|
  "Contracted the...?" Chiyoko frowned. "Well, that would be me, wouldn't it? I've been...I had been...ill, for some time." She pauses, as the words a simple chrysalis... make their way unbidden through her mind. "Unless the tape is, itself, the curse. And you say Momoka has been around here despite her...rather vocal...condemnations of our little group here?" To be fair, it was a ridiculous group, Chiyoko had only really joined it because she didn't have a lot to do after the divorce and she received her initial prognosis. "It stands to reason that she knows something. Even if she's not a part of the Fright Night, well, she should be included in these discussions. As I see it, including Ueno-chan, there are three options for our "patient zero". Her, myself, or..." She nods at Kokoro. "Ootori-san - you don't even remember dying but you remember waking up dead before the rest of us and clearly...something different but related happened to you. Is happening to you. We would be foolish to not consider that as an option for the initiator of all this." Adjusting the carnation pinned to her chest for a moment, she smiles. It's a fairly cold smile. "But besides that, it leaves us a question anyway, doesn't it: what do we do with this...power? If there's something...if this 'Nightmare' is the root cause of our conditions, is this something we should even try to be stopping? Regardless of the circumstances...I was condemned before any of this happened. Speaking selfishly, if I can, for a moment - if we somehow figure out how to oppose that monster and somehow overcome it, would it undo our current states? Because speaking plainly - I don't have any other way out. My death was a foregone conclusion before she...before..." before I gave you my gift... "...before the Geists got ahold of us."
|
#
?
May 13, 2017 19:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 21:31 |
|
|
 Letting go of Mako’s hair, Kaede listened to Satou as she spoke. Honestly, she wasn’t wrong to be so hesitant, and not just because she was in a different situation than them either. These monsters, these… Shadows were bad enough as is. And these Nightmares were supposed to be even worse? Forget about Satou potentially dying again if they managed to somehow deal with one of them, chances were they’d die just trying. Wouldn’t it just be so much easier to kick back, enjoy what time they had left in their second life? Yes. It would be. But was that what she wanted? “... I can understand where you’re coming from, Satou-san. But remember what Jack said? ‘The Nightmare is only going to fester more, and when it pops, it's going to be a huge mess.’ We’re already feeling earthquakes here in the real world as a result of these things. If we leave them be, who’s to say it won’t get even worse? Forget about just the eight of us dying. Nine, counting Kagura-san. Who knows how many more lives could be lost if we do nothing?” Her thoughts turned to her mother. Her younger brothers. Akira. “No, to be frank… I don’t care about that. What I care about is that people we know, people I know, could get hurt or even killed from these Nightmares.” Less to Satou now, and more to herself, Kaede continued, “Maybe you’ll die again if we stop these things. Maybe we’ll all die again if we try. But are you saying you’re really content to spend your second life, your second chance, not doing something meaningful, something that only we can do? When those close to us might pay the price for it? Because, to be frank, I’m not.” Kaede sighed as she leaned back in her chair, her thoughts expulsed. That had come off more preaching than she intended, she thought to herself, especially when they knew so little about the circumstances. For all she knew, there would be no problems leaving the Nightmares be, or it could make things worse if they were stopped. But hearing Satou speak so selfishly was… frustrating. Not because Kaede disagreed. But because she wanted to agree. “Anyways… Midori-san, you mentioned that it was a Nightmare one of us woke up. But just how many of them are there? There’s a big difference between say, a couple, to a dozen, to a couple hundred.”
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2017 02:57
|
|
|
 Friendship ended with KAEDE, now BUBASTIS is Mako's best friend. She hops off the chair and starts hanging out with the cat while Kaede and Chiyoko debate. "What can necromancers do? Are there ghosts trapped in your videotapes? Can I learn to stick ghosts in videotapes, too? Or...mess with people's dreams? Or give Kokoro a body again?" She stared at Bubastis under the whispering lens of the Deathsight. "Is he a goblin cat, or more like a normal one?"
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2017 05:34
|
|
|
 Staring, Kokoro sighs. The memory of a beef bowl sounded nice, even if she wasn't conventionally hungry. Food brought people together in comfort, and the reminders of how detached she was were constant. There wasn’t a moment that should forget she was dead, as much as she liked. She looks over at Mako's question about her body idly. It seemed a question even she'd considered too silly. The dead don't come back, do they?... but a lot of rules she'd presumed seem to be breaking down. "Well, I died first, and I didn't encounter any of you before going to the Underworld, and by the time I'd returned I think anybody I met had already died." Kokoro says to Chiyoko, tapping her cheek. "If I could have infected anybody, Ikeda-san would probably have been the first, or Ueno-chan... or other customers... it seems. Unless any of you found my corpse and haven’t said.” She’s too nice to add ‘or killed me’, no matter how much more statistically probable it is over a stranger. "Even so, just being a ghost wouldn't be enough to cause this. You've probably 'met' many ghosts, after all." She looks across the assembled. "Still, in a mystery, it's best not to rely on your early expectations! We should ask Ueno and Ikeda, at least. It might be good to see if our local priestess knows anything, too. She doesn't seem connected, but..." She leans forward as if sharing a secret with the others, floating a little off her chair. "Dealing with things like this is supposed to be her job, isn’t it?”  Making notes when she can, It’s comforting to know she still has a notebook and pen, but… what happens when she runs out of paper or ink? Can she? Nothing made natural, scientific sense. Which was problem, because those were the rails her brain had ran on until earlier in the week. Despite everything she read, she might as well be starting over… mostly. She knew that the Yomotsugami name represented, but it didn't seem good to have a run-in until she understood the rules better. She understood symbols, but not their meanings. Though she was exhausted, she had to surface to breath properly again. It would be too easy to get wrapped up in the goings-on here the longer she spent, and she still had too many ties to life to let herself get swallowed by the Underworld. One rumor threatened to drag her back, and that was hearing about something called the Avernal Register, which supposedly told ghosts of their means of death, if not the details. Some said it was an ancient scholar, some said it was a book, others a well... the rumors varied. They told of a faraway land where the ghosts are bound by caste based on their means of death. Or of a shadow that used it to lord over ghosts it kept. Or an ancient ghost that could see the death of the dead and living alike on a glance. But she didn't have time to take up a quest in worlds beyond right now. She had to return those which still held her in their hearts.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2017 20:06
|
|
|
 While Kokoro is speaking, Sayuri looks at the ghost girl with a bit of hostility in her eyes. Actually, she's been giving Kokoro nothing but nasty glances the whole night. Every time Sayuri looks at her, she's reminded of the talk she's had with Emiko a few nights ago, and she remembers how badly Emiko took to her sister's disappearance. If she knew Kokoro was dead, and is a ghost, it would devastate her. How dare you hurt Ko-chan. Do you even care about your sister? "Hm," she speaks up, "Either way, it's clear that we need to speak with Ueno-san. She's linked to all this, somehow. As for the priestess, going to her would probably be a waste of our timee, unless..." she gives an icy-cold glare at Kokoro, "...We could ask her to exorcise some annoying spirits around us."
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2017 21:45
|
|
|
Kokoro echoes Sayuri's, "Annoying...?", her tone confused as she looks a little taken aback. "I know Jack is a little peculiar, but he's really helping out the best he can."
