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

[blizzardrock]

[......But you can't throw holy water during duels!!]

[And the glove went through the ghost, so will that really...?]

[Oh, the spirit has picked up the discarded yukata rope, which, for their parts, seem to be holding themselves rigid like a pole. And with the spirit holding the "pole" up with one hand, it looks like...]

[It looks like the spirit has accepted the challenge...]

...Does that make me the commentator...?

[priforprince]

[ It just might, because this swordfight has commenced in earnest! The ghost doesn't seem to be following any particular form, but Hibiki's movements most closely resemble fencing as she thrusts and parries, dodges and deflects.

It's a very showy, theatrical form of fencing, but come this point that is likely no surprise.

The opponents appear evenly matched! Hibiki is blocking each strike with ease, but she also hasn't been able to exploit any openings....She keeps pressing on, however. There is no way she'll lose! ]

[blizzardrock]

[...It seems he is not very good at commentating! (He did give it his best shot. For about a second, but these are one of the things that you can just tell)]

[He waits for a few moments to pass, then sneaks off around the fight to the back wall.]

[He'd thought that the ghost made it darker for atmosphere...and that could still be true, but there's nothing saying it has to be... Ah, there's a hatchet over here, leaning against the wall. That's pretty convenient! Almost too convenient! This is almost guaranteed to be a trap somehow!]

[Another glance at the fight to make sure the spirit hasn't noticed, and...here goes. He gives the hatchet a mighty swing, and smashes through the back wall, letting dim light through.]

[Looks like that got the spirit's attention.]

ugh i mispaced this, sorry i didn't give him a chance to commentate :(

[priforprince]

[ Why - won't - this - thing - give - way--

The ghost swivels towards the light, and Hibiki turns to see what's happened as well. In a moment, however, she notices the chance she's been given, and thrusts. ] Haaaah!!

[ The ghost is already fainter from the light streaming through when Hibiki's sword pierces it. She turns her illusion powers on to make the blade glow for good measure, and the creature screams.

Hibiki twists the blade. She isn't actually piercing anything physical, but it's the idea that counts. ]

lol he wouldn't have anyways, no worries!

[blizzardrock]

[Screaming was definitely not something he expected, and he just stares for maybe a second too long, before the yukata-blade flying toward him snaps him out if it, and he ducks just in time. He grabs it afterward, but whatever Hibiki's doing to the other ghost seems to affects these ones as well, wriggling aimlessly in his hands. Or maybe it's the fact that he's holding them in the moonlight...]

[He ditches the yukata, picks up the hatchet again, and widens the hole with another few swings.]

[...Which may have been a bad idea. Ow his arm ow—]

[The ghost is starting to retreat, though.]

—Catch! [He throws his vial of holy water in Hibiki's direction. (Ow ow his arm—) She's closer to the path of retreat, so he tossed it to her just in case!]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki reaches up with her free hand and snags the vial in midair as if such feats are commonplace. She opens it one-handed, too, and tosses it all over the ghost.

Still making eerie screaming noises, the ghost splits in half around Hibiki's sword and then reforms free from impact. It tries to flee out the door, but Hibiki has already positioned herself in the way, so it shrinks itself to a pinprick of shadow and rushes out the hole Fubuki'd created instead, in search of some shadow, anywhere, amid all this light.

The atmosphere loses its uncanny pressure. Hibiki lowers her sword, sighs, tosses the vial back at Fubuki. She needs that hand free to wipe her sword off with a handkerchief.

Roll credits, presumably. ]

[blizzardrock]

[Just before the ghost escapes through the hole, Fubuki makes a borderline in front of it—but as usual, it isn't able to withstand anything, and the ghost breaks through with only the barest pause. Well...it was worth a shot.]

Do you think it'd just find another haunted house tonight...?

[He catches the vial with his off hand, and, after pocketing it, rubs at his shoulder while he goes over to peer through the hole.]

[...As for the hole itself. ...No one has to know he's the culprit.]

Are you going to go after it?

[priforprince]

There's no need. [ Hibiki stows her sword again and dusts off her sleeves. All seems normal here again. Those girls, and anyone else taken captive they hadn't encountered, should be able to escape. ]

It's sufficiently weakened. By the time it rallies its strength, this event will have concluded. It has nowhere to run.

[ And if it's not gonna just start this up again, then tracking it down sounds like effort. Effort is anathema. ]

[blizzardrock]

Guess it just wanted to play? [Even ayakashi get lonely? Haha.]

[He turns back to the haunted house at large.]

I'm going to go retrieve the card I left behind. [Maybe check if there's anyone else here, too.] What are you going to do?

[priforprince]

It's a festival, is it not? [ Hibiki waves a sleeve at, well, the hole in the wall, since one can see through it to the world beyond. ] There's no shortage of sights.

[ Her work here is d-o-n-e done. ]

[blizzardrock]

Then I'll see you.

[He says, like he's certain she wants to. But he's not one to pay attention to things like that. He gives a cheerful wave as he heads back the way they came.]

[priforprince]

Hm.

[ Hibiki nods. She'll be as slow leaving as she was in arriving, so he shouldn't wait up for her or anything.

She doesn't have any especially pressing plans for the evening. ]