[open] Player Plot: Haunting of the Harbors

[vermilloci]

Who: EVERYONE Opting in!
Status: OPEN
Where: Harbors of the world
What: Player plot, threads count as 4pts each, like a quest! Threads with confronting Rem are 6pts.
Warnings: Death, ghosts, the dead spirits haunting people, potential for fights/action/violence

Night 1

The sun has set for what should be a clear, peaceful night on a harbor, a band of three rowdy sailors stumble out from a very fine and reputable (read: grimy and suspicious) establishment. With golden ale still sloshing over the tops of the mugs they've stolen, the sailors merrily stumble their way down the boardwalk and all the way to the shore, singing a grossly out-of-tune sea shanty. Their song echoes from the seawalls to the lighthouse, until one of them stops in his tracks, hearing another stanza of the shanty sung back. One of the sailors motions for the others to pause while he bravely steps forward, peering into the darkness. A silhouette appears to form from the quiet harbor mist. Or perhaps it had been there all along.

"Oi, ain't that your old man?"

"You see 'im?"

"Aye, we see him, too. How could we forget? He's the one who taught us this song."

At the sailor's words, the phantom smiles warmly, opening his arms wide to the three.

Within the next hour, rumors rapidly begin to spread throughout the harbor as more and more sightings of.... ghosts? phantoms? visions of the dead appear. The long lost, the long loved, and the long loathed alike are all here once again! Most gossipers, of course, roll their eyes. It's not as if this realm hasn't had its share of undead haunting in some ghastly way, shape, or form.

However, these apparitions, ghosts, spirits phantoms, visions— whatever one wishes to call them— are more than a ghost, ghoul, or banshee from a ship wreckage or haunted castle. They are someone the characters knows, deceased in their canon, and they are here to haunt for this one night. The spirit behaves as they did in their canon, whether benevolent or otherwise. Be warned, though: the longer one spends with the spirit, the more weary the living becomes, as if their energy is being siphoned (to whatever degree the player is comfortable, of course). If one stays with a phantom until dawn, you may feel bedridden the entire following day.

But perhaps it's worth it. How often does one get the opportunity to chat with someone both deceased and coherent? While the phantoms can talk about anything the player wishes, there is one unifying theme: the memory of them. Do you remember them? Do you wish to remember them? Or would you rather not?

• More info can be found on this post here for specifics, conditions, and the negative effects on the phantoms, as well as how to defeat them. Think of any light/holy/exorcist-based magic, power, or talisman, for the magic route. Alternatively, a character can will the phantom away by both expending a great amount of mental effort and expressing that they wish to forget the phantom.
• If not banished, phantoms stick around until dawn. If they do, that is when the character will feel the most drained.
• Characters are free to capture the phantoms' souls for themselves, if they are capable. But if not, they may see that upon the phantom's defeat or the phantom vanishing at dawn, the phantom's soul (as well as those of others nearby) all head in a single direction— near the harbor, where a medium-sized red sailboat is anchored.

Night 2

The ghostly visitors' effects of the previous night ripple into the following evening. Thus, the sun sets on a night quieter than the last, with a chill, mournful breeze disturbing the lush, summer tree branches. Music from the various taverns is not as merry, and some shutter their windows as soon as the last bit of blood orange fades with the twilight. The marina's waters are still, as if the entire harbor holds its breath, waiting, wondering if the phantoms will appear again. Some curse their previous visitors. But for others...

Some locals take to the streets, holding a candle out, waiting. Waiting. Waiting and watching to see a lost loved one once again. Others come equipped with light-filled trinkets and blessed talismans, ready to banish their hateful grudges away.

Whether it's the same spirit or a different one, the haunting continues. How the phantoms may have behaved the previous night doesn't matter. The phantom wishes to live, and they are convinced that, somehow, they can return to life by taking more of the living's. The phantom may go about this cleverly— perhaps starting off the same as the previous night, wanting to still reconnect with you, express their kinship with you, persuade you to sit with them— or they might go about this directly, immediately. Some do this by touch, while others merely need to extend their hand outward, but once they do, you will begin to feel tired. This is your energy, your power, your life essence that they are trying to take. Don't you wish them to live, too? Even if not, why not give them yours?