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2017 00:31
|
|
|
 "Don't say anything you don't mean, Hisakawa-san," Takeshi says in a dry, half-sarcastic voice. It seems like a joke, but as he says it he seems to frown for some reason. "Anyway," he drops back into a more serious tone. "This whole thing is... poo poo, I don't know. Tough to understand. But, whatever, the world's always been tough to understand anyway. Just one step at a time, I guess." Takeshi shrugs, then starts walking towards the viewing room's exit. "If Momoka's really at Seven-Seven, then I don't care what you guys are doing, but I'm going right now. I got a few things I need say to her. You can join me or not." Takanago fucked around with this message at 03:33 on May 15, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 15, 2017 03:19
|
|
|
For a brief moment, Sayuri considered correcting Kokoro, and let her know that the "annoying spirit" she was talking about was her, but Sayuri decided against it. There's more important things to worry about right now. And Kokoro will get the punishment she deserves soon enough. "I'll join you," she says to Takeshi, as she rises from her seat, "I have questions I want to ask Ueno-san, and," she gives one last, cold glance at Kokoro, "I don't think I can stand being here any longer than I should." Tardzilla fucked around with this message at 05:59 on May 15, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 15, 2017 05:39
|
|
|
    TheFireMagi posted:"Anyways, Midori-san, you mentioned that it was a Nightmare one of us woke up. But just how many of them are there? There's a big difference between say, a couple, to a dozen, to a couple hundred."  Scene: Let Me Explain, CIVIC-TV (Everyone) Incidental Music: KatzFraming his chin again with his thumb and index finger, the necromancer smiles at the question, holding Kaede's gaze for a few moments. "Time and place tend to get blurry when you cross the lines. If one thinks about all the terrible things that have ever happened... You might begin to get a picture. Yet as time goes on the boundary between this and the other world gets more and more paper thin. What was deep and buried is a little closer to the surface now. Especially as some just can't help but go poking their nose down there..." He lets his hand dropped and sighs, moving over towards where his cat has gone. "Since traveling across the River Styx means never coming back for most necromancers, little is actually known, but I do have a theory. A Nightmare is the most vengeful curse a ghost can bear, and they suffer it the most. I believe the reason they reach out, is they are looking for someone to replace them in the cycle of punishment. Thus why the contagion enters our world, through whatever medium our culture has learned to fear." Kellsterik posted:"What can necromancers do? Are there ghosts trapped in your videotapes? Can I learn to stick ghosts in videotapes, too? Or...mess with people's dreams? Or give Kokoro a body again?" "We talk to the dead, we don't usually tell them what to do. That would be very... naughty," a smirk as he crouches across from where Mako is also crouched, with the cat sitting between them and its tail swaying almost hypnotically. "But it is possible, and yes, I'm familiar with the theory and ceremony. Ghosts can be fettered, just like Shadows, like Ootori-san's friend there." Glancing over to Jack, who has become very quiet amid all of this. He seems even more translucent than Kokoro at this point, all but hiding behind her, though that hardly provides any cover at all. He provides his own aside, "Heeee-ho, this guy gives me the creeps, Master." "As for a body... I think Kokoro likely already knows, even if she has not tried it, how she could get a body again. But it isn't really the same..." That didn't sound very comforting, but pleasant as he could be little that Midori-san said could be considered comforting. "However, you're special, Mako, compared to me. You have a gift, and I think perhaps for a time, if you were willing to share it... You could infuse her with a little of your power, and make her material once more. Or you could do the same for Shadows, or other ghosts... Any of you. I've seen it done." Scritching behind the sphynx's ears. "Though there is difference between being material, and being alive again."  The Grimoire has been updated with rules on reverse-possession and plasmic infusion. At that last question, Bubastis stares back into Mako's eyes with its own green orbs, tail swishing back side to side. Neither the cat, nor Midori-san for that matter, seemed to have any stain of death in the same way that the Bound do. At surface appearance, they look completely ordinary. Well, in a manner of speaking. Those eyes though did speak of perhaps an uncanny intelligence, however. "Bakeneko? While she's ancient by cat standards, I don't think she's quite old enough to have grown a second tail yet, Mako. Or maybe she's hidden that from even me, eh? Maybe we should get some lamp oil and find out." A light chuckle. It simply seems to pass away, done with the attention now and crossing the floor back from where it came from. It makes little sound as it does, and in fact though its body purred slightly at the touch, it never once meowed while present. Alien Rope Burn posted:She looks across the assembled. "Still, in a mystery, it's best not to rely on your early expectations! We should ask Ueno and Ikeda, at least. It might be good to see if our local priestess knows anything, too. She doesn't seem connected, but..." She leans forward as if sharing a secret with the others, floating a little off her chair. "Dealing with things like this is supposed to be her job, isn’t it?” As he starts, Midori's gaze sharpens at the mention of the priestess. "If you ask my advice, I recommend staying away from Kongou Temple. Her philosophy may very well differ about this gift you've received." There spoke a sort of personal animus there, like a professional rivalry. And that didn't seem out of place, considering what he had called himself, though it might have been a touch surprising. It was, as ever, a question of who, or what, to trust, and he had certainly not done too much yet to truly earn it, helpful as he was. Crossing his arms as Takeshi and Sayuri made to leave, he nodded. "Well then, you best get going. If from what I hear is true, you might want to get there before she dies again on you..." Even if the group as a whole was not yet resolved, the Panic Club had some understanding now of what they had become. The question was now: What will they do? Some will surely go to the store, but there may be other places to find, and more questions to ask after. The priestess, the bystander, and even now the Underworld, if they chance a journey to it. One thing was certain: The voyage now would truly begin. session start / / 01 (a)wake Scene: The Bystander, the Seven-to-Seven (Takeshi's Lead) Incidental Music: Grass is Always Greener Considering the past week's events, life at the 7-to-7 was in full swing. A couple of new hires were working today, and Ikeda-san was there to oversee them, going through an exacting list of responsibilities and repeating the franchise mantras behind the counter. Customers were stocking back up after their time. A new chef, supposedly from Osaka, confounds with her fast paced Kansai dialect as she quickly takes over the kitchen after it had been closed for some time after Kagura-san's passing. The jingles rang over the intercom as Takeshi, blazing the trail forward, was the first to walk through the automatic doors, and it felt as if walking into a freezer. The sudden and oppressive chill came over all of them as they entered, marking a stain on this place that only their refined psyches now was attuned to due to their fatal experiences. Death was strong in this place, recent and terrible. Their own deaths, but something deeper as well. The chill could not be discounted, but in a way, it was like a homecoming, tuned to the very particular frequency of their souls. There were things they would never have seen before. Kokoro, if she followed along with the rest, would find the anchoring influence of the others a shelter against the howling, stygian winds of the Twilight outside the store and CIVIC-TV, those two haunted places that provided protection, but shuffling among the living were the not so living. Even inside the store, there was the picture of the young boy in his new elementary school clothes, translucent and appearing as a reflection of the glass in the water section, his face purplish and pale as if choked, pressed against the glass and looking outside. Outside the store, there was an emaciated and shivering figure in layers of ratty old clothing and hollowed out eyes, biting his fingers which were torn up and chewed down to the bone. These two ghosts stood as reminders that the reality they all occupied was very, very different than what they knew before. These specters that look on expectantly at their passage, even if silent for their own reasons, are not the reason they are here. Dressed in surprisingly heavy layers for the season in bright pastel colors to match her hair which is pulled back into two grand pigtails of ringlet curls, Momoka Ueno browsed the shelves collecting a few things in a sort of passive mood, completely ignorant of the attention that was born her in other places and other minds. She did scratch at one ear, which might have been burning if she did but know it and all the talk about her. It was time to make a move. Which of you followed Takeshi's lead here? And now that you've found her, what do you do? Tricky Dick Nixon fucked around with this message at 00:50 on May 17, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 15, 2017 16:35
|
|
|
Taking Midori-san's parting words pretty seriously, Takeshi wastes no time on his way back to the 7-to-7. He heads there as quickly as he can without breaking out into an all-out run, and only occasionally bothers to look back and check to see if anybody is still with him. And along the way, he pays no mind to any traffic light or pedestrian in his path. He seems determined not to miss this chance. As he rushes inside, the store's strange, chilling aura makes him stop cold in his tracks. It's strange to watch him hesitate, considering how just a second ago he seemed to be stopping for nothing. But it becomes a bit more understandable when you feel the aura as well. He doesn't stop for long, though, and just a few seconds later he's marching down the aisle towards Momoka. He's frowning nervously, like he has no idea what to expect. Or much of an idea of exactly how he should handle this. "Momoka." Takeshi speaks in a loud whisper, like he's trying to get her attention without catching anyone else's. "Momoka!" He hesitates again, letting an awkward moment of silence fall. "I- I remember what happened. I remember the wave." He leans in closer, and actually starts to whisper quietly. "We need to talk." "Oh, and I'm loving sorry about that KMF thing."
