Moonlight Over a Ruined Village

            For tonight’s tale, we join a lone stranger who fancies himself something of a celebrity. He has journeyed to a nearby resort town to investigate a strange incident. The employees of a local distillery claim mysterious entities have interfered with their production operations. The entities themselves defy explanation, as their actions are too erratic to be those of humans. However, the skills necessary to perform those actions are too advanced to be those of animals. The locals suspect supernatural forces are at work. Some even go so far as to declare them to be deities from the local mountain.             However, our celebrity has a different theory. He believes the hauntings are being perpetrated by entities from his past. These entities dealt him a wound, and he refuses to bear that wound in silence. So he goes to the town to investigate. His likeable face grants him information about the haunting, and his nefarious skills grant him access to the site of the haunting. When the entities appear, he decides then and there to confront them. When he does, things immediately go very wrong.               For the entities themselves remember the celebrity, as they were wounded by him as well. Moreover, they have a score to settle with the celebrity. But they are not alone. For our celebrity has made his share of mistakes in the past, and the victims of those mistakes now demand compensation. It soon becomes apparent to all that the only solution to their problems is to conduct an involuntary medical procedure. The recipient of the procedure stands no chance of enjoying the experience, but he will probably survive.             This episode is the second-to-last tale for season four. The next tale will be the final tale of the season. This tale obviously contains themes of medical horror. It’s not fun, but it’s not really that bad. However, this tale also contains supernatural themes, descriptions of alcohol abuse, discussions of urban decay, antisocial sentiment, profanity, and disregard for public order. Moreover, it contains references to previous tales. Listener discretion is advised.

            For tonight’s tale, we find ourselves in the parking lot of an electronic store. The reputation of the store has always been negative. Yet the discovery of animate corpses on the second floor of the premises has damaged the store’s reputation beyond repair. These corpses were animated by the pedantic psychopath known as the Turkey. He has operated unopposed for so long that the situation has festered and worsened right before the eyes of the community. The Professor, who is the acting manager of the store, is desperate to rid his store of the animate dead. Moreover, he wants to free the village from the Turkey’s relentless nonsense. But the job is too big for him alone.             In the past, the River Road crew could be counted on to help folk when they were down and out. Furthermore, they knew when to keep fools in check. However, they are nowhere to be seen. To make matters worse, the town drunk, in his capacity as a liaison to city hall, has done nothing to address the problem. So the Professor is alone.             Yet chance soon brings the Kitsune noble known as Tomisaburo to his store. He is accompanied by the mysterious Rook. The two of them intent to find the animate dead so that they can inhume them. They soon find an eager partner in the Professor, and the three of them waste no time forging a plan to eliminate the animate dead and to solve the problem of the Turkey once and for all.             Yet the plan they undertake is not going to be subtle. In fact, the three of them are fed up with the village and will do little to spare it from damage. While the River Road crew operated in the darkened back streets, the Undertakers are going to start a full-blown riot in a parking lot. Furthermore, the whole village is invited, whether they like it or not.               This tale contains body horror, violence, occult themes, and profanity. Listener discretion is advised.

            Tonight, we will visit a lonely second-hand electronics store. It was once the center of a criminal conspiracy that came close to destroying the ruined village, and its situation has not improved much since. The management has been replaced by a member of the River Road crew known as the Professor, who has a reputation for being the most sober member of the drunkest group in town. Assisting him is the Craftsman, who is in charge of repairing the electronics.             However, the craftsman used to be the notorious Turkey, a pedantic little shithead who was once at the center of the very conspiracy the store is trying to leave in the past. This was the same Turkey who created the two ventriloquist dummies that became possessed by an angry ghost. It all worked out in the end, but it could have just as easily gone wrong. Unwilling to abandon his past folly, the Turkey has devised a way to animate corpses. Shockingly enough, the River Road crew does not oppose this course of action. Indeed, the protectors of the ruined village just don’t seem to care.             So our Professor finds himself alone in a den of madness. Corpses stumble around him as the sickening turkey man needles him into signing invoices for the materials he is using to ruin the village again. The only rational course of action for this man of reason is to abandon the village once and for all. Yet this plan is interrupted by the arrival of an old enemy, who is about to become the best friend he ever had. Provided, of course, he is able to survive their first endeavor.             This tale contains corpses animated via electronic implants and a person being pistol whipped. It also contains descriptions of government corruption, incompetence, and nepotism. Furthermore, it contains violence beyond the pistol whipping, medical horror, occult themes, and a surprising amount of profanity. Listener discretion is advised.

            Tonight’s tale concerns a pitiful creature known as a weasel. It awakens to find itself surrounded by darkness, pain, and death. Venom is coursing through its body and threatening to wipe out the weasel’s mind. But there remains within it an undying worm of self-preservation that empowers the weasel to escape.              After a great deal of unpleasantness and a change of clothes, the weasel steps out onto the River Road and its memories come back to it. No, they come back to him. He remembers a time when he was the chief player in both the river village and the mountain village. He was second in command to Tomisaburo, the leader of the syndicate that enslaved the entire village.             As he walks down the River Road, his thoughts linger on his past triumphs and his vanquished foes. His most pathetic victim was a lowly drunkard named Reggie. You may be familiar with him. The weasel had stolen his bones and left him to die on that very road. Yet the weasel has no remorse for that death. In fact, every step he takes on that blood-soaked road strengthens his resolve to return to his former greatness. He then sees a solitary man leaning on a stick under a streetlight, and he makes a plan. He decides to feed on this man as he fed on so many men before him.  So the weasel, who has just risen from hell, stalks his prey with the intent of slowly stealing his life from him until he dies. The only audience to this sickening spectacle is the moonlight and a growing conspiracy of ravens. They have decided to gather at this exact spot, and the weasel is not going to be happy when he finds out why.             This tale contains themes of body horror, more themes of body horror, and to be honest, the weasel throws up a bit. I don’t want to surprise anyone with that sort of thing, so there it is. Furthermore, this tale contains violence, contempt for humanity, themes of corporate corruption, and profanity. Listener discretion is advised.

            For tonight’s tale, we find ourselves beneath the ruined village. Our guide through this realm of unforgiving darkness is the ethereal Sachiko, the charming snake deity who has captured the hearts of the River Road crew. With her in the tunnels are the devil monk and the weasel. They are her unwilling guests as she unravels the mystery of why the faceless man now looks like Chico Marx.             Yet something is different about her this evening. She no longer has any semblance of patience for these creeps that are ruining the village she has claimed as her own. She had a good thing going with this village, and she’s going to put an end to the nonsense these creepy assholes are perpetuating. And she is not going to be nice about it. She is going to enslave the minds of these two creeps and make them tell her everything she wants to know about the whole sordid affair.             But none of the River Road crew will mind. She has secured their compliance to her methods long ago through the preternatural abilities typical of her elevated kind. They are working to save the village, and they have righteousness on their side. Her means are extreme, and she is no longer going to be gentle in her approach. Tonight, the ruin ends.                       Yet not all of the players on the stage are enthralled by Sachiko. There remain two beings who can see beyond Sachiko’s glamour. They can see her as the venomous serpent who has charmed us all from the beginning. But she is not the only player that has been charming us from the beginning. And though she wishes to enact the final stage in her plan to save the village, there are other plans that she is oblivious to.             This tale contains themes of body horror, violence, and brutality. It also contains descriptions of highly antisocial behavior and profanity. Listener discretion is advised.