THE PRELUDE...

A young man stood quietly amidst the garden of a temple on a cliff. Looking down from the cliff, he could see his village, gently held in the palms of two lush mountains. He contemplated the rising fireworks and cheerful festival lights that brightened the village sky with a furrowed brow when --

"Natsume, so you were here. Why aren't you at the fireworks display?" A soft, almost ethereal voice approached him from behind.

She came up the incline to the peak where the temple was built.

"Myulin," Natsume spun, flew across the courtyard, and shook the young girl's shoulders. "do you realize what you've done?"

The girl staggered and became frightened, never having seen Natsume gaze upon her with such accusation in his eyes.

"What...did I do?" she asked quietly. 

"You've cursed us," said Natsume. " The whole village.--it doesn't exist when you are gone. Our time is frozen when you do come. It's like our only purpose for being is to light up the sky with fireworks. Please, undo this. I know you can."

"But if I undo it, if I return time back this village, you will die."

"That is our destiny as humans. You are a goddess. We cannot--"

"I don't want to!"

"Myulin--"

Myulin ran all the way down to the village, where her shadow quickly became lost amidst the happy festival goers. 

Natsume could only give chase for a few seconds before a haunting roar echoed from the village. There was no time. Evil was afoot. He grit his teeth, turned back around, and leaped into the sky.

THE YOKAI VILLAGE:

[The World] welcomes you to [Natsume and The Yokai Village], an event that spans across an entire week icly and is based on a tragic story between Myulin, the Goddess of Harvest and Natsume, a human Spirit Master.

There is a village hidden between the mountains that is loved by Myulin, the Goddess of Harvest. To be precise, there is a human in this village that is so adored by the goddess that every year, during the village's summer festival, she would don a mortal body and visit him. This human was the village's Spirit Master, Natsume. When Natsume would become sick, Myulin would cure him. When he fell into difficulties, Myulin would fly to this side to get him out of trouble. And when Natsume grew old...Myulin feared for Natsume's short life span and decidedly froze the time of the whole village, so that he would forever remain young. Thereafter the village fell under an unfortunate curse: it became frozen in time, never moving a day past the time of their summer festival celebrations. The village only exists during Myulin's visit in the summer, and then vanishes like a mirage after her departure. Natsume is the only entity aware that the village has become irreparably tied to Myulin's whimsical visits. What's worse, so many years have passed under the influence of Myulin's magic that, the villagers are now more spirit than human. Some of them still retain their human forms, but others have acquired yokai characteristics, or have become entirely some form of yokai species. The humans who have turned completely are out of control and some have even become malevolent, haunting dwellings and threatening to disrupt the festivities.

Natsume is swamped with requests to exorcise malevolent spirits. Perhaps you can help lighten his burden by visiting haunted locations and eliminating the evil yokai within. But if you don't feel like straining yourself with other people's problems, you could just tour the Yokai Village and enjoy the sights of a Summer Festival full of Yokai spirits!



Details:

• A special server has been put up for players who wish to participate in the event. All [Natsume and The Yokai Village] related threads must be made in there.
  
• The entire village where the event takes place is a root town and is the only location players can visit upon entering this server. There will be a thread with the village's description for reference: Yokai Village
• The town will have all the regular npc shops of Mac Anu and a special shop giving out costumes styled after the theme of the event. Dress as your favorite yokai and scare some unsuspecting player, dress in the robes of a Spirit Master out to exorcise evil spirits, or wear a more traditional yukata, kimono, or jinbei. 
  
• Your thread titles can be anything you want it to be.
  
• When you make a thread, put in the sub-area your thread is taking place in beside the title like a tag.
  

  Example title: Dancing with Shadows [The Lucky Cat ]

• NPCs found in the area can range between human villagers, foreign tourists, and yokai entities.

THE MAIN EVENT: TBA...