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2017 00:16
|
|
|
Sayuri follows Takeshi on his way back to the 7-to-7, except she wasn't in much of a hurry like he was. She doesn't really care if Momoka dies again, it would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience at most for her, but she figures she could ask Momoka a few questions before she kicks the bucket again for the... 8th? 9th? time. What happens afterwords to Momoka afterwords is no concern to her. She arrives at the store a few minutes after Takeshi does, and she is hit by the same chilling aura that Takeshi felt. Death was all over the store. She found herself looking at the place where Nakao-san beat her to death, the whole scene playing in her head like a video recording. She remembers everything that happened that night in gruesome detail. Momoka's limp body, Nakao-san's bloody hands on her throat, the look of disgust on his face, and the music. Sayuri found herself listening to more Baroque music since the night of her rebirth. You would think she would find it difficult to listen to since it would probably remind her of her death, but no. She found the music... oddly pleasant. She doesn't find herself all that bothered by the ghosts. After everything she's seen, finding out that there are undead spirits haunting the place is the least surprising thing in the world to her now. She is curious about what they might know and if it was possible to snuff out their meaningless lives forever, but that could wait. She ignores the ghosts for now, and heads over to where Takeshi is speaking to Momoka, interjecting herself into their conversation, "Hello, Ueno-san," she takes off her glasses, cleaning them with the cloth she had in her front shirt pocket, and bluntly asks, "Did you watch the cursed videotape at CIVIC-TV?" Tardzilla fucked around with this message at 08:28 on May 16, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 16, 2017 08:03
|
|
|
Kokoro was quiet at Midori’s recommendation. That pretty much meant she had to see how the priestess reacted now, but it’d be smart not be alone. A new puzzle. And Sayuri was another. Had something happened in her absence? She’d barely had any time since her return, and already she was staring down a possible time limit. Looking over to Jack, she says, “Don’t worry. We’re around friends.” … she hoped. Dirty looks aside, Kokoro trailed after Takeshi and Sayuri. No sense passing up getting to the heart of this mystery, after all. As they enter the Seven-to-Seven, she She looks to the ghosts, waving to them slightly to see if she gets a reaction, and then pulls out her camera. While the place seemed like the same old site in the mortal world, were there any changes to its ghostly half? As the two approach the pastel-haired girl and start in with their questions, she winces. “If you’re too blunt, it might just put her on the defensive and get her to close up.”, she says softly just over the background music, as if somebody else - or even Momoka - might actually overhear them. Speaking of being blunt, though, she brings her camera up, taking a picture of the girl. Using Fate Sense and rolling Power + Finesse for 5 dice, and getting a total of 2 successes!
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 00:45
|
|
|
Kaede was slightly surprised as she listened to exchange go on between Sayuri and Kokoro. Was the ghost detective really that dense…? Well, not that it was a concern of hers whatever poor relations those two may have had. Or at least, whatever seemed to irking her glasses-wearing classmate, considering that Kokoro seemed to have no idea about what was going on. More interesting at the moment, however, was Midori’s reaction to the mention of Shoko. Kaede knew little about either the priestess or Kongou Temple, but it seemed fairly logical to her that Shoko would be the person to address about the recent matters of… spirituality? Could it be called that? Regardless, the almost hostility was unexpected from the otherwise calm store owner. And strangely enough, that only drove Kaede’s desire to visit the priestess all the higher. “Well, I gotta admit, I’m not too keen on speaking with Ueno-san right now. Not as if we ever got along, really. So, sorry, Midori-san. Much as you seem against it, seems to me speaking with our local priestess could at least be interesting, if nothing else. I’ll be heading over to Kongou Temple if Fukumoto-san, Hisakawa-san, and Ootori-san are heading back to the Seven-to-Seven, if anyone wanted to join me.”
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 00:46
|
|
|
"I'm checking up on her, too. I mean, I was the last one to see her...well, dead." Kaito arrives at the 7-to-7 shortly after Saiyuri, leaning by the door as he looked Momoka over. She looked...just fine. He could vividly remember her throat being sliced open, blood pouring out...Midori probably hadn't called the cops, since business was going as usual. This was too weird. "And why the gently caress aren't you dead? Do you have a Geist, too?"
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 00:47
|
|
|
Scene: Crossroads, CIVIC-TV (Chiyoko, Mako, Kaede, Jiro) Incidental Music: ScanlinesTheFireMagi posted:"Well, I gotta admit, I'm not too keen on speaking with Ueno-san right now. Not as if we ever got along, really. So, sorry, Midori-san. Much as you seem against it, seems to me speaking with our local priestess could at least be interesting, if nothing else. I'll be heading over to Kongou Temple if Fukumoto-san, Hisakawa-san, and Ootori-san are heading back to the Seven-to-Seven, if anyone wanted to join me." As Takeshi files out with a few others following after him towards the store, Midori leans back against the frame and looks at those that didn't immediately rise to the occasion, listening carefully to Kaede's words. There's a smirk. "Don't say I didn't warn you." It was almost like he knew that his comment would have only made the option all the more enticing. It's only ten after nine now, it's about an eight minute walk if you hurry along now, though that means being quite a walk or run away from either the CIVIC-TV store or the 7-to-7. Still, there wasn't much holding the group together, so the four that were left had a choice whether to follow up on the new lead, or to follow along to what was familiar. The sphynx cat Bubastis sat on the counter, tail swishing and silently watching all the people pass before stretching and laying down, head still up as it began to groom itself, and Midori-san for his part returned to his industry magazines, seated on a metal folding chair behind that counter. Scene: Confrontation, 7-to-7 (Kokoro, Sayuri, Takeshi, Kaito) Incidental Music: Grass is Always GreenerIt's about fifteen past nine when you all start to file in. As they pass the glass pane of the drink coolers, the boy presses the side of his face and hands against the glass as they pass, though communicates nothing else save the chill of its presence, watching the exchange. At the wave that Kokoro gives him, he's far less catatonic and unresponsive compared to the emaciated man outside, returning the gesture as best he can, trapped in the reflection as he is. He doesn't seem to be able to smile, though his dead eyes seem to light up that at least someone is not ignoring him, and he struggles as if to try and say something. Takanago posted:He hesitates again, letting an awkward moment of silence fall. "I- I remember what happened. I remember the wave." He leans in closer, and actually starts to whisper quietly. "We need to talk." Tardzilla posted:She doesn't find herself all that bothered by the ghosts. After everything she's seen, finding out that there are undead spirits haunting the place is the least surprising thing in the world to her now. She is curious about what they might know and if it was possible to snuff out their meaningless lives forever, but that could wait. She ignores the ghosts for now, and heads over to where Takeshi is speaking to Momoka, interjecting herself into their conversation, "Hello, Ueno-san," she takes off her glasses, cleaning them with the cloth she had in her front shirt pocket, and bluntly asks, "Did you watch the cursed videotape at CIVIC-TV?" Music Changes: Untrust UsThe approach started off on an alarmed but still not entirely hostile footing. She startled at Takeshi's sudden grabbing of her attention but softened a moment after that, tinged with a bit of blitheness. "F-Fukumoto?" Her lips pursed for a few moments, and then she seemed a little less than pleased at being interrogated. Especially here in the feminine hygiene aisle. "What are you doing, approaching me all of a sudden like that. It's not like we're friends..." Her bluster speaking to a little more vulnerability than she usually used herself, but that quickly evaporated when Sayuri's voice seemed to elicit a reaction like nails on a chalkboard, and she shuddered, narrowing her eyes. "Ehhh? What the hell???" Alien Rope Burn posted:As the two approach the pastel-haired girl and start in with their questions, she winces. "If you're too blunt, it might just put her on the defensive and get her to close up.”, she says softly just over the background music, as if somebody else - or even Momoka - might actually overhear them. Speaking of being blunt, though, she brings her camera up, taking a picture of the girl. Waffleman_ posted:"And why the gently caress aren't you dead? Do you have a Geist, too?" Kokoro's Fate Sense catches a picture of Momoka's Fate, identifying her by a mark on her tongue as VI. Lovers, and a body bound up and tied with layers of red tape that extends all around her, some torn and broken as if with a struggle, but always more layers, that wind around and connect to the others, suspended up and going in other directions as well. There is one other detail as well... In the reflection of the glass to her side, there's something like a figure, an outline or silhouette that you can barely make out of a girl with black hair. The developing picture on the screen catches the absolute picture of disgust and revulsion on Momoka Ueno's face as she almost naturally sticks out her tongue and pulls down her eyelid. "You're the one that should drop dead, Iwasaki. Get out of my face, you lovely weirdos." Trying to back up and use the other direction to get along out of there. It was clear that she did not notice Kokoro or any of the other ghosts, and she doesn't bear any spectral scars that can be seen with the deathsight granted by your Geists. What you do however notice, is how she stinks of death. As if she's just constantly on the cusp of it, as if the air around her was absolute zero and a creeping frost that extended in all directions, such that even your breath begins to frost in the air, against all reason as you approach her. Her brow twitches a bit, and she obviously feels trapped. She'll need some extra convincing now that she's been put deep on her heels, though glimpses have already been found. The opportunity is narrow. What do you do?  Investigation Start: Though your characters don't quite know it, your window of opportunity to try and get Momoka to talk or reveal something is short. Each of you may take one investigation action, either directly interrogating her, investigating the scene, or canvasing a ghost. Essentially using any dice pool you feel is appropriate. There is an unknown amount of target successes you will want to pool towards in order to gain a Clue. Kokoro's use of Fate Sense already counts towards this, however any of your successive attempts suffer a -2 circumstantial penalty since as a group you weren't very subtle and she's actively trying to get away from you all. When investigating, you actually determine the first part of what you discover. Something about her manner, something a ghost says, or something she says when pressed. With mysteries in this game, you have narrative license to add details or build on a conclusion, while I connect the dots. If you all gain enough successes to meet the target, you'll gain a Clue that you can use to conclusively solve the mystery of the Nightmare. If you do not meet the target successes, you will get an incomplete Clue. If any of you choose to dramatically fail, the Clue will be tainted in some way, though it may still be useful. Ask any further questions in IRC or on the OOC thread if you're not sure how to proceed in an Investigation.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 01:38
|
|
|
"Well, I see no reason not to visit this...shrine woman." Chiyoko says such with a wave of her hands, as if Midori's suggestion to be wary was ludicrous. Standing, she perched her purse back on her shoulder. "Besides, if Yakumo-san is going anyway, it would make more sense for someone else to be there to ensure nothing else goes wrong. We've had quiet enough precarious situations in the last week, haven't we?" She smooths out her skirt, and then glances at the other two. "...are you coming?"
