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The Gargoyles (1) : 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 Monster Under the Bed (2) : 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.

The Creature in the Well (3) : 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.

The Leaves (4) : With the changing seasons, there are piles of leaves all around Destiny City. It’s a difficult job to try and keep up with them all, and sometimes the allure of these leaf piles is impossible to ignore. Who doesn’t want to relive the childish joys of their youth? And no one’s around to see, right? So why not jump into a pile of leaves? Oh–because, when you do, you jump through one pile and come out of another somewhere else across the city. The leaves all seem ordinary, but there’s a few odd seconds between when you jump into the leaves and when you jump out; it feels like falling, tumbling, somersaulting through the air. It’s not scary, just odd. You see walls of leaves–brown and orange and yellow and red–and they crunch magnificently. Overall, it doesn’t seem menacing, just a bit of trickster fun. If you try to jump in a pile of leaves again, you might wind up somewhere else entirely–or right back where you started.

The Long Way Home (5) : You're walking home in the dark and soon hear the sound of footsteps following behind you. Every time you turn around, nothing is there. If you try to quicken your pace, the footsteps start running right along with you. No matter how you try to see behind you--if you use your phone camera or if you look in window reflections, you can't see anything...but you know it's getting closer. If you don't run fast enough, you can almost feel a hand on your arm, a breath on your neck...

You need to get home, fast.

If you can.

Candy Casualty (6) : Another candy store is giving free promotional treats to try and attract new customers. These pop up every year, for better or worse, and if you're brave enough to try this one, you'll sample one of the best candies you’ve ever had. It's delicious–unlike anything you've ever had, and a flavor you'll never forget. Only, within twenty four hours of eating your first piece, you begin to have extreme tooth pain that can last for up to a whole day. It feels like a cavity, but a trip to the dentist reveals nothing strange. It just hurts. While the pain eventually fades, you’ll remember it the next time you reach for some sugar. Is your drive for Halloween Candy dented or are you still gearing up for more?

Oh, Rats (7) : Destiny City is a metropolis, of course there are rats. This is not new, not unusual. Fat little rodents scrounging amongst the abundant scraps of the city are expected. What’s not expected is how destructive they’ve suddenly become. It’s not for a lack of food, there’s still plenty of that. They look like normal rats, but they aren’t stopped by walls, wires, or even steel. They gnaw through everything. Plastic, wood, metal–nothing can stop them. They’ll destroy anything. Pipes, doors, walls, fences. They come and go in a matter of minutes, or hours. Could you chase them away if they came after you? …Would you risk them chewing through you?

Just a Tick (8 ) : Ticks aren’t a big problem in the city, but with all the parks and forests, it’s not an impossibility. Most people probably won’t ever have to deal with them. But you do. These ticks are almost never larger than a pea, but they have a strange, white shell. Once they’ve fed once, their shell turns shiny and deep red, like a ruby, and stays that way–forever. It takes only about fifteen minutes for them to seemingly fossilize, and by then it’s incredibly difficult–and painful–to get them off of the skin. Pulling too hard or irresponsibly can cause them to detach incompletely and cause a slow bleed from the tiny, unhealing pinpricks it left behind. Victims often report feeling lightheaded and fatigued regardless of how little blood they actually lost. The ticks are almost impossible to destroy once they fossilize, but with great effort they can be crushed into dust. You could keep them as a weird memento, but…

Vaclaytion (9) : With rain brings mud, which on its own isn’t particularly worrisome in a place like Destiny City. Unless you find a strange, thick, mud puddle in a fairly odd place. On the surface, it seems pretty straight forward–it’s a dirty brown, clay-like sludge that smells like earth. It just acts like something else. Step too close, and it moves. It grabs. Out of the puddles and patches of dark clay, a near-human shape unfurls and reaches an arm-like appendage out for the nearest living creature. With impossible strength, it can pull anyone into its mucky form. A hard clay shell immediately begins to form, capable of fully encasing someone in a matter of seconds. People have been found fully trapped. The only way to break out is for someone to chip away the clay, to somehow manage enough force to break it from the inside, or to pray a hard rain will soften it up enough for you to escape. It’s a wonder no one has suffocated yet. No one seems to remember what happened clearly–or if they do, it’s too impossible to believe. Ultimately, it’s a horrible experience; even if your skin feels oddly refreshed, this is the worst mud bath you’ll ever have.

