Work Text:
VMY 3/17/████
Travel log day 53
Achieved: Fucking nothing.
Changes to plans: Don't have a ghost related death happen. Everything else can stay the same.
To Do: Same as yesterday's. Uh. Continue pursuing lead from day 46, review supplies and make shopping list if needed, check in at Andante library for requested materials.
Something weird happened today. Not useful weird, just interesting weird.
Our car broke down. That's not the interesting part, it's just an annoying thing. The interesting part is that it broke down right in front of this huge old tower. Well we were already stuck and there was no service to be found, and honestly I was kind of in that mood of if there's a murderer in here let them fucking try it because I'd love to have someone to just whale on. And with our jinx gone we have a lot more wiggle room with risky things
Nope, can't think about that. Not as funny as I thought it was going to be.
So we went up to the door.
Actually scratch that, I need to take a second to tell you about this tower. Picture a house. A small one. I'm talking like a cabin sized, that small. Now copy and paste that house like twenty times and smush them all together in a sort of vertical shape. That's what this tower looked like. No order, no organization, not even an outer finish, just a bunch of rooms that someone had stacked up on each other. There's no way it was structurally sound. Or that it should have lasted this long without rain or something getting to it. You see my point. It's magic.
So we go inside and the door's not locked and we end up in this room. It's small and it's just full of doors. Like kind of disorientingly so. More than there should have been from what we saw outside. If I had to guess, I'd say that's a factor of the unique construction of the tower - it doesn't obey the normal laws of physics anyway, and given the structure if you were just putting doors where doors were supposed to go, you'd struggle to get anywhere. The ghost naturally places pathways on frequent routes for convenience. It may not even be conscious.
It also didn't much like us being there. The whole place reacted. Not surprising, it's a construct and probably has a lot of the ghost's will put into it, but it was kind of a scare when it happened to us. Fire, swords, the floor started falling away, all that kind of stuff. One thing led to another and there's not much to say here so I'll skip ahead, we all three end up getting separated.
It's at this point that Lewis encounters the ghost responsible for the construction. I'm writing this based on his account, so I can't entirely trust it, but it all sounds pretty reasonable. He says that he found the ghost at the top part of the tower; that it was just delighted at his presence; that it then started to try to lead him back down the tower. He followed along, purely because, according to him, it didn't seem too threatening at that point. The tower had quieted down for him too, so he thought it'd be safe. To be fair, he was right. (What does it indicate about the ghost, that the construction was so actively hostile but the conscious presence was so friendly?)
To my account: the ghost seems afraid of and/or hostile towards magically powerful individuals, or maybe just people who interrupt it in the middle of what it's doing. I don't think it's the ghost hunter part it's wary of, since it was anything but hostile towards Lewis.
It took him on sort of a tour, apparently. He says he doesn't remember too much of the rooms he saw, but they seemed pretty normal. Kitchen, living room, etc. He led him back to the entry room, which is where we all met up again. The ghost's behavior changed distinctly when it noticed me and Mystery, but it wasn't instantly aggressive. It seemed more wary than anything - demonstrating either remarkable restraint for a new spirit, or a degree of fear/anxiety that counteracts any more aggressive instincts. It wasn't until I - I don't even remember anymore, but I said something about needing to leave or being ready to go - and that was what did it.
The hostile behavior was fairly standard, demonstrating control over lightning and to a lesser extent, fire. *Why does it heavily favor lightning, but its form incorporates mostly fire? Indicative of the physical form not being consciously controlled? The only other interesting thing to note is that at no point did it place Lewis in the way of its attacks, even when it would have been most efficient to do so. There was some attempt made to hold him in place, but it was ultimately ineffective. It demonstrated little interest in harming Mystery, but also little regard for his safety.
A full write-up of the encountered spirit on page ██ of my encounter log.
VMY
VMY 3/17/ ████
Personal journal.
Hey Art. It's me again. You're gonna be so mad when you hear about what we got up to today.
We met a ghost! A new one. Not just new to us, but new to everything! They weren't very happy about that. Or, maybe they were okay? It was really strange, the way they were behaving. I'd have loved a chance to study them more closely, but well, you know.
Or, you don't. I keep forgetting that you weren't there. Or that I haven't already told you this story face-to-face. That you're not... just around anymore right now. Well if I miss any important details I'll blame it on that, and when you read this you'll have to tell me to catch you up. Not that I'll remember this incident in a couple week's time. Maybe ask Lewis? Not that his memory's been so great lately either. Guess it'll just be lost to the annals of history.
You know, the incident itself wasn't that unusual. We went somewhere we shouldn't have and a spirit didn't like it. This time it was a big old tower and the spirit was a baby ghost with no anchor.
