

Since nothing in this particular area seems affected by who- or whatever Yata's searching for, Reisi quickly sets up a borderline to secure it.]

Only you and I can pass through it. Let's find the miscreant and teach them a lesson.

[thevanguard]

[ Yata stares at the Borderline for a moment before huffing an indignant sigh and swinging his bat back up to rest on his shoulder once more. ]

Yeah, yeah. Let's go beat some sense into whatever's doing this. Apparently whatever it is has been a real menace.

[mostsuitable]

[Jeez, Yata. It's not like he made one just to make you jealous or anything.

So they make their way down the direction the smell seems to be wafting from, and gradually things start to change. The smell becomes stronger and more distinctly like blood. The wind seems colder, an icy feeling prickling their exposed skin. The shadows around them appear darker and longer somehow.]

We're close...

[thevanguard]

[ He is still taking personal offense to its very existence, sorry dude. ]

Yeck. It stinks down here. What the hell is this thing?

[ Because complaining about it helps with that weird, creepy feeling he can feel sliding down his spine. Yeah, he doesn't like this at all. ]

[mostsuitable]

[Complaining is permissible so long as it doesn't get in the way of his capabilities. Especially if it'll help him cope.

As they press onward, Munakata notices that he'll spot something large and dark from the corner of his eye, but it's gone the moment he turns his attention to it. The scent of blood is stronger still, mixed with death and decay in the chilling wind.

The foul odor seems to be coming from a nearby residence surrounded by a concrete wall. The metal front gate... appears to have been eaten through by tiny creatures rather than torn down by anything large. Beyond that is a tiny yard filled with dying plants and trees. The house's door swings back and forth with the wind.

Sure, it's private property... but whatever's in there could be a serious threat.]

Shall we find out?

[thevanguard]

[ Yata stops outside the gate and just stares for a minute. Yeah, that creepy feeling's really not going away now. ]

Ugh. That looks like a scene out of a bad horror movie. This is going to be a terrible idea, isn't it?

[mostsuitable]

[While Reisi isn't exactly ignoring Yata's question, he doesn't quite answer it.]

But we'll find what we're looking for.

[Moving past Yata and the broken gate, Reisi walks along the short path through the dilapidated yard before reaching the door beyond which darkness waits. The house itself seems a relatively new structure, so it's possible the yard's foliage withered because of their yet unseen target.]

There aren't any shoes in the entryway. The occupants of this residence must be out.

[Which is probably for the better if things go south.]

[thevanguard]

[ Yata watches Reisi go in first before giving a dejected sigh and stepping off his skateboard, kicking one end up so he can catch it to carry. Stepping uncertainly into the yard, he moves to the door, peeking inside before kicking off his shoes and stepping in there as well, since it's clear whatever they're looking for is hiding within.

Still unable to shake the eerie feeling of dread, he pauses there, ears straining for sound as he murmurs under his breath, ] Shitsurei shimasu....

[ Actually, he really hopes there's nothing here that will hear him and this will all be a dead end. Maybe without the dead. ]

[mostsuitable]

[Little can be seen beyond the bounds of the entryway, as if there's a void casting everything in darkness. The rotten stench is even stronger and heavier inside the house, and the air is oppressively wet and sticky, cloying but still moving like something breathing through its mouth.

Reisi's hand clamps down on Yata's shoulder, preventing him from proceeding further.]

Put on your shoes, Yata-kun.

[While he's still calm and collected, there's a stern and even icy snap in his voice.]

Something's coming...

[That said, Reisi stands at the ready for whatever is about to greet them.]

[thevanguard]

Huh?! But that's...!

[ He almost says rude, because this is still someone else's home, but the sharpness in Reisi's tone doesn't leave a lot of room to argue. His grip tightens on his bat as he lowers it, doing as the other shinki had said, his eyes still searching the dark shadows that seem to almost stick to the end of the corridor ahead of them.

His eyes catch a flicker of movement and he tenses a moment before something lashes out of the darkness and he has a moment to toss a fireball at it before he dodges sharply to the side to evade... whatever it is. ]

Look out!

[mostsuitable]

[No sooner is Yata out of the way when Reisi fires a shot of blue aura an ayakashi with too many legs lunging at them, sending it tumbling back down the hallway.]

That was close.

[But it rapidly recovers, righting itself on its numerous long, spindly legs and soundlessly scuttling back and forth in the shadowy hallway. In the midst of the spiny bundle of legs is a basketball-sized body with several massive eye clusters that likely don't have any blind spots.

It lets out a hiss from behind its mandible jaws before again charging its original red-haired target when Reisi sends out a cutting borderline that damages some of its legs.

That's when another similar ayakashi leaps out from the shadows to assault them.]

[thevanguard]

[ It had been close, but Yata had gotten his feet under him enough to throw up a hand before the second ayakashi could reach them. For a moment, there's a barrier of Red around them, shimmering overhead. But then Yata thrusts his fist forward and that flickering wall doesn't remain as defense, instead punching its way down the hall with a fiery fist.

One of the ayakashi gets knocked back out of range, vanishing momentarily back into the shadows while the other shrieks with an eerie sort of chittering, limbs flailing from the burns he'd inflicted.

It bought them some time, but Yata doesn't look happy about it. ] Shit, there's two of them. We're gonna need a god.