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 03:59
|
|
|
"I know I'd certainly feel better if I was actively seeking put more information." Jiro pauses for a moment while gathering his things into his messenger bag. "...Also I want plausible deniability in case things go Code Black over at the 7-7. Those four seem like the type to cut twice and measure once, and I don't want to be a witness." He adjusts the bag. "Ready when you are"
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 05:28
|
|
|
"Yeah yeah yeah! I wanna go to Kongou too! Shoko is cool, and strong, and my friend. She came to my church, and later she gave me these ofuda to wear." A shadow passes over her. Her hair curls into an ominous spiral. "but she couldn't stop dad from devouring my essence." All smiles again. "Let's go say hi!" --- The very first thing Mako says when they get there comes from Pennywise: "Hey, are you scared of dying?" Kellsterik fucked around with this message at 06:02 on May 17, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 05:53
|
|
|
Scene: Enter the Priestess, Kongou Temple (Chiyoko, Mako, Kaede, Jiro) Incidental Music: Ruined Lands "Saaa. If death is the end of cognition, then what is there to fear in it? It won't matter, afterwards, ne?" An orange light lit up the dimly lit area there on the broken steps up into what stood in for an overgrown courtyard around the central hearth of worship, the iron gates allowed to stand open and various forms of graffiti all around. Dragging hard on the cigarette, the cinders rose up closer to her mouth, a thin dragon of smoke raising up around her face, not even opening her eyes as she laid there in her vestments and trappings, though her head unshorn in a most impious gesture, amid all the other ones. A single yellow eye opened up, looking past Mako to take note of the full company she had. It was perhaps not the usual sorts that would come harass her, especially not at this hour, about eighteen minutes past nine. She took her her cigarette and rolled over on the stone on her side rather than back, letting out a deep exhalation that spilled smoke all around and choked the air with the smell of strong leaf tobacco. She put out the cigarette in what stood in for an ashtray: an incense censer that was filled with the remainder of several others, as well as the ashes of several hours of smoking. "We're closed. Technically. Unless this is something really important. In which case, we're still closed." There was something sharp in her gaze, but she wasn't really betraying any interest in the fact that Mako had brought these three strange people to her in the middle of the night. "Why are you troubling an old nun at this hour, Mako-chan..." Dissolute and threadbare, perhaps, but one thing Shoko did not look was old. Of an age with Chiyoko actually, though she acted far less mature. What do you do? Everyone can make a reflexive Wits + Empathy check. When characters are hiding something or especially when they are lying I may call for a roll, but not always. You're always free to make an Empathy or Investigation check on people, or a Socialize or Politics roll on groups, and other rolls as appropriate, to try and determine what's going on beneath the surface. Otherwise, where this scene goes and what you're looking to get out of her is entirely on you.
Tricky Dick Nixon fucked around with this message at 07:15 on May 17, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 07:04
|
|
|
The clown-puppet clatters, briefly tied up in the iron gate like a broken toy. Boring! Death is not the end, sister. You never stop thinking down here. Mako chews those perspectives over. "These are my friends Kaede and Jiro, and a mom named Chiyoko too. Something happened to us, and...um..." She leans in and stage-whispers: "Do you remember what happened on Wednesday?" Wits+Empathy, 1 die: fail.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2017 07:32
|
|
|
Heedless of what Mako was saying in return, Chiyoko piped up. "Don't be foolish dear, you're hardly old." She inhaled sharply and shook her head at the woman. She seemed about the same age as Satou did, and to imply Chiyoko was old was enough to make her dislike the other woman immediately. I spent a willpower on that Wits+Empathy, so of course orokos hates me and it failed spectacularly It would come as no surprise to anyone, then that her next words weren't exactly pleasant. "Now listen here, nun - we have questions that need answering, and before you roll your eyes and assume we're talking about some sort of religious hokum, understand that we've been through something profound here, and we were told you would have some information, so we expect, and in fact demand, that you be forthcoming with that information. Do YOU UNDERSTAND me!?" It would be improbable that at the rate at which her volume increased and given the amount of words used, that Chiyoko would have the necessary air to get it all out in one breath, and yet, that she did. Perhaps the attendees of Fright Night would be less surprised, given their relative familiarity with her. Shoko though? Well, no one was prepared for their first enounter with Chiyoko. also trying to cow (read, intimidate) Shoko into being cooperative here. So manip+intimidate+shouting specialty = 8 dice. It's a bit better. 4 successes
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 17:20
|
|
|
Kaede cringed as Chiyoko almost immediately launched into one of her infamous verbal onslaughts. At least it wasn’t one of them on the receiving end, she supposed. Still, it seemed rather unnecessary… or perhaps not. Shoko was hiding something, after all, if Kaede judged the look in the the priestess’ eyes correctly, and she had judged many an eye indeed. But it was not the nervous twitch of one covering a crime, or the quivering lip of one restraining their tears. It was an almost predator-like gaze, as if the priestess had found something that was on the line between prey and threat. Or both. “I think she already knows that we’ve been through something ‘profound’, or at least something along those lines, Satou-san. Am I wrong, Shoko-san?” Wits+Empathy, 6 dice, and a 2 dice success as TDN mentioned in IRC. There was no evidence to support her theory, but that was the impression Kaede had after reading the priestess’ expression. Somehow, she had known something was off with the group, even without taking any actions of note. Curious. But it did prove that Shoko possessed some degree of knack for this occult business. “Like Mako-chan said, my name is Kaede, Kaede Yakumo. Since you already seem to have a general idea of what happened, I’ll be blunt: All four of us here died this past week, all four of us have come back to life, and a mutual associate of ours believes a curse may have something to do with it. Can you sense anything like that in our… aura, I suppose?”
