For tonight’s tale, we join Sachiko as she rides the bus to meet with her colleague. Since she is a snake deity, every interaction she has with the human world is strange to her. So she puts in the effort to understand the humans around her and the nature of their actions. Doing this enables her to move about amidst the humans largely unnoticed. Yet on this bus ride, she encounters something too strange for even this ruined village. For on this bus, she happens to look at the passenger in the seats next to her. When she does, she finds herself looking into the face of Chico Marx.

            She quickly deduces that this is not the real Chico Marx. Nobody in their right mind would think it was, after all. Furthermore, it is obviously more of the silly bullshit she has to deal every time she comes to this ruined village. So she contacts her colleague the professor, to listen to his learned opinion. The two of them decide that the asshole wearing the face of Chico Marx is none other than the man with the printed face. He has changed his paper faces for faces made of flesh, and the two of them want to find out how he did it.

            They soon find themselves at the game center that once acted as the gathering place for the cabal that kept the faceless man in a prolonged state of drugged servitude. They also find a large amount of artificial flesh that was shoved into a copy machine for some stupid-ass reason. They trace the flesh back to the inner chamber of the tunnel complex that runs beneath the village. It is there that they find one of the architects of the gruesome spectacle they stumbled upon. Weary of living in a constant state of uncertainty, Sachiko takes it upon herself to end this nonsense. She steps forward and reminds these stupid-ass humans why they should mind their manners when elevated folk are about.

            This tale contains references to the Marx Brothers, Charlotte Brontë, and Rodney Dangerfield. Moreover, it contains themes of medical horror, mutilation, violence, and gore. As if that were not bad enough, it contains profanity. Listener discretion is advised.

            For tonight’s tale, we find ourselves back in the ruined village. Strange events continue to occur there, and their grotesque players continue to lurk in the darkened corners of the village. Yet they are largely held in check by the efforts of them boys and their crew. Now the village can even pass for quaint on its better days. However, one strange figure still terrorizes the doomed inmates of the village. More importantly, the town drunk and them boys still have an old score to settle.

            The man with the printed face, or the faceless man, as he is also known, still glares out at the world from the darkness. So them boys and the town drunk decide to do something about it. They embark on a hunt for the faceless man, to find out once and for all, what the hell his whole deal is. To do this, they enlist the aid of Tomisaburo, their former enemy and the self-appointed demon fox lord of the village.  

            Why they enlist his aid remains unknown. Perhaps they need his expertise in the hellish underworld. Maybe the wounds he inflicted on them gained their respect. It’s entirely possible they forgot they ever had a fight with him in the first place. Whatever the case, the four of them set out to hunt for the faceless man.   

            While the three humans hunt through the liquor sections of every store around them, Tomisaburo finds something disturbing. He discovers human faces, that have been discarded and strewn about the village. Some unearthly power is creating human faces and discarding them throughout the village. Tomisaburo quickly deduces that these faces are being created for the faceless man.

            This escalation of the madness that has plagued the village for too long threatens to destroy the fragile peace they have managed to bring to the village. So they hunt for the discarded faces, hoping they will lead them to the faceless man. Ultimately, they do find him, but he has gone through some considerable changes. He is now a major threat to the village, and he must be dealt with. The faceless man has returned to the village that broke him, and he brought some new tricks with him.

            This tale contains frequent mention of discarded faces and other themes of body horror. Moreover, it contains references to gore, antisocial behavior, alcohol consumption, and violence. Furthermore, it contains profanity. Listener discretion is advised.  

            For tonight’s tale, we join another solitary pilgrim who has the audacity to walk on the river road after nightfall. The night on which he chose to do this dangerous activity is the night of the Wild Hunt. Though this tradition is forgotten amidst the chaotic events that happen in the ruined village on a regular basis, the gods have not forgotten. This night is when supernatural denizens are led by the Queen of Winter. They hunt for living souls to enlist in their endless hunt.