Oh, that was the weirdest part! It didn't have an anchor. Like, at all. Maybe they'd hidden it somewhere, or hadn't encountered it yet, but it was really strange. Most of the time ghosts can't bear to be parted from it. No way a normal ghost would take the time to build a whole base if they didn't have their anchor with them yet.
Okay, so the actual incident. Like I said, you're gonna freak out. So we got split up kind of right when we went in the door, and I promise I wasn't trying to this time! I don't do that anymore! It just... happened, we got chased up some stairs and through a door and then the door didn't have a floor on the other side of it and next thing I know I'm in the sub-basement and no Lewis or Mystery to be found. I was fine, though. I don't think it was trying to hurt me at that point, just chase me off alone.
Lewis says that when he got separated, the path cleared out and there were no more traps. Like he'd ended up in a sort of back route. It just kept going up and up and he didn't see any other way to go, so he followed them. And that's why he met the ghost first! It was hanging out way up at the top of the tower, sitting in a little room and writing. No, he didn't get a look at what. According to him it was all excited at first, like it was overjoyed to have visitors. It kept asking was he okay, and could it do anything for him, and being all excited about showing him around. Lewis just went along with it because it didn't seem like it would hurt anything, apparently it was actually kinda cute.
Oh! It also knew his name right away, so I guess it must have some sort of mild divination or psychic ability? It also knew his tea preferences, which again, more cute than anything.
So they were walking around like he said, apparently the ghost was super distractable distractible? Distractiable and wouldn't stay in a place for more than five, ten seconds. And then it got down to the main level just as I was heading back up there and here's where disaster happens.
At first the ghost wasn't was just kind of wary of me, I think. Circling, sizing me up, trying to figure out whether I was a threat or not. And then I mentioned to Lewis... I don't even remember what it was now, really, I just said something about leaving soon and the ghost flipped out. I mean it really didn't like that idea. I don't know if it was Lewis leaving in general or him leaving with me, but either way it got instantly murder-hostile. That's when we got a good up close look at its powers - it seems mostly electricity based, with some fire but it definitely favors the lightning for attacking. Luckily that's when Mystery got back from wherever he'd been and helped me stop it from frying me to a crisp, and we managed to get to the door and book it out of there before it shook off the bindings.
Huh. I hadn't really thought about it before now, but the car just... started. Just like that, even though it was totally dead before. I wonder what was wrong with it in the first place. I guess it could've been a magic thing, given where we ended up, but still. You could probably give me a diagnosis just based on that little description, I'm sure.
Oh, that reminds me. Something occurred to me while we were running. I think Lewis said something about being lucky to have made it out of there before it hurt one of us, and that made me think. Now that we're not factoring your curse into things, a lot more risks are skewed in our favor. Or, more so than they would be otherwise, at least. We can be a little less cautious, you know?
Agh, that sounds so horrible. It's not that I'm glad you're not here! Honestly I don't even think it's a good thing. You know I'm always tempted to do the stupid dangerous thing and having a concrete reason to why that would be a bad idea, it keeps kept me in check there. Now that that's gone... I'm already feeling kind of tempted. Just to see how far I can get before my luck runs out. I know it's a bad idea but it's hard to ignore, you know?
Of course you don't know. When have you ever tested your luck and been glad about it?
This whole tangent was a bad idea.
Anyway, miss you, wish you were here. See you soon. ASAP. I think I'm onto something here, if it's not a lead than it might be a lead to a lead.
Love, Vi
MSPI Encounter Log 0049a - "Goldie"
Type: Incorporeal/Undead
Name: Unknown
Class: Unknown
DoD/CoD: Unknown
Anchor Class and Location: Unknown
Photo or Description: Photo unavailable due to magic-electronic interference. Appears as a skeletal adult human, slender, with an electric "tail" in place of legs. Clothing present but style and period unidentifiable due to presence of fire and decay on body, possibly related to CoD.
Powers: Electricity (primary), fire, object manipulation, object creation, mild cat. psychic and/or divination - power listing places class at least 3. Exact class and power listing unidentifiable due to volatile nature of powers.
Other Notes:
Objects are confirmed to be functional, not merely illusory. However, the spirit appears to be extremely limited in what it can create, likely only to what it can clearly and entirely picture.
Capable of speech, but only speaks in a whisper. Unclear if this is by choice or involuntary.
Form and powers are incredibly unstable, seem to respond more to subconscious cues than conscious wishes or direction. Possibly due to internal conflict or unresolved tension over death.
Behavior is typically erratic - central variations appear to include hospitality and service consistent with a "good host," and extreme hostility up to and including lethal levels of powers directed at perceived threats or aggressors. Exact triggers for mood shifts not clearly identified, but may be related to the presence of magical power or threatening individuals, or interruption of "host" behavior.