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2017 20:27
|
|
|
Scene: Enter the Priestess, Kongou Temple (Chiyoko, Mako, Kaede, Jiro) Incidental Music: Ruined Lands Shoko's second eye was open by the end of all of it, as she put out her cigarette, a soured look on her face as if she had just been force-fed vinegar, and with a uneasy sigh, she moved, seeming to withdraw a staff from essentially nowhere and with it against the small of her back leverage herself to an upright seated position, moving the staff forward and then resting it against her shoulder as she gave a bit of a shrug. "I think I understand you all, loud and clear." There is a low rumble in the ground. It's about nine-twenty, and the ground begins to shake, like an aftershock, a soft earthquake that rattles the old windows and shakes dust from the walls. "I don't need to see auras to know you are all cursed. After all, you're still alive, aren't you?" An irritation could be heard in her voice even as she gave a sort of weary smile. The pressing seemed to get under her, and Chiyoko's appeal was given almost preternatural power by the synchronicity of the earthquake. This there was a nervous energy as well just beneath the relaxed surface that the brow-beating brought to the surface that would otherwise have been hidden behind her detached nature. "If I knew I'd be visited by the hungry dead, I might have set out a bowl of flowers. Might have put you all in a better mood." Sliding a finger down her chin, she rests her gaze on Mako, and her expression softens somewhat, her brow uncreasing a bit as she turns to the side. "I was too late to save them, but I thought I had at least saved you." Setting her jaw and looking back forward. "Yes, I remember. I was just going out to get a pack of cigarettes," unlikely, "when I heard some commotion." She waved her hand in front of her face at the looks of disbelief. "This much is the truth. I found Mako-chan there... and what was after her. I had planned to exorcise the demon, but I only managed to bind it to that place. Though, it is strange. It seemed afterwards to be almost abandoned. I am sure that it is still within its seal, but there was no sign of the Heaven Smiles at the 'church' after that." Her brow furrowed again. "As well, your parents had disappeared, supposedly running away from debts and abandoning you. The police did some questioning but most of them seemed to not take it too seriously. You probably don't remember much of the questioning, it must have been hard on you... Tch, if only I wasn't such a bum, maybe they'd even have taken my offer to foster you seriously. Ah well, Ikeda-san seems nice enough, and at least has a house." She shrugs and leans back. "Who wrote all that nonsense on that paper on you anyway?" She asks casually. Anyone with even a modicum of occult knowledge would know that the "ofuda" that adorned Mako were basically just scribbles. A placebo. Shoko's gaze sharpened again as she regarded all of them. "I sure hope the hungers that have brought you all here don't include me. Won't the rest of you at least introduce yourselves fully before that?" Like Midori-san, she seemed to have an idea of what you all were. Hungry ghosts. Gaki. A much less flattering idea than being psychopomps, yet it was hard to deny that the Geist was not... hungry, as Mako already found herself pushed to by Pennywise. Perhaps Shoko might understand the darker nature and problems therein, and Chiyoko certainly forced open the door, but she was clearly a bit hostile now to everyone except Mako by dint of association, even if pliant, and it'd take some definite social engineering to placate that bad first impression after they got whatever information they wanted. What do you do? Tricky Dick Nixon fucked around with this message at 03:18 on May 19, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 02:58
|
|
|
Ugh. Stupid Kaito. What was he thinking? Sayuri might have been blunt with her questioning, but at least she didn't start off the conversation by asking Momoka why she isn't dead. Getting anything useful from her now is going to be much more difficult. Something had been bugging Sayuri about the night where the old her died. It feels like she's missing something important, something that might relate to the cursed video tape somehow, but she's not sure what it is yet. She had hoped that talking to Momoka about the tape, and how much she remembered about the night, might help her figure out what that important thing is, but it looks like she might as well forget about that for now with how defensive she's being. If Sayuri can't rely on Momoka, then maybe she can rely on the thing that she can always depend on; her memory. Sayuri, when she concentrates, can recall things in near-perfect detail. Maybe she'll be able to find a clue in her memory of that night? She closes her eyes, and blocks out all the irritating noise around her. She imagines herself in a projector room. The room is surrounded with tape racks, each tape neatly organized by date. She inserts the "tape labeled 02/05/20xx, the night she died, and takes her seat near the projector. It is now time to begin the Memory Theater. Incidental Music: Sayuri's Memory TheaterShe starts the scene a few minutes before Momoka died. Momoka was on the phone, calling the police, and Nakao-san was listening to his music. There was a sound, a violent, thudding sound. Momoka's body hits the ground, and the violent beating begins. She ignores the beating, and tries to focus on her surroundings at the time instead, hoping to find that important clue that she's been missing. Nothing. She stops the recording, rewinds it, and plays it back again. Still nothing. Stop. Rewind. Plays it again. She repeats this process ten times, but each time, she finds nothing. On the 11th try, she goes back a little further, and starts it at the scene where Momoka walks in to take over for her at the register. There was a homeless man- Daisuke, the one who took her precious pendant. He had been standing outside the store for hours. It was time for her to go home, but she decided to stay a little while longer, in hopes that the homeless man would eventually leave. She passed the time by watching the television, and then- Wait. The television? That's it! That's the clue she was looking for! She fast-forwards the recording back to a few minutes before the murder, and "pauses" it at the scene where Momoka is making the call, and that's when she notices it. The television, which had been working fine a few minutes ago, was showing nothing but static. That's not the only thing she noticed; the door to the storeroom was still open, and she could swear she could see... eyes? Or what appear to be eyes. But who could they belong to? It's not like there was anybody else in the store that night aside from her, Momoka, and Nakao-san. She looks through the memory recording a few more times, but when she realizes that this is all the information she's going to get, she stops the recording, and opens her eyes, bringing her back to reality. Memory Theater: End Sayuri has two clues now; the sudden television static, and the "eyes" in the storeroom. Now all that's left is to think of how these two things link to the events of the night. What could they possible mean? Remembering Things: 6d10o10h8+3 6 OOC: I misunderstood how using Willpower works, so I rolled with a +3 instead of adding 3 more dice. The actual result is a 3. Willpower dice: 3d10o10h8 0 Tardzilla fucked around with this message at 20:11 on May 19, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 19:07
|
|
|
Willpower: 4 / 3 Kokoro covers her face with her hands. It’s hard to tell if the frustrated sound that follows is a groan or a muffled scream before she half-walks, half-floats away from the interrogation. Maybe she should tell them about- then again, given their mode of questioning, can she trust them not just to spill the beans? Best to keep an eye out for it in the meantime. Well, less it than a her. So there was a some spirit Momoka was tied to? It seemed like the shadows the others were tied to were… inspired… drawn from…? … pop culture. Movies. She leaned over to where the being would have been peering from its reflection in the photo, as if that might reveal something. She remembers the the movie with the infectious haunting, and this seemed similar. But maybe not? Wrong movie. A haunted videotape. It had literally been seven days. Her finger trailed where one of the ribbons might lead. She pauses in mid gesture, looking around. They were pretty well surrounded by reflective surfaces. Moving around the counter, she finds Momoka’s bag, and then bites her lip. “Um, everybody, remember the movie about the cursed videotape and the girl in the well? I know it seems too obvious, but...”, she says as she leans over the counter before reaching down to put her hand in and "feel" inside the bag before looking inside, trying to use her intangibility to get some idea of its contents. It felt extremely rude, but lives might be on the line, and propriety would have to take a backseat. Besides, if it weren't somebody she knew, would she even consider their privacy? Probably not, she has to admit. Rolling Wits + Investigation + (1 Willpower) and still just 1 success (11 dice, 9-again). Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 18:20 on May 20, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 19, 2017 21:07
|
|
|
The circumstances of her survival, and what potentially became of her parents, are a little too much to process right now. Mako doesn't know what's real now that she's cursed with life again, what's a nightmare, what's a horrible memory and what's a lie and what's just conjured up from her imagination: yeah, welcome to the club, kiddo. Aren't these ofuda supposed to be keeping her from hearing monster voices? She looks at the scribbled tags pasted onto her hoodie and hat. "wh- you wrote them! I said I needed something to keep me from Disappearing again! I guess it worked, but...still! Ugh, Shoko! If you can't be my new mom, can you at least help us with our ghost problems?" "All of us have been cursed, and we don't know how yet. But we came back from the dead and brought a Geist back with us from the Underworld. We had to, um, make a deal with them. And now they want things in the living world. I think all ghosts are hungry for stuff, or they wouldn't be stuck here, right? But we're pretty sure that these really scary ghosts in the Underworld, real Nightmares, are hungrier than anything. Enough that they want to gobble up the living world when it fits their hunger, or obsession, or whatever bad thing." As she huffs and puffs, Pennywise's Passion starts to worm inside her ear. A deeper understanding of adult fear is bubbling up. They're not afraid of ghosts or spiders, especially not somebody like Shoko who lives in a spooky haunted temple and exorcises spirits already. What really scares them is more subtle. Something like that ache in her voice when she said she was too much of a bum to foster her. Mako leans in. "Chiyoko's just scared because this stuff's new to her. But all four- well, eight- of us are stuck in this together. I'm in as much trouble as they are. Can you tell us what you know about Geists and Nightmares and hungry ghosts? Do Nightmares have Passions the same way that Geists do? How can we resolve ghost Passions and help them move on before they hurt anyone else? Can we...make our Geist stop being hungry? Make it leave? You gotta help all of us, not just me, because our strings are all knotted together. Aren't you scared that something really bad will happen to a sweet kid like me if you don't help?" Manipulation+Persuasion, 6 dice: 2 successes.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2017 18:11
|
|
|
"Dammit!" Takeshi exclaims in a fit of exasperation as the situation suddenly gets out of hand. It felt like he was this close to getting the kind of acknowledgement he needed to finally have the events of Friday make sense. The whole group discussion at Fright Night did a lot to explain the whole thing, but there was still a big hole in the center of it all that had been bugging him ever since he woke up. "A wave, Takeshi? What wave?" Kiyoko's words from back then play again in his head. It makes him almost want to yell. Takeshi scratches the side of his head and looks at Momoka. "Are you serious?" His words sound somewhere between a genuine question and an accusation. "Are you telling me you don't remember?" It's clear that the idea of that is bothering him. A lot. He looks anxious, almost desperate. Like a wounded animal. "Momoka. Please. Please." He puts his hands together and starts to plead. "Please don't be loving with me right now. If you have any idea what I'm talking about just loving tell me." "You do remember something, right?" She had to. There was no way she didn't. The way Momoka was acting that day was strange, and the only way it made sense was if she knew something. "On Friday, there was a wave. A big loving tsunami. We were both in it. Do you remember? You were outside just staring at it. Before that we were talking about that KMF thing. Kill, Marry, gently caress. You said you'd never marry anybody, you'd gently caress whoever paid you the most, and you'd kill me. Because I said I'd kill you. Remember?" The whole Kill part did have a weird weight over the conversation back then. Now it makes sense. Momoka had to be aware of something back then, and she still has to be aware of something now... "First I said I'd kill Satou-san. But then I said I'd gently caress her instead," Takeshi continues into a level of detail that's probably not so necessary. "And I said I'd marry Sayuri for the Shogi money. So then I went with you for Kill." Takeshi frowns, as if to apologize for saying that again. "You said something like, 'Don't say anything you don't mean'." He puts his hands on the sides of his head, like he's trying to stop some anxious feeling in there from bubbling out and exploding. "Do you have any idea what the gently caress I'm talking about, Momoka?!" She had to, right? Rolling Manipulation + Socialize, using Willpower to add 3 Dice and subtracting 2 for the situational penalty: 3 Dice, 0 Successes Takanago fucked around with this message at 00:20 on May 21, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 00:11
|
|
|
"And I said I'd marry Sayuri for the Shogi money." ...And just like that, Sayuri's normally calm demeanor shatters. Her head snaps to Takeshi, eyes wide, cheeks slightly red, "You said WHAT!?"
