PHASE I [ 9 00 ] The peace of the morning in the Residential District shatters just as the wall caves through. It’s a small segment of wall -- no more than five feet across at most. And yet the crash and groan of the metal being stretched is ominously accompanied by the distinct piercing screech of metal and another sound. A raucous noise, a combination of ungodly wailing and sharp, victorious laughter spills forth from the hole left in the wall as a myriad of ghosts and spirits erupt from the newly created exit. Characters with any type of spiritual sense will find themselves nearly overwhelmed by the amount of negative ghostly energy that suddenly floods Cerealia and characters with no sense of preservation will find any attempt to enter the hole blocked by the fiercest of ghosts, met with deadly force if they try to pass, as the ghosts won’t hesitate to do things such as reach straight into your body to try to stop your heart.
These ghosts are out for blood, and they don’t seem to stop no matter how you try to talk to them -- they just hiss out, over and over again, “Murderersmurderersmurderers.”
From there, the ghosts move on. Their true target, after all, is CERES… but to them, there’s no difference between the character players and CERES. They’ll go for whoever gets in their way, phasing through walls and becoming tangible long enough to reach for characters before fading away again. Characters with special abilities will find themselves in a similar state. Their abilities may increase and decrease in power sporadically, or be completely gone. They may attempt to cast a spell only to find that the wrong spell is cast instead, or an attempt at healing may end up a more dangerous spell. Be careful with your own magical skills!
Those with items or powers specifically intended to ward off spirits will still fulfill their intended purposes when used – unless malicious spiritual energy gets to them first.
PHASE II [ 1400 ] It seems the ghosts have more tricks up their sleeves. It seems that a not-so-friendly ghost has decided to play a game with you. It doesn't matter where you are, or what you're doing, because a moment later a voice calls out -- Hey. Can you see me? -- and once you turn your head, you’ll come face to face with a surprise.
Who is it in this world (or your world, or any world) that you have managed to disappoint the most? A family member? A friend? Yourself? They face you now, eyes full of sadness, and they say, “I need you to do something for me.” Without another word, they’ll turn away and begin to walk. Your vision grows foggy, focused solely on the need to do whatever this person wants – they need you, after all. Your legs move to follow them, unless you manage to somehow resist.
But you apparently don’t seem to notice that you’re the only one who can see this person – or that they’re leading you stray toward that monorail track with the sound of the train coming closer, or that busy intersection, or right off the sky bridge.
PHASE III [ 600 ] Other ghosts don’t feel like borrowing faces in order to inflict damage. No, they’ll inflict their damage on a far more personal level. They manifest suddenly and without warning – then all it takes is a simple touch. A ghostly hand reaches out to you and it feels like the cold wraps around your heart, and your vision skews, and then... they leave just as suddenly as they came.
Those who have been around for awhile may very well recognize the ghosts, at that.
But the damage has already been done. Depending on a character’s assigned sense, they will feel one of the following changes:
Sight: Hopefully you aren’t in the habit of bending the truth. Dead men tell no tales, they say. But what happens to a living person unable to tell lies? Any attempt at telling any lie or falsehood will cause the character to feel as though their throat has closed off, and they can do nothing more than choke.
Smell: The cold passes, but in some way that it never really leaves. And then everything seems perfectly normal. Nothing has changed, right? You're fine -- except that in a short period of time with how crazy things are, it becomes apparent that you're unable to feel pain. The damage to your body is the same as ever, but dangerously, you can't feel a thing.
Taste: It would appear as though the ghosts have a sense of humor. From those who rest in eternal slumber, try a few days of being unable to sleep. Everything seems fine at first... but slowly but surely, that lack of sleep will start to take its toll.
Hearing: Most others would feel relief once the ghosts left, finally a moment of peace. But you? You don’t feel anything – nothing kind, anyway. Rather, you have been left unable to feel joy. Everything seems either bleak or as though it simply has no emotional impact at all.
Touch: How many deaths have been caused in the name of heroics? Apparently in an attempt to keep future casualties down (or perhaps for their own laughter), the ghosts have left you unable to be brave. Suddenly, a situation you'd face fearlessly is one that has sent you running, panic sharp in your chest.
These effects will last throughout the event, if a character is caught by them.
PHASE IV [ 1000 ] While chaos erupts throughout the city, some of the more misguided ghosts (but still bloodthirsty, so very bloodthirsty) just happened to run into the wrong part of town and don’t know how to give a proper scaring. One ghost seems to think that it was a great idea to possess a masseusebot from the Spa. You’re grabbed suddenly! You fight for your life but can’t seem to get yourself out of its metal grip! With expert precision that only a robot can mange, it finds your pressure points – and releases all that tension from this Incredibly Bad Day. The ghost inside the robot is confused, distressed -- why is this human suddenly so relaxed? It only wants to murder. But the only illegal thing happening here is how good this massage makes you feel.
Maybe later you’ll walk down the street and get stopped by the ghost that possessed a balloon dispenser. Perhaps a ghost has possessed the friendly McCERES mascot, and is now handing out coupons with murderous intent. And of course, there are always the hug bots...
Look, they tried really hard, okay.