            This solitary figure finds himself amidst an assembly of otherworldly creatures being led by the Queen of Winter, who demands he fulfill his end of the hunt by being their prey. However, things soon fall apart when it is discovered that he is too weak to run from them. Deprived of a means to satisfy their bloodlust, they have to alter the details of the hunt. Soon, the nature of the hunt is changed greatly. It then becomes unclear which side of the conflict is hunting which.

            This tale deals with ghosts, death, horror, supernatural elements, and despair.  It also contains mentions of irresponsible alcohol consumption. Furthermore, it occasionally resorts to the use of profanity. Listener discretion is advised.

            For tonight’s episode, I explain why there was a delay in the release of this episode. That involves me recounting a strange incident that occurred while I was conducting field work for the next episode. This episode will serve to give you an idea of the hardships and dangers I face to bring these episodes to you on a semi regular basis. Despite the informal nature of this episode, it still includes references to violence, excessive alcohol consumption, charlatanism, and profanity. Listener discretion is advised.

            For tonight’s tale, we follow a lone fox as it emerges from its burrow. It has just healed from wounds dealt to it in the past, and it needs to hunt to regain its strength. So the fox ventures out to capture its prey. After a successful hunt, it returns to its burrow. It is that satisfied it has secured its survival for the immediate future.

            However, the prey is far from normal. It was infected by some unknown force that animates it into a grotesque mockery of life. The prey captures the newly healed fox and drags it from the safety of its burrow. Then, the fox, who some of us may know by the name of Tomisaburo, is confronted by one of his former victims. Tomisaburo is then dragged through the streets to serve as an example to all of the denizens of the ruined village. The journey is a hard one for him, as he is forced to endure beatings and humiliation. The fact that all of it is justified doesn’t lessen the weight of his burden. His ultimate destination is unknown to him, but he is sure he doesn’t want to go there.

            Along the way, they encounter the town drunk. He is more than familiar with Tomisaburo and his past crimes. The drunkard accompanies Tomisaburo as he nears the end of this gruesome procession. Though the conditions are far from ideal, the two of them eventually reach something of an understanding and reveal their honest opinions about each other. But it is far too late. The bond of camaraderie they form is tainted by the sense of doom that overshadows the end of their journey. For amidst the drunken ramblings of the town drunk lurk hints of the doom that awaits Tomisaburo at the end of his journey. And for him, that end has arrived.

            This tale contains descriptions of beatings, vampirism, zombification, antisocial behavior, alcohol and tobacco consumption, and the use of profanity. Listener discretion is advised.  

            For tonight’s tale we follow a lone IT specialist as he whiles away his life working for a pharmaceutical company. However, this is no normal pharmaceutical company. For it has government contracts to produce chemical weapons that can be used to remove the bones from the living. Fortunately for out IT specialist, he knows all about those contracts. In fact, he is not even an IT specialist. He is a spy that was sent to that company to find those very chemicals. He was sent by none other than the spider deity, who has claimed control over the mountain village and the river village.

            In his capacity as lord of these villages, he aims to find a cure for the victims of their cruel experiments. So he made his best disciple into his chief specialist and sent him to obtain the means to do so. However, between our specialist and the chemicals he needs to make that cure lurks a horror beyond imagination. For those chemicals are being kept in the domain of the creature known by its creators as the Skin Doll. This creature is the result of the horrific experiments being conducted at the facility, and is being kept alive for nefarious purposes.

            Our specialist will have to enter the domain of this creature and ultimately deal with it. But out specialist has died before, only to be reborn as something beyond human. By the order of the spider deity, he fears no darkness. For the cult of the spider has claimed lordship over the entirety of both of these two villages, and that includes the denizens of the places too dark to even be imagined.

            This tale contains themes of mutilation, medical horror, bureaucracy.  Human resources departments, office culture, occult activities, and profanity. Listener discretion is advised.