To whoever intervenes in their quest for life, they will siphon the interloper instead. For those who wish for a more action-y type of battle, with enough energy siphoned, they can turn into hideous, monstrous undead versions of themselves. How monstrous the "undead" form these phantoms take is up to the player! These forms are more tangible, too, so while they might hit harder, they can also be defeated by physical means.

• The phantoms can be defeated in the same manner as the previous night, or else they might stick around until morning.
• The souls of the dead, like those of the previous night, will all head in a certain direction. This time, they float further out of the town, towards the beaches.

Final Notes

You don't need to have previous CR with Rem or need to interact with her to participate in this miniplot. Just have fun! Or have it be an excuse to have your character see dead people, or let other characters see someone dead from their canon C: Feel free to use this post as plotting! For any questions, I can also be reached via this post, PM, drinksteapots or jade294 on disco! Happy summer haunting!

• Threads for both portions will count as 4 points, like a quest! Threads with Rem, if you wish to confront or fight her, will be 6pts.
• Art credit to phantom.painting on Instagram!

Comments

B

[catsgothistongue]

[Best thing about training your control over ki? You gain a heighten sensitivity to other's life energy as well. All throughout this night, Ranma's sharp perception had been picking up the vacillating and withering of people's being. Bastards... Taking on the look of people's loved ones or most detestable ones just to drain them. Whatever or whoever's doing all this, they needed to be stopped.

For the time being, all he could do is focus on the smaller, but as tantamount as the root cause, issue at hand. Slowly he's been recovering his ki through his meridian, so although he may not be all lock stock and barrel yet, he's able-bodied enough to lend a hand to those dealing with their blasts from the past.

It wouldn't take him all night to find another. Cavorting from building to building's roof lead him to stumble upon the confrontation below. Between the blonde girl he's met from time to time, and a hoary bearded man. He could've been fooled into believing they were close due to how joined at the hip they were. Maybe in their life, they were.

But the torpefied state and rictus grin on Zelda's face, the translucent being of the old man, and his beguiling sagely words demanding her to give up her own life painted a completely different picture. Ranma planned to put a big, red blotch all over this canvas.

Or gold, for a brilliant golden orb whistled past the pairing's faces, being an inch closer to the old man's nose, striking a lamp post. A warning shot, to announce his own presence.

... As if jumping down from the building just now adjacent from the wasn't a good enough announcement on its own.]

Yo, old-timer. [The martial artist's tone, insouciant in sound but sparsely slipping through vexation.] How 'bout you let her go and buzz off to whatever grave you crawled out of. Or else.

[The or else was said with enough virulence to poison a man.]

[multidisciplinary]

[ Zelda gasps as a glowing orb flies right between herself and the ghost of her father, causing them both to jump back from each other.

...Although, more accurately, the spirit glides away while Zelda stumbles back a pace and falls on her behind.

But both turn in surprise to see Ranma casually drop down from the adjascent building. ]

Ranma! [ Zelda struggles unsuccessfully to get to her feet. ] Stop, don't hurt him!

Sorry for the delay, rl happened!

[catsgothistongue]

Don't worry, I'm not. [His tone stated otherwise, as does the steely daggers he's glaring at the bearded spirit adjacent to Zelda.] Exorcise it, well, I've never been exorcised myself before. So I can't say if it's painful or isn't.

[An indifferent shrug, before breaking into a stance.]

I don't really care either way. Not when they're monsters who're draining the life energy out of innocents. [He diverts his attention from the blonde to the spirit.] But since Zelda here seems to know or care about you, how about I cut you a deal, old timer?

[A faint, bluish hue of a fiery aura surrounded the young martial artist.]

Leave and go back to whatever hole in the ground you crawled out 'f, or stay and deal with me. Fair warning? [Lips curled up into a smirk as he held his stance.] Only one of those is gonna end well for ya'.