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The Call (1) : An unknown number calls you. Maybe you pick it up, maybe you don’t, but the message is the same–someone on the other line is warning you about something. They seem to have details that give credence to whatever they’re warning you about, but there’s something particularly unbelievable about it all–because, they sound like you. And they know things only you would know. And then, the line drops, and you’re left alone. If you try to call the number back, it’s been disconnected. If it was a prank, it was a good one. But, maybe there was something more to it.

Familiar Faces (2) : As you walk around town, you start to notice that people seem different. Faces you used to remember have been swallowed by shadows; you may 'know' the person by a feeling, but their face is completely masked in deep black shadow. Their voice is unfamiliar, and it's clear to you that something is wrong, but no sense of logic can explain this. Shadows seem to be replacing people around you--associates, neighbors, maybe even friends or family members. Even if they act completely normal, you are left with an unsettling feeling. The shadow impostors seem to come and go, and are always just convincing enough to pass for someone in your life. It’s hard to feel safe anymore. Maybe you’ve just come down with something–or, maybe something from the shadows is just watching you.

The Gargoyles (3) : Even when you thought you’d seen the last of them, it seems like you’re never really in the clear. A while back, there was an infestation of awful gargoyle creatures–and while every Star Festival had its fair share of oddities, this one seems to have introduced a permanent infestation upon the city. Maybe you see them perched on the roof, or hiding in the shadows, but not all of these grotesque creatures are satisfied with just escaping their interdimensional prison–some of them still have a bone to pick. They seem stony; some of them will watch with a penetrative gaze and never strike to attack, but some of them will dive down to target anyone who gets too close. The monsters come in an array of sizes and shapes, but they are no more than half the size of their target. Their goal is uncertain, but they will crumble into a pile of rocks and dust if struck hard enough.

This RP can be used as a battle requirement as long as there are at least two powered characters involved; you must be interacting with another player’s powered character and cannot solo this with two of your own characters. This does not count as the ‘one youma battle’ per stage for growth. This can only be used as a battle requirement once per character, but there is no limitation for how many times a player can use this prompt.

The Face in the Moon (4) : The night seems darker than it should be, but it’s been a cloudy day so it’s not too surprising, unless you’re also factoring in the strange sensation that someone is watching you. You won’t see anyone if you look around, but the longer you’re outside, the more intense and unnerving things become. And then–if you look up–you see why. The moon that you know has been replaced with a devilish face, with wide, piercing eyes and a devilish grimace. No matter where you go, it’s watching you–and it even seems like it’s unusually large in the sky. Maybe others around you have noticed the same thing–or maybe it’s just you. Maybe it’s in your mind, but if you stare up at the face for too long, you begin to hear a low growling, or a shrill static. Its eyes are hypnotic and fearsome. Whether it disappears behind the clouds or the horizon, at some point it is gone. The strangeness fades with the moon, but there’s still no real explanation. It doesn’t photograph, and nothing about it can be recorded. You just have to hope it was a one time nightmare.

The Monster Under the Bed (5) : There’s a faint scratching under your bed. Maybe you’ve heard it in the nights leading up to now, or maybe it’s just started, but the scurrying noise is starting to drive you mad. What is it? A bug? A creature? Your imagination? If you try to ignore the noise, it grows louder and louder and louder, until it’s practically all you can hear. You can try to ignore it but sleep is impossible. If you’re hoping to get any rest, you’re going to have to investigate–but you’re not going to like what you find. A flashlight under the bed yields nothingness–a darkness so deep that it seems to swallow up all light. The noise is worse but you can’t see anything. But you’re already in its trap. If you try to reach into the darkness, something grabs your wrist; if you try to walk away, your ankle. Its grip is icy and sharp, like being grabbed by knives, and it pulls. No matter how hard you fight against it, it’s stronger–and it drags you into the darkness. You fall, for what feels like an eternity–and then you jerk awake, violently. Maybe it was just a bad dream. But it doesn’t explain the fading red marks from where it grabbed you. When you look again, it’s just your bed–but you have the distinct feeling that something is missing.