Of course... they might end up possessing technology a little closer to home as well, at which point it's not so funny.
BONUS [ xxxx ] Hopefully you have friends who have ghost-fighting skills. Or ghost-taming skills. Or ghost-bellydancing skills, who knows, we won't judge them if you don't. But what of those poor people who come from worlds where the supernatural is some weird television show?
Worry not, poor souls, for CERES is here to provide! Some time after the ruckus begins, characters will find what looks to be a hand-held vacuum cleaner situated innocuously in their rooms (only one per person, you greedy gus). The logo on the side will helpfully inform you that this is of CERES make, because the paper pamphlet beside your new device? Well, it's more like a picture book. Observe Stick-Man Sully as he uses his vacuum cleaner to capture ghosts! Learn from his stellar example! Do not stick the hose in your mouth or attempt to give the vacuum CPR, there's a big X over that picture. Also of the one where Stick-Man Sully sets his captive ghosts free once more, we don't want that, do we?
Your new ghost vacuum should prove effective against any ghastly ghoul that shoots your way, but beware! Should you capture a ghost and not turn in your vacuum to CERES for weekly ghost disposal, your ghost will serenade you in the wee hours of the morning with its song of choice. If you capture a whole horde of ghosts, well, congratulations. You have a boy band living in your vacuum.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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The nice thing about Dipper is that he knows how to act on instinct in cases like these. It's only when their group of unwanted friends are safely tucked away that Hiro sighs in relief, a hand coming up to the side of his helmet to flip up the visor and address Dipper better.]
Let's keep moving. From what I've noticed if there's a group of them another group isn't too far behind. You woke up in your apartment with this thing, too?
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Yeah. I hate to admit it, considering where it came from, but it's pretty handy. Even if we're cleaning up CERES's mess for them, at least it's keeping people safe. [ He doesn't like it, but it is useful, and in circumstances like this, they had to take what they could get. ]
I have a base set up not too far from here. We can take a break there.
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Tell me about a time we haven't been cleaning up CERES's mess for them. [He rolls his eyes, though he's still cautious and on high alert.] Let's head for the base and compare notes. Things are getting way too crazy out here to just let it slide. How far is not too far?
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We can come up with a game plan. It's only a couple of blocks. It's got snacks.
[ Like the presence of snacks was necessary to legitimize his claim of having a base. ]
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And snacks are pretty much acceptable all the time so consider him sold on the idea.]
Sounds like a solid base to me. Lead the way.
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I had Rei bless it so the ghosts can't get in there. It's pretty handy if you ever need a place to catch your breath. It's even got some blankets in case your that tired.
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She'd be the one person I'd trust with that sort of thing. Have you talked to her about what's going on? [A beat.] And that sounds great, but I'm going to try not to stay in one place for too long. Just enough to plan and then probably back out there. [Hiro Hamada's given up on sleeping, please ignore him.]
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...Not that he has high hopes for that. ]
Can't blame you there. There's way too much going on to really sit down and take a nap right now. [ Don't worry, Hiro, Dipper is the last person who will give you a hard time for not getting the proper amount of sleep. Or any at all. ]
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Napping also means letting our guards down and letting the ghosts sneak up on us. Somebody's gotta stay awake and protect the city and hunt them down until they stop freaking out. Why not us?
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Better us than all those sick people. [ Beat. ] Speaking of that, did you get any other leads on what's causing it?
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Ghosts definitely have the ability to negatively influence the emotions of people around them, especially ones that rate higher on the scale. These ghosts are definitely category tens. Feelings of dread, lightheadedness, even stuff like vertigo and hallucinations are pretty standard, though usually that kind of thing would affect everyone, not just a specific type of person.
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...Yeah. It's seriously messed up. [ That deception is somehow worse than the outright attempted murder. ] And that's another thing. Most ghosts I've studied don't have the kind of telepathic powers these ones would need to see into our minds and appear as someone who could entice us like that. It's pretty unusual. It makes me wonder if they're tied into the spiritual nature of the planet like the trees are.
[ A beat. ] Did you see one?
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[Rrrgh. He nods grimly.] Looked exactly like Baymax and almost led me right off the skybridge. Definitely not my proudest moment.
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Shoot. Sorry, man. I guess the important thing is that it only "almost" did.
[ And if there's anyone who gets bruised pride over being tricked like that, it's Dipper. ]
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[Being tricked isn't his favorite thing, and he knows Dipper will understand at least.]
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[ He doesn't need to explain, because Hiro gets it, and he knows Hiro gets that he gets it. ]
I was talking to someone about that. She suggested travelling in groups of three to five. Harder for the ghosts to trick that many people, but small enough they would have a difficult time infiltrating the group by possessing someone.
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And what do you know, they've arrived at the door to the base! Such convenient timing, that. ] Well, here we are. Base sweet base.
[ Dipper pushes his way inside. It's an empty store front with some tables and chairs. Snacks and water sit atop a counter, and there's even board games and blankets in one corner. ]
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Not bad. Definitely a good space and out of the way. [Once they're both safely inside he crosses the room and sets his ghost-vac on the table to examine it.] Who else knows about your base?
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[ He still might announce it, but it makes him nervous. But then again, so does everything. ]
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