Moonlight Over a Purloined Tale

For tonight’s tale, we sneak into the icy depths of the archives to steal part of a tale to break the heat of the summer. This tale deals with Tomisaburo, the mastermind behind most of the ruin at the heart of the River Village. While we may know him as a cunning strategist who always manages to stay ahead of his hunters, that was not always the case. He used to be a rash and impetuous little upstart that actively pursued danger. Well, maybe not much has changed since then. But he has gotten a lot better at escaping those consequences. This is the tale of the incident that taught him the importance of doing that. Indeed, his heightened sense of self-preservation began with this very incident. For this was the time that Tomisaburo came very close to being killed.             The tale begins with Tomisaburo, brooding away in a hole he dug into the earth. He managed to single-handedly enrage an entire village of humans.  This was done by flagrantly humiliating one of the head villagers well past the point of financial ruin. In doing so, he exposed the corruption at the heart of the upstart government that the humans were trying to enact. The head villager was overcome with shame at his misdeeds. Driven to madness, he and his entire family burned their estate to the ground and died in the fire. The only survivor was a young noblewoman named Gonzaemon.             Offended by this unprovoked aggression from this upstart Kitsune, the villagers hunted down all foxes, Kitsune, and any other creature they didn’t trust. In order to appease their anger, the Kitsune of the area agreed to aid the villagers in their quest for revenge. Indeed, Tomisaburo’s own father promised to deliver Tomisaburo’s pelt to them while it was still warm with his living blood.             But the head of a noble Kitsune family had a different proposal. He proposed that Tomisaburo should be made to repay the damages he caused to the village. The way he created for Tomisaburo to do this was too horrible for him to endure. For he intended to marry Tomisaburo to his daughter. Furthermore, he was being put in charge of the protection of Gonzaemon, the strange daughter of the disgraced village elder.             So Tomisaburo plots his escape from this horrific fate. But he soon learns that the marriage may never have a chance to occur. For he has incurred the wrath of every creature in the area. With the Mountain of the Wolves at his back, the Ground Spiders crawling through the earth, and the Ravens patrolling the skies above him, there may not be enough of a pelt to deliver to the vengeful villagers.               This tale is the first part in a series available to our Patreon listeners, so it contains references to previous tales. It contains violence, occult themes, blasphemy, body horror, government corruption, and references to gambling. Furthermore, it contains profanity and references to excessive alcohol consumption. Listener discretion is advised.