Mothmask (6) : There are eyes in the darkness of every forest, staring at you. Between one blink and the next, they disappear, only to reappear somewhere in the trees. Sometimes it’s one, sometimes it’s many. The faces are almost human; you can see the hollow of the eye, a narrow nose, and an eerie, toothy grin. It’s inhuman–and terrifying. No matter where you go, there are always faces outside, watching you. No tree is safe. It feels like being followed by horrifying ghouls–and what’s with the strange, raspy laughter coming from the depths of the forest? Fear is a powerful tool, but maybe if you’re just a little brave you can get close enough to better see what monsters are stalking you. You can find dark moths with strange, humanesque features painted on their wings. They are roughly the size of a basketball and, upon close inspection, seem mostly harmless. Except, if you stay too close to them, the face on their wings change–to yours. The moths cannot be caught and will always fly away, fleeing into the darkness, but it’s still unnerving. Especially if other people start to see your face staring back at them from the darkness with that uncomfortable, raspy laughter.

Web of Secrets (7) : Spiders have settled in all across town, and while this isn’t normally any great cause for concern, inky black spiders are oddly common. The spiders themselves are not very threatening–small, nonpoisonous, and cowardly. The interesting thing about them is their black webbing–and the strange designs they make. Webs appear overnight, often seeming to come out of nowhere. They are curiously designed, almost as if made to deliberately spell out something. People all over town have mentioned finding webs that spell out a single word, or part of a sentence. Maybe it’s just imagination, but as the days go on, the words seem to be clearer–and the messages are often uncomfortable or distressing. There’s no evidence that the spiders can spell or are trying to send messages, but really–is it that hard to believe? Once a spider has left a message, it disappears. They are masterful escape artists and cannot be caught. There’s no telling what the spiders want you to know, but maybe if you’re lucky one will leave you a message you understand.

All Bark and Some Bite ( 8 ) : Though still early in the season, some trees have already begun to shed their leaves. Maybe it’s climate change, maybe it’s a parasite. The bark of the trees seem oddly dark, almost black, but on their own they don’t look so unnatural. Maybe it’s just a pesticide or something? There’s no reason to be nervous around trees, anyway. By day, they seem perfectly normal. By night, they’re oddly loud and creaky, but even that’s normal too, right? And it’s just the wind that makes it seem like they’re moving behind you as you walk. It doesn’t explain the low gurling you sometimes hear from the darkness, like a monstrous, grumbling stomach, and it definitely doesn’t explain how the trees seem to lean in close to you. Or how they grab at you. When you least expect it, the trees seem like they’re trying to take a swipe at you. It’s strong enough to knock you off your feet or scratch you. If you get close enough, you’ll see that it’s not any ordinary tree hollow you’re staring into–it's a mouth. Leaking sappy drool, with a mouth full of sharp, barky teeth. The trees are smart, they never move when you’re looking at them, but as soon as your back is to them, you’re free game. The only thing you can do is try to get out of there before you become plant food.

The Creature in the Well (9) : While Destiny City has a modern water system, it’s not uncommon to see decorative wells around the city. Often in parks or around gardens, they grant a peaceful, countryside flair to the otherwise busy metropolis. Most days, they blend into the background. Not today. Maybe you heard a powerful, fierce splash, like something smacking violently against the water, or maybe it was the unnerving croak that echoed from deep below, but something has clearly gotten trapped in the well. Sometimes, there’s the distinct sound of something clawing, scratching, climbing–desperate to get out. The noise its making is deep enough to vibrate through the ground. If you go to investigate, you’ll see nothing but a pair of golden, snakelike eyes staring back up at you. Whatever it is, its body is completely submerged under the water, but just looking into its eyes is enough to petrify someone. There’s something hypnotic about it, something that seems like it’s drawing you into the well. And why shouldn’t you climb in? What’s stopping you? Danger is forgotten; the creature in the well has made a target of you. Hopefully you have someone to pull you out of the trance–or, maybe if you’re strong enough, you can do it yourself. If you lose the battle with the creature, you will fall unconscious just as you hit the water in the well; you will feel the sensation of something coiling around you, crushing you, and then–blackness. You will wake up in a hospital with a day lost and no memory of what happened in the well, or how you were pulled out. You only have bumps and bruises, and when you close your eyes you’re haunted by the chilling golden eyes in the well. If you return to it, you’ll find nothing but a strange, croaking echo.