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 00:21
|
|
|
Alright, keep calm and carry on. Kaito decides to continue on Takeshi's track and remind her of his circumstances as well. "Look, it was just tonight! I was stocking boxes in the back and you called me out to the front. There were two men there with a knife to your throat. I tried to save you and they killed me. Please, you have to remember, Ueno..." Composure + Empathy: 1 sux
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 00:41
|
|
|
Kaede inwardly winced at the priestess’ harsh tone, though could hardly blame her for it. They had intruded quite late at night, after all, and then came Chiyoko kicking down the proverbial door. If the priestess had taken it well, Kaede would’ve thought something wrong with her. Still, as hostile her tone may have been, at least questions were being answered. Relations afterwards might be awkward, but it wasn’t as if any of them besides Mako had regular contact anyways, and Shoko still seemed sweet on the young girl. That aside, Kaede startled for a moment as the earth began to shake. Another earthquake. That was… likely not good, even if it was weaker than the ones the group had felt in the past week. Should they be concerned? What if another ‘incident’ was about to occur? If one did, she had yet to reclaim the keys to her Geist… though somehow, Kaede had the instinctual feeling that wouldn’t prove much of an issue, apart from an immediate danger. Perhaps it was best to be cautious, however. “Well, I didn’t expect Mako-chan to be quite so forward about things, but she more or less summarized our situations. We’re in a tight spot, Shoko-san, with a seemingly large task ahead of us and absolutely no knowledge or experience to guide us. And while the ofuda that you lent Mako-chan are fa… not as helpful as she might like, is there really no assistance a priestess like yourself can offer? You, who were able to recognize upon sight, without ritual or talisman, that we were ‘different?’ If that is not spiritual power, then what is it?” Even as she spoke, Kaede wanted to laugh at herself. Not so long ago, she would’ve if the words ‘spiritual power’ ever left her mouth. But such times had come and gone, she was afraid, and at least some aspects of the supernatural were all too real. Here was hoping there’d be some good news for a change. TheFireMagi fucked around with this message at 03:33 on May 21, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 01:08
|
|
|
"You want an introduction. miss? Fine. My name is Jiro, and I'm a pre-medical student at Jikai University. I also volunteer as an EMT when I can, and I'm the evening shift lead at the 7-7." He grips his shoulder strap for strength. "I'm also the person who finally put a limit on Mako's sugar habit. I put a weekly limit on Godzooky slushes they can consume. I can tell you care for Mako too," Jiro points to the ofiuda tags "Someone who doesn't care wouldn't go to those lengths, right? And you can obviously see Mako is scared....well I'm scared too." The pointing arm sweeps over to Chiyoko. "Even she's scared! It's like a dog snapping at it's owner because it knows nothing better. We came here bc Mako trusted you as an authority on these sort of supernatural things. All we're asking for is some base information, can you do at least that much for us?"
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 03:22
|
|
|
Scene: Building a Mystery, Kongou Temple (Chiyoko, Mako, Kaede, Jiro) Incidental Music: Ruined Lands While Jiro introduces himself, Shoko's eyes close for a few moments as she absorbs all of the questions put to her, and perhaps more importantly, an admonishment from someone she cares about leveraging her feelings to try and extract some aid. Yet for all of this, she didn't seem entirely overwhelmed, opening her eyes as she made to push herself up and stand, there on the steps before them. She scratches her cheek idly, glancing first to Kaede, with a feline smile, and answering her questions with a recitation of a koan in her purring, fried voice. "Wakun complained when he saw a picture of the bearded Bodhidharma," making a gesture with her hand and leaning her shoulder forward against the staff. "`Why hasn't that fellow a beard?' Of course, I can see." It was hard to understand how this was an answer to her question, but it seemed stated as much. This is what "spiritual power" was, gated through the High Priestess's mysticism and enlightenment, rather than the more clinical and academic approach the Magician provided. "You can open your eyes but only when the crown blooms will you actually see anything. Yet if you believe you see, then you are wrong. Dying is a shortcut to dharma, but it is not the only path." Shoko wasn't going to be forthcoming with how she gained a spiritual enlightenment in the first conversation, but she at least showed where the Door lay. She sighed and waved her hand in front of her face, almost apologetically. "You all have suffered a terrible fate, haven't you? Ah, but you also all decided instead of succumbing to it, to resist. You rejected death, and now you're trapped in a curse. I can teach you how to break that curse, of course. But if you already rejected death, I do not know if you really want to know how to break this curse, and if I teach you even part irresponsibly, you might do further harm to your spirits than you already have." "Yare yare. I do suppose I owe Mako-chan though. I told her she would be safe. And that was a lie. So I will not lie to you further: I have no idea why you all are still alive, only that you have recently died. I don't know what a Geist is, but I do know another name: gaki." The leverage applied against her was too much, and she turned, stepping up the steps, and all but inviting them to follow her into the poorly lit temple, with candles upon the cobblestone and ground to lead them through its paths. "Curses though, I know quite a fair deal about. Nightmares too. Though you will need to find out for yourselves the right questions to ask. I have to keep my monastic credentials, I am already a poor enough excuse for a nun as it is." She then began to explain what she did know, about the Nightmares, from her very particular perspective as an exorcist, and how the characters might proceed. However, our perspective is taken to somewhere else, her explanation overlaid on another scene that transpired just shortly before, immediately after that earthquake before. Scene: Dissolution, 7-to-7 (Kokoro, Sayuri, Takeshi, Kaito) Incidental Music: Untrust UsThe desperate pleas of Takeshi don't move Momoka Ueno. If anything it seems to harden her. Her gaze set forward and pointed down, a sort of darkened cast over her expression. It was difficult to discern if there was any real reaction to his words, but what was somewhat unsettling is the way she deadened herself to it, and perhaps that was telling in itself, along with the rest of the gambit the four had taken in trying to move her heart. She paused only at the end there before moving around the aisle, since no one really was trying to physically stop her from leaving, lifting one hand to grab at her shoulder and seeming uncertain, the opening that would allow Kokoro to phase through the shelf and move around to get a closer look at her bag. "Do you have any idea what the gently caress I'm talking about, Momoka?!" The last plea from Takeshi coming through and being responded to with a whisper. "It's useless. Just go away."  "A curse is always earned by karma. When one denies fate, you are only delaying the final balance. It get snarled, like so much thread, and knotted and unable to be untangled. You have two options to deal with a knot. You can try and find the source...""Look, it was just tonight! I was stocking boxes in the back and you called me out to the front. There were two men there with a knife to your throat. I tried to save you and they killed me. Please, you have to remember, Ueno..." Momoka's eyes widened, and she turned around, looking shocked by Kaito's statement. She instinctively raised her hand up to her neck, touching where she felt the cut. "W-what?" There is this primal sort of fear in her eyes, something that seems to bring at least for a moment some terrible recollection. "No, no no no. Please... I don't want anyone else to die!" For the first time in the miserable little time she was with them, pleading with a more sincere heart. Her eyes distracted, Kokoro reached in and suddenly felt something... solid. Cold, feeling like ice and even sticking to her fingers. There was no mistaking it. The tape was in the back, a VHS cassette that she could feel with terrible physicality and a morbid gravity and chill that shocked the ghost to her very ephemeral bones. Her assumption was all too correct. A Clue has been found! Check the spreadsheet for more information. "The other option is to cut it at the knot."There is a rumbling sound, something that brings a measure of earned dread to the gathered's heart. It is unmistakable a harbinger of something they had all experienced. As the shelves began to shake, Momoka collapsed down into herself, hugging at her knees and all but hiding herself against the aisle, her hands on her head and shaking almost violently, as everything was called forth by the desperate pleas of the Geist-bound, and the earth began to move. Not as severely as the days before, but nonetheless a shudder, an aftershock. Then, there was a buzzing sound, the lights flickering and the television monitors all faded into the white snow of static, just as Sayuri remembered. It was happening again. A conclusion could be drawn, perhaps now, or later: The memories were easier to draw because Kaito's death broke the pattern. It wasn't preceded by an earthquake. Or the other signs. There was an additional layer here beyond the curse of the tape, but what? "All suffering is born of attachment. You cannot deny fate when it comes. You will become bound to the very thing you deny. Greed, desire... death. All these vengeful spirits want, these things you call Nightmares, is to live again. Didn't you want the same? If you want to deny death, you need a scapegoat. Someone else to die in your stead. They need someone to suffer just like them. If they can find that suffering, make someone give in..." Music Changes: Wake Up the PresidentThere is a lurching sound, and the linoleum on the ground splits, as there's the sound of shouts and cries. The lights suddenly flicker and go out, draping everything in a sort of half-darkness. Across the ground, you can see that fissure, as shelves collapse in on it and the crack opens up, giving off an unearthly green light, plasm rising in the form of a noxious mist that rises up in geyser like fonts. Visible more in the darkness than in the light, beings begin to drag themselves out of the fissure, numbering five in total. Formless, shapeless Shadows with cobalt masks with featureless eyes, drifting up like hungry spirits with a low cry. People are panicking, but not seemingly for the thing that is in front of them, but more over the loss of power, huddled near doorways as if in fear more of the earthquake than the spiritual manifestation.  "A Nightmare's curse has these elements: A victim."A cut to Momoka screaming, as if she feels the green light spilling forth, knows what's going on, startling even further some of the other people trapped in the darkness of the 7-to-7. "A conduit, a haunting. A place in this world that is made familiar to it."The lights flicker back on, making the Shadows as they descend down upon employees and victims alike translucent, rather than starkly clear as they were in the darkness, the fissure itself still there in the middle of the store and visible over the aisles. People try to get out, but the automatic doors still won't open, a few alarmed people feeling the chill touch of the Shadows banging on the glass. Ikeda-san shouts for people to be calm and he'd get it fixed, but something was coalescing behind him as well... "A vessel, a vector. A medium to communicate itself."A cut to that ice-cold video cassette in Momoka's open and spilled bag at her side, which began now to pulse, its plastic case deforming as if breathing "A curse isn't broken unless the source, the Nightmare, is untangled from its suffering. Like a snarl of thread, it is the harder path. It will fight you every step of the way."As the Geist-bound prepare, they realize the Shadows are all too aware of their presence as they begin to manifest, looking to possess the new employees, at least four of them, while the fifth hovers and begins to take on some kind of shape above Ikeda Ikki. Just as with Momoka, everything is going fast, but you have a window of opportunity to take your actions. What do you do? Music Changes: 347 Midnight Demons Combat Start: Player Turn. You are engaged with five unmanifested Shadows in Twilight, meaning they have not taken physical forms so you will need to use your Seals or other powers to engage them. Four (A, B, C, and D) are currently trying to possess some of the local warm bodies to use as mediums, and you have a chance to act before that process is complete. A fifth one (E) is about to take some kind of action on Ikeda Ikki, separate from the other four. In addition there are about three employees, two customers, and Momoka and Ikeda as bystanders. The store is divided in aisles formed by shelves, some collapsed, and provides a lot of cover (-2 to ranged attacks against you if you stay behind cover and don't engage in melee). The Defense of the first four Shadows (A-D) is 2 and the Defense of the fifth one is 3. Their Resistance and Rank is 2 and 1 for the first four, and 4 and 2 for the fifth one, respectively. Scene: A Friend in Need, Kongou Temple (Chiyoko, Mako, Kaede, Jiro) Incidental Music: Ruined LandsA circuit had been made through the "rock garden" which had just as many aluminum cans really as anything else, as Shoko arrives back at her stoop, and seems to take a seat once more, putting on a show of looking exhausted. She then makes a very curious offer. "There is of course the other way. You can cut the knot. If the curse no longer has a victim, then it has no way to enter in this world. So..." She was being a little vague. Was this Buddhist nun really suggesting they kill Momoka Ueno? Was this some kind of moral test, or a genuine suggestion? It was the easier path for sure, especially as they knew not how to get to the Nightmare, save through a dangerous trek into the Underworld, a place that was a mystery to them. "Tch," she patted her pockets and sighed loudly in complaint. "If you want me to say anything more, I need some cigarettes." She seemed fresh out.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 13:09
|
|
|
Plasm: 14 / 6 | Willpower: 4 / 2 Kokoro yanks her hand back, and the shouting in the store is just kind of the white noise in the background of seeing the disaster unfold. Being behind the counter, it's eerily like being at funhouse mirror of her life. But as she shadows burst forth, her racing mind has to settle on a road. And with Ikeda in danger, it's not hard for her to pick. She moves past the backpack - it's not like she can pick up the tape or it easily - and springs up to kneel on the counter so she can gesture over the racks and at the lead shadow. She hopes she's good enough to hit it and not him, but at the same time there's no time to hesitate. "Agi!", she calls out, and unleashes' Jack's fire. Using the Numen of Agi with one Willpower for 3 successes (8 dice) on an attack against Shadow E.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2017 23:11
|
|
|
"D...DOG!?" Chiyoko shrieks at Jiro's insulting explanation, and for a moment the air seems colder around her. But of course the nun had already started up the stairs by then and was explaining...cryptically. Of course, despite all the shouting and bravado, Chiyoko was already thinking about her's...and the group's, she supposed, next move. The priestess' requisite spooky and ominous warnings/advice wouldn't be amiss in one of the films that they chose to watch, but then her entire life had recently turned into a horror movie so she supposed it was only fitting. Mako had always, well, creeped Satou out. She wasn't normal, even before all of this, but Chiyoko couldn't help but feel for the girl. If someone...something had done that to her daughter the way her parents were...well... ...well, Chiyoko wouldn't want something like that running around, and the priestess said that it was still there, somehow, like a tear in reality. Like a nightmare. Or perhaps a Nightmare. "Would killing these...Nightmares...or their servants...help?" She raises an eyebrow. Maybe killing wasn't the right word. She was somewhat surprised she was so ready with the suggestion. But then again, part of her found it to be eminently logical... "Because if so...I think I know where we ought to start."
