Episode I - Down the well

No movement can be seen inside the station. We take position in some tree cover just byond the station's broken gate. Cutting its shoulder to scent the air with blood, we use a goat to lure the creature out. Having heard tales of the beast's foul stink, we tie perfumed cloths about our faces. We wait. 

               Time passes slowly. Just as we begin to think that perhaps it was all nonsense, a dark shape crawls from the mouth of the well. It bounds straight towards the bleating goat at an incredible speed. A hunched monstrosity with a vicious hooked beak for a face and cruelly spiked shell upon its back. Arrows and bullets fly, the crack of the musket echoing loudly through the gloaming. The creature falls to the ground, still and lifeless, its thick black blood staining the white snow. The noise has attracted others, two more claw their way from the well mouth, one a giant hulking beast much larger than a man. They are aware of the trap we set for then and ignore the goat, heading straight for us. The perfume has most likely given away our position. A single arrow suddenly whips past the larger monster’s face and slams into the smaller creature. The force of the blow knocks it off its feet and it lies kicking on the ground, the arrows fletching protruding from its mouth, the arrowhead from the back of its skull. The samurai Tsukimi Junzaburo smiles, a perfect shot indeed. The large beast does not slow however, taking no notice of its kin’s fall. It also fails to notice the hulking bushi Moto Kenichiro hiding just beside the remains of the broken gate, for as it passes through he swings his huge axe in a low arch, almost severing one of the creature’s feet. The beast crashes into the ground, black blood spraying in all directions as it struggles to stand. But before it can right itself, it is descended upon by our group, katana, club, axe and spear making short work of the foul thing. 

Introduction / Prologue

Setting

Kareki is a miserable town that lies on the cold northern outskirts of the empire. Were it not for the precious darkwood trees that grow there, no one would bother to try and settle this shithole, that is, at the best of times, dangerously inhospitable. The darkwood is not only light and flexible, but also incredible strong, and will bend without breaking. The wood sells for unimaginable prices and this alone is the reason so many risk their lives living here. The ruler of the land, Daimyo Matsuyoshi, was sent here years ago as punishment. The details are not clear, but the shogun wanted Matsuyoshi alive yet at the same time, far away from the capital. Recently strange events have been occurring, darkness stirs, sickness runs rampant, and the locals tell grim tales of monsters that eat human flesh and the dead who walk. Winter has not broken this year and the locals are beginning to starve as the supply trains they rely upon have had more and more trouble getting through. This growing shadow draws to it heroes, much as a flame draws moths. You are one of these heroes.