Haunted Tour (10) : There are plenty of themed events during the Halloween season, and Destiny City has turned one of its historic tours into a themed ghost tour. It’s fairly cozy and lighthearted for the most part; some stories are haunting, and some are silly. It’s a clever way to get new people interested in the history of the city, and one particular tour has garnered quite a buzz thanks to the rumors of one very curious ghost taking a tour of its own–following you. Maybe you noticed it in one of the old buildings–someone watching you, or someone you didn’t see brushing against you. Maybe you noticed the chill, or a voice you heard but on one seemed to. Maybe you caught something out of the corner of your eye. Maybe you only noticed it when you were alone. Something has followed you. Maybe it is a soothing presence, or maybe it feels dangerous and unnerving. Even if you see a glimpse of the apparition, you cannot make out fine details or communicate with them. They will linger, maybe for a short while or maybe until dawn, but they always disappear without a trace by sunrise.

Soulful Remnants (11) : An old myth claims that every photograph steals a piece of your soul but there’s not any real merit to this superstition. At the end of the day, a photograph is nothing more than ink on a page, right? One moment, permanently fixed in time, on display for all to see. Except when it’s not. People are disappearing from pictures, as if just getting up and wandering away. Sometimes they appear in a nearby image. If you stare for long enough you can see them interacting with the environment–and, maybe they see you staring and interact with you. It looks as if there is a whole other universe in the image, like life goes on. You cannot record the image moving but you and others can see the same thing. It looks like watching a strange, silent film. Eventually, the ink will begin to fade and anyone who has moved will need to return to place. The photograph seems to return to normal afterwards. But then, they say that an artist leaves a piece of their soul in every piece they paint; maybe you’ll find a moving portrait instead.

Engine 21 (12) : Once, Destiny City had a functioning train station. Over the years the tracks took their damage, and the cost to repair couldn’t be justified. So the city let it, and the station, fall into ruin. Of course there have been rumors that the train station was a hot spot for ghouls, stuck in perpetual transit. Lost souls with no place to go. It’s not uncommon for trespassers to come out of the station claiming they saw some frightful apparition wearing outfits right out of the mid 1900s. Sometimes, they even hear the whistle of a train, or the clattering of the track as a phantom train rolls in. Engine 21 was the last train to depart from the station, allegedly, and derailed on the way to the mountains. There were no survivors, but the legend differs in how many souls were lost. Some say, if you stand on the platform at 3:33AM you can hear their screams forever cemented in an endless loop, reliving their deaths nightly. It’s not uncommon for people to say that the railroad crossings will mysteriously light up and lower despite no oncoming trains, and some have even said they’ve seen a phantom train speeding through the night. Maybe it’s just a ghost story, but maybe you’ve seen something, too.

The Horseman (13) : Fog is not uncommon in the latter half of the year, so it’s no surprise that Destiny City has been plagued by it. Historically, it has never brought anything good. Walls of white so dense that a deep breath feels like drowning, the rolls across the city in the late hours of the night like a herd of stampeding horses. You can hear them, too–the gallop of hooves. You can’t see it, but you hear a single horse, massive. Trotting behind you. If you speed up, it speeds up. No matter where you go, it follows. Sometimes, you can feel an icy breath on the back of your neck. It’s uncomfortable and unnerving, and there’s the distinct feeling of being followed by some sort of predator. It’s worse, if you run. It chases you. If you look behind you, you’ll see nothing but a dark, swirling mass, and sometimes the glint of a large blade. It’s terrifying. There’s no way to fight it, but if you’re lucky you can hide. If it catches you, you feel a painful sensation around your neck before the horse and its dark rider disappears into the night. Your heart feels like a bomb in your chest, and when you are somewhere safe you may find a deep, red mark on your neck, as if someone attempted to lop it off. The injury will fade after a few hours, but unfortunates may find a strange mist lingering outside of their window, accompanied by the sound of hooves and horse whinnies. The horseman cannot be interacted with; he does not speak, he does not have any form. He is simply hunting.