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2017 06:49
|
|
|
With a slight chuckle, Kaede responds to the priestess’ final words with, “Sorry, Shoko-san, but half of us here are a little young to be buying cigarettes, and I doubt Kurokawa-san is much for it either.” And Satou-san didn’t seem the type to buy things for others if there wasn’t some gain involved, Kaede thought to herself. But perhaps she was wrong on that front. It wasn’t as if she knew the older woman all that well. Snide comments aside, Kaede really had been hoping for something less… enigmatic from the priestess regarding spiritual power. No matter. That was more of a side concern, a curiosity to her. At least Shoko had been fairly straightforward regarding the more pressing issue here. The Nightmare, and the curse upon them. Perhaps, too straightforward. “A ‘scapegoat,’ is it…? Is that how you saw us, Ueno-san?” Her hands tucked into her blood-stained jacket, Kaede whispered to herself as she breathed in the cold, night air. Killing someone. Could she do such a thing? She didn’t know. If it was someone like Momoka Ueno, if it was Momoka Ueno, then- “-I dunno about starting anything, Satou-san. It’s getting late, at least for me and I’m assuming Mako-chan here.” She gave a sideways glance at the young girl, unsure of what kind of schedule she actually followed. There was a lot that she didn’t know about Mako, really. “But we should probably at least meet back up with the others and tell them what we’ve learned before turning in for the night. I’d text them or something, but my phone’s a little out of order at the moment. ‘Sides, this seems like a topic better discussed in person.” TheFireMagi fucked around with this message at 22:30 on May 23, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 23, 2017 22:21
|
|
|
". . . ." Momoka's response seems to hit Takeshi right at his core, sending him quietly sinking into a sort of despondent daze. All he does is stare ahead in a blank silence until the earthquake- or rather, Momoka's scream rips him out of it. He looks around quickly, like he's suddenly woken up from a dream. There's a lot to take in, a lot to absorb. There's no time to think, only to act. You already know what you need to do, anyway. Act on Instinct. The swift Eat. The slow go Hungry. Right. Closing his eyes and clearing his head of all those conscious words that had been clouding it up, Takeshi puts his hand in his pocket and squeezes the shark tooth in there between his fingers. It's sharp, pointed, and painful. It's painful in a way that feels much more real than anything else out there. By just focusing on that, he can push everything else out of his mind. Don't worry, just act. Nothing matters except this. Except... "JaaAWS!" As Takeshi shouts, his jaw distorts and plunges his voice down into a deeper tone. If you happen to watch the gross sight, you see his teeth molt into hideous, sharp things and his mouth transform into a monstrous, carnivorous maw. "Hrrr..." Takeshi breathes slowly through closed, bared teeth. He watches one of the shadows closely, his head slowly turning to follow its every movement. He looks like a predator ready to hunt. Spending 1 Plasm to unlock my Primeval Caul: 1 Success. I'll add 1 dot to Strength, raising it to 4.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2017 01:22
|
|
|
As the Shadows make their appearance, Sayuri could feel that part of herself taking over. She could hear the darkness within her calling out, demanding her to let it out again. Let the darkness consume you. Give in to your thirst. Kill. Kill. Kill! "...Yes." Sayuri takes out her needle from her pocket, and slashes the palm of her left hand with the sharp object, producing a large, bloody cut. She lets the blood drip out of her hand for a few seconds, before she calls out, "Carrie." The bloody form of her Geist appears behind her, and, as soon as Carrie appears, the cut on her hand stops bleeding, and the wound starts to close itself up. Her hand, which is now stained with blood from the cut, is completely healed. The blood will heal you. Don't hold back. Cut them. Stab them. Twist them. Burn them. KILL THEM! She starts giggling to herself, as if she was excited about this whole situation. This was her chance to let loose again, to let the animal inside of her out again. This was her chance... ...To spill blood once again. Unlock Stigmatic Shroud (3 Resolve + 3 Intimidation + 1 Psychopomp): 7d10o10h8 2 (I should have 1 armor for the unlock, bringing my defense to 3)
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2017 02:23
|
|
|
Scene: Closing Words, Kongou Temple (Chiyoko, Mako, Kaede, Jiro) Incidental Music: Ruined Lands "Geez. I can't catch a break, even the hungry ghosts around her are kids." The priestess shrugs, mostly defeated, and nibbling at the end of one of her half-gloved fingers idly, obviously in need of a drag. However Chiyoko's answer stood hanging over, and Shoko's eyes grew a bit, well, darker. "You won't have to wait long. The victims of a curse are hounded. You cannot actually destroy these beings. They will simply be reborn, in another form. Simple destruction will not bring you any closer... You may have to end up actually talking you way out of a problem, though that can be difficult when the forces of Hell are breathing down your neck, neh?" She shrugs. "If you're done for the night, one last warning from an useless nun. There is a very thin line between a victim and a nightmare. The curse of a vengeful ghost only begets more. The heroines of a ghost story soon become ghost stories of their own..." Her eyes glinting as she regards them. "As you all well know. But there are real bystanders out there. Those who cannot see... And I would not expect everyone to be so understanding the next time you so brazenly declare what you are. The consequences of your actions will be very real. Spirits may simply be reborn, but people die... So what does that make the lot of you if you do not die, I wonder?" Scene: Shadow Confrontation, 7-to-7 (Kokoro, Sayuri, Takeshi, Kaito) Action Music: 347 Midnight DemonsThe first shot of the engagement is fired from an unlikely source, burning from the lamp of Jack O'Lantern and flung forward as Kokoro calls upon her fettered Shadow, sending a bolt of fire that cascades on the descending Shadow over Ikeda Ikki, who collapses as his face drains of color, back against the wall and sliding down as the fire burns through the formless shadow and it begins to manifest and take a form, the fire burning through the outer barrier. What unfolds are tendrils of black hair surrounding a disembodied head with wide, white weyes and some kind of gagged mouth, and a ritualistic cap upon the forehead like a diadem. An ugly creature of the Underworld, it lets out a hoarse screech that moves through the room, and the other Shadows begin to take form as well, as its singed face turns from Ikki to focus entirely on the ghost detective.  Yomotsu-Shikome suffers 3 Lethal wounds from Kokoro's Agi attack. Using its prehensile hair like some kind of horrifying arachnid, grasping out at the shelves and ceiling as the lights flicker and distort with its passing, the Shadow closes in on Kokoro. Its lips twist and it lets out words through its gag that shudder and shiver with a vile, dripping scorn. "Poisma." The air itself seems to become choked with a noxious gas, exuding from ectoplasmic projections as it descends to fall upon the ghost, her otherwise colorless form being filled with a pale, sickly shade of yellow as she is weakened from the inside with a spiritual venom, and the predatory Shadow prepares to feast. Yomotsu-Shikome engages Kokoro and uses Numen: Poisma: 6d10o10h8 1 Kokoro now suffers the Poisoned Tilt of grave severity for 4 turns.pre:Poisoned Tilt (Grave). Take one lethal wound each turn. Roll Resistance + Psyche as a reflexive action each turn that your character is poisoned. If your character intends to act (meaning, takes a non-reflexive action), this roll suffers a -3 penalty. Success counteracts the damage for one turn only.  The Yomotsu-Ikusa begin to possess bystanders. While possessing these bodies. they gain temporary Corpus dots representing these human shields. Damage dealt to them is dealt to the human shields first unless you have a means of attacking them in Twilight, like a weaponized psychopomp, reverse-possession, or the Rage Seal. All attacks, including ranged ones, suffer a -2 penalty if you are targeting the Shadow directly. Using a Shadow's Bane will also force it to release the possessed victim.The possessed old man doing his Exorcist-style spider walk quickly moves with alarming alacrity to close in on Momoka Ueno, but before much of anyone else can react to stop him, the other three close in on the group as well, quickly recognizing them as threads with the manifestations of their powers. A bald tough (Ikusa B) crashes through the shelves in between where Momoka is and Takeshi, holding up a shopping cart with freakish ease and prepared to use it as an improvised weapon against the sharp-toothed young man. As Sayuri's body is shrouded with the plasm of her Geist, she hears two voices coming from opposite directions, as both a young woman (Ikusa C) and young man (Ikusa D), wearing the uniform and likely new hires, charge at her, the girl brandishing a box cutter and the boy a glass bottle. Kaito, having not manifested his power, has not drawn their attention, yet. pre:Ikusa A | Action: Possession (Old Man) | Engaged with Momoka | Rank 1 | Resistance 2 | Defense 2 (-2 to attacks if targeting Shadow directly) | Corpus (☐☐☐☐☐)☐☐☐☐☐ Ikusa B | Action: Possession (Bald Tough) | Engaged with Takeshi | Rank 1 | Resistance 2 | Defense 2 (-2 to attacks if targeting Shadow directly) | Corpus (☐☐☐☐☐)☐☐☐☐☐ Ikusa C | Action: Possession (New Hire Girl) | Engaged with Sayuri | Rank 1 | Resistance 2 | Defense 2 (-2 to attacksif targeting Shadow directly) | Corpus (☐☐☐☐☐)☐☐☐☐☐ Ikusa D | Action: Possession (New Hire Boy) | Engaged with Sayuri | Rank 1 | Resistance 2 | Defense 2 (-2 to attacks if targeting Shadow directly) | Corpus (☐☐☐☐☐)☐☐☐☐☐ Shikome | Action: Numen (Poisma) | Engaged with Kokoro | Rank 2 | Resistance 4 | Defense 3 | Corpus ☒☒☒☐☐☐☐☐  It's your move. Remember too that demon negotiation is a part of your toolbox as well if you feel you are backed into a corner or want to try and get an advantage. Consider this engagement a tutorial on combat and action scenes in general, and ask questions on the OOC thread or over IRC as they come.
Tricky Dick Nixon fucked around with this message at 18:18 on May 30, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 25, 2017 10:46
|
|
|
Kaito finally regains his faculties after the sudden attack, reaching into his pocket for the mask he got. He holds it between two fingers and makes a cool pose, drinking in the moment. "Hen........SHIN!" 1 Plasm to activate Pandaemonic Rage: 1 sux As soon as he places the mask on, tendrils of shadow overcome his body, forming the same demonic suit he donned earlier that night. "THE HERO OF JUSTICE, DEVILMAN!" Not wasting any time, he dashes over towards the Shadow attacking Kokoro and swipes with a large spectral claw. Using 1 Willpower to attack: 0 sux Unfortunately, he misses. Still gotta get used to this thing.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2017 23:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 21:31 |
|
|
Sayuri watches as the possessed workers charge at her. She patiently waits for them to get closer, and once they're close enough, she thrusts her needle forward. Halfway through her thrust, the needle changes, and morphs into the same kitchen knife she used to carve a bloody path through the underworld. The knife stabs deep into the shadow possessing the young girl, leaving the thing wounded now. First blood has been split, and it certainly won't be the last. Turning my Psychopomp into it's weapon form, and then spending a point of Willpower to attack right away. Stabby Stabby! (2 Strength + 1 Weaponry): 3d10o10h8 1 I forgot to apply the -2 penalty for attacking the shadow directly, but it should still be a success either way!
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2017 00:29
|
|