There and Back Again (10) : The hallway looked like it belonged there, maybe even felt like it had always been. There was nothing immediately disarming about it, except perhaps for one flickering light. But, you’ve been here enough times to know that this place is strange–foreign. It’s not supposed to be here. Or, did you really just miss it, all this time? Well, it’s here now. Why not investigate? The hallway stretches on. And on. And on. And the worst part is, you don’t even realize how long you’ve been walking until you turn around and there’s nothing behind you but an endless hallway. Maybe there is furniture, or decorations, or doors that never open, but there doesn’t seem to be any end to this hallway in either direction. You’re stuck here, under the harsh lights that buzz loudly around you. Maybe it feels like a moment passes, maybe an eternity–eventually, if you keep walking, you reach the end–and you’re right back to where you started, and it’s like no time at all has passed. The hallway is gone–but the hum of electric lights vibrates in your ears for hours after the experience.

All the Wrong Places (11) : Your GPS keeps glitching. It doesn’t matter what app you use. It doesn’t matter if you walk, drive, or bike. You’ll be given the correct address, but the directions always take you somewhere else–somewhere you don’t want to be. No matter what address you type in, the directions always take you to the same place–and it isn’t even always obvious that’s where you’re headed until you arrive there. Again, and again, and again. You don’t want to be here. But something does.

Silken Snare (12) : Destiny City has an extensive history with problematic arachnids, and 2025 is not the year to shake that up. Large, sticky webs have appeared all over the city. Maybe it is a silly prank like the papers say, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s all fun and games when you’re stuck to the near-invisible net strung low to the ground or tucked away along alleys or pathways. They can trap anyone who even just brushes against them. It’s possible to be stuck in one for hours. The more you struggle, the more the threads tighten, clinging like a cocoon and it feels like being swallowed whole. If you listen carefully while caught, you might hear something moving above you. You might even feel something heavy dip onto the web next to you, chattering ominously. You never see it, but that in itself is a mercy. Something will always chase it away. Eventually, the strings will lose elasticity and you may be able to free yourself if someone isn’t able to rescue you–they just need to make sure they don’t get trapped, too. The threads can leave behind deep lines and bruises, so be happy that’s the worst you walked away with.

Impressions (13) : Destiny City is always getting torn up, so it’s also always in a constant state of repair. There have been signs warning about wet cement for blocks, so you just need to be mindful where you’re stepping. Someone else wasn’t, judging by the footprints that–wait, just appeared? There’s no one else around, but there are clear markings of someone having just passed through here. And, stranger, it’s not just foot prints that might manifest–it’s hand prints. Even a face print. If you stare into the wet cement, sometimes you can even see them appear. But it leads to a striking revelation–someone didn’t step in the cement. Someone’s trying to push out of it. Sometimes the cement bubbles, like something might almost be pushing through, but even if you scrape the cement away, there’s nothing beneath it. After the cement dries, the strange imprints are still there. And so, the process begins again.

Silver Tongues (14) : What a shame, to open a book–an old favorite, an antique, something new–just to find the pages absolutely destroyed. A silverfish–or several–scurry away, so you know what caused the damage. But you don’t understand how. This isn’t just senseless, random destruction–if you look at the pages, they’ve chewed out messages. Maybe they’ve eaten the words right off the page, leaving only a few to spell out a cryptic message–or maybe they’ve eaten holes in the page to spell out something. It’s too precise to be random but it seems impossible, both for the precision and the intention. What kind of message could a bug want to leave you–and why?

Fire Belly Newts (15) : Pranks are common this time of year, and what’s funnier than a little arson? A lot of things, actually, but for some reason there are frequent reports of small fires being set and abandoned all throughout the city. Most of the time, these fires burn out before causing much damage, but things are escalating and it’s only a matter of time before things start getting dangerous–especially with how dry it’s been, and all these dead, fallen leaves. But, it’s worse than just flammable debris. Sometimes, there are small patches of boiled pavement. Melted metal–guardrails, lamps, fire hydrants. Destruction is rampant, and no one knows why. But you do. You saw one of them. A foot long, black newt, with a bright-red belly that glowed brightly when it spat up real, liquid flame right in front of you. Lava pooled from its round little belly, ignited like a match to oil. It darts through alleys and storm drains, too fast to catch. At least you tried.