            In this episode, I will talk to you like a normal person and give you some insight into what it’s like to do field work in these two ruined villages. Please be warned that I will resort to the use of course language to do so. I may also mention violence, occult activities, and antisocial behavior. For those reasons, and probably others that I am too far gone to even notice, listener discretion is advised.

            For tonight’s tale, we revisit an incident that had a monumental impact on both the River Village and the Mountain Village. Yet we will not concern ourselves with that tale, for it was not true. Not only that, it was a shameful falsehood intended to cover up the folly of the wolves of the mountain. That had been charged with protecting the mountain, and they had been found lacking.

            This is the tale of the young man who forced the wolves of the mountain to own up to their ineptitude. Our hero was a proud resident of the mountain village. He was proud of its rich history and cultural heritage. His ancestors called to him through these tales. For the mountain village was founded by fiercely rugged people who thrived amidst the supernatural elements of the strange, shadowy mountain. His ancestors made homes for themselves where others feared to even tread. For they dared to form an alliance with the dark elements of the mountain. Our hero stared into the dark places of the mountain, hoping to see what his ancestors saw.

            But the dark places faded away when the tourists arrived. Soon, the tales our hero grew up with became entertainment for the throngs of tourists who come to the mountain to gawk at things other people told them were important. Our hero could no longer accept the fact that his village was becoming nothing more than a tourist attraction. So he found the worst tourist of the lot and whooped his ass. He whooped his ass good and proper. He whooped that ass in the spirit of his proud ancestors. And for that act of resistance to overtourism, he was expelled from his village.

            Cast out of the light, he sought out the darkness. Yet he never suspected that the darkness had been creeping closer and closer to him all of his life. As he makes his way from the village, the cult of the Spider claims him for their own. They offer him a chance to join the darkness at the heart of the village. So he is faced with a choice. Should he make peace with the modern world, or should he embrace the inhuman forces that lurk in the darkness. The decision he ultimately makes shapes the fates of both villages. For the cult of the spider has come to power, and their members are everywhere.

            This tale contains profanity, overtourism, violence, antisocial behavior, occult elements, and references to excessive alcohol consumption. Listener discretion is advised.

            For tonight’s tale, I explain why this week’s episode is late. I also give you a bit of insight into how these episodes are made, and what it's like to deal with the denizens of these villages. Though this is not a full episode, I still managed to include profanity in it for some reason. Listener discretion is advised.

            For tonight’s tale, we look upon an abandoned house. It was the scene of a horrific attack on a family that left one dead and two wounded. The attack was so brutal and savage that the surviving brothers could live there no longer. At least, that’s was version of the story that was told to a lone priest, who had previously been content to passively observe the village around him. However, this tale inspired him to take an active role in investigating the house. He is a member of a secretive sect that specializes in communing with the dead. Their practitioners are few and their methods are unconventional. Yet this lone priest from a renegade sect will dare to test their methods against whatever wickedness is lurking in that house.

            When he enters the abandoned house, he is confronted with an angry ghost that forces him to question his sanity, his faith, and his mental fortitude. This test is brought to an abrupt conclusion when the doorbell rings. Behind the door, he is confronted by two hulking brutes that demand his signature. They have a terrible burden to place upon his shoulders, and they will not leave until he signs his name to their unearthly document and accepts that burden. If you’re familiar with the village, you probably know the dread burden that the priest is made to bear. It’s an ass whoopin, administered by them boys, who are back in town. They’ve returned to teach the priest to mind his manners and pick up after himself.

            Humbled, our priest gets on the bus to make his way back to his home. Yet on the bus, he has a chance encounter that greatly changes the nature of his relationship with the village. Armed with a new outlook, our humble priest decides he is no longer content to watch others from the shadows. He now intends to become an active player in the tragedy that is our ruined village.

            This tale contains profanity, violence, course language, and descriptions of antisocial behavior. Listener discretion is advised.