[OPENING SCENE]
A chilling breeze breathes down Mount Hiei , the peasants discussing about the prices of ‘sake’ dropping down and the children gathering medicines and herbs for their sick elderly. The peaceful bustling accompanied by the pale moonlight shined down only to get disrupted by hordes of cavalry units with their fearsome blades who came for setting up warcamps.
The buddhist monks chopped down, the monk quarters destroyed, sutra scrolls stolen and the land burnt to ashes and scorched Earth with the moon now striking the resemblance of the battlefield which was bloody red.
Men, Women & their children ran about in panic to save themselves from this reign of terror that spewed from the mouth of Hell, fleeing to Mt. Hati Joji seeking refuge in shrines there. The soldiers shout battlecries up the mountains from all sides.
One by one, they cut the heads of priests and laymen children-wise men and holy men alike, presenting the heads to their warlords to prove their valour in a battlefield. Capturing many beautiful women in the bloodstricken area of Hiei and their children only to serve the purpose of the military state.
The head priest cries for their lives to be spared and begged for mercy when brought before the warlord , only for them to absolutely refuse to reprieve them.
One by One
They had their Heads Chopped
Off a Scene so Horrible to Behold!
Thousands of Corpses to Lay Scattered About
Like so Many Little Sticks
A Pitiful End!
[YEARS LATER]
all character names btw: placeholder names also MC is short for Main Character
Cherry blossom trees and sound of bamboos clanking is heard near a dojo, inside a young Kiro (MC) learns the way of the samurai and the sword with the clan’s finest and most decorated soldiers, so impressed by the young one’s skills he was seen as the crowning jewel for the clan in their mission to Edo. At merely the age of 12, he was able to wound his teachers and followed the code of “bushido” very strictly.
His talents knew no bounds, soared from the skies above and the earth below.
At the age 16, he was gifted the legendary bloodthirsty sword: “Muramasa”, when unsheathed spills terror across provinces. His younger brother (age: 14) was no slouch either but was never a prodigy like his elder and wasn’t treated as well by the clan like Kiro, only given a mere Naginata after his request for a blade.
Kiro was now the head of the family since his parents passed away in a supposed “illness” , now takes care of his brother and would take him to roam around the scenic views of the prefectures and liked to fight in battles alongside his brother where he found comfort. The younger of the two while loved the thrill of battles, hated the situation he was thrust into, he was never appreciated like his elder brother and no matter how much how he tried, his efforts would never equal to that of the prodigious Kiro.
Gameplay elements: this is to accelerate the story and teach the player how to wield and fight with the bloodthirsty katana that is muramasa.
After a couple of missions and proving their worth to the clan leaders, it is now decided that the boys (Kiro:21, Namaeda: 19) are now ready to undertake serious missions to support the cause of the clan.
Their first tasks involve to terrorise the nearby clans and take their supplies, which the brothers work in perfect harmony to establish that, bamboozling the smaller clan leaders how two people could result in the collapse of more than 250 men.
In the newly occupied villages, the people loathed and despised the newer clan’s presence with a couple of men even trying to disrespect them in front of their faces which leads to well … Gameplay element: Kirisute Gomen.
Once beheaded, the peasants have no choice but to bow before the new clan leaders and accept them as their leaders and pay tribute to them.
Master Kagetora impressed by Kiro, tells him that if he continues to increase the influence of their great clan till Edo, he would be given Warlord status and would have his own vassal state to look after, and tells him to never stop following the code even after acquiring such powerful positions as honour of a Samurai matters more than their life. Kiro smiles before leaving and sets on their second mission to secure supplies for their journey to Edo.
After Kiro’s success in securing supply lines and being a step closer in tasting the fruits of Edo, the clan is unfortunately rivaled by a “rival clan” (im sorry I don’t have any good clan names for the time being)
Kagetora wages war against the rival clan since they too want a step in Edo, but it was first time in decades that their clan faced an “equal”, actually faced terrible losses in battles and were draining off their war supplies far too quickly than they anticipated.
Kagetora finally decides to honour Kiro with the warlord status in desperation to win and see another day, Kiro and Namaeda are split up for different directions for the first time, where Kiro is tasked with finding and capturing the warlord responsible from the rival clan for their intense losses whereas Namaeda was tasked with destroying their supply line and capturing it for themselves.
in ACT I: We play more as Kiro’s side of story so we continue down his mission.
Despite fighting with his comrades, the soldiers lay as waste against the mighty cavalry and sheer indecent tactics of poison used by the opponent. Kiro leads a near-impossible solo effort to the leader’s warquarters.
With piles of bodies and streams of blood filling up the floors, Kiro finally reaches up to the room where he sees Oshikabe and was perplexed at the sight of his old rival taking charge of the battles.
Oshikabe, with not an ounce of emotion or surprise tells him: “I knew you would come” Kiro, more confident than ever asks him to surrender since Oshikabe is the only general left in the clan and he doesn’t want to take his rival’s head to Master since a world without an “equal” or a “rival” is far too boring to live in.
Oshikabe not even choosing to smile, sheathes his blade and tells him “you are right, only one of us walks out from here at the end” proceeding with the First Boss Battle of the game, read more about it here: Gameplay
Oshikabe was much stronger than the last time they ever fought, Kiro was severly wounded during their duel but still had the edge over Oshikabe and was about to land the deathblow on him however Oshikabe unloads his pistol to stop that attack.
Kiro questions him why he chose to violate the bushido not only in this duel but by also using poison darts in war, and shames him by saying he has no honour and he swears to provide the most brutal death ever witnessed for this acts of Dishonour.
[DIALOGUE]
Oshikabe (screaming in pain): Can you shut up about Honour? Your writ of honour only follows you whenever you unsheathe that sword? What about the acts of monstrosity you committed in the Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine? What about the unarmed peasants you beheaded?
Kiro (perplexed at those words): I took THEIR HEADS BECAUSE OF THEIR DISRESPECT TOWARDS A SAMURAI
Oshikabe (yells): THEY WERE YOUNG MEN TERRORISED AND UPSET BY YOUR ACTIONS OF SCORCHING THE EARTH AND USING THEM AS COMMODITIES FOR YOUR PETTY WAR AND CONQUEST THAT YOUR CLAN SEES FIT! IF YOU TRULY HAVE HONOUR, RESPECT YOUR COMMONFOLK, TREAT THEM WITH THE SAME RESPECT THAT YOU DEMAND FROM THEM.
KIRO, you are by far the most brilliant swordsman I have ever seen, No one deserves to sheathe that Muramasa apart from you. BUT. YOU CHOOSE TO FIGHT FOR THE VERY SAME CLAN AND RULES THAT DISFIGURE YOUR OWN PEOPLE THAN FIGHT AGAINST IT
Kiro (upset): What do you even mean? AND STOP GIVING ME THIS TALK AND FIGHT!
[Oshikabe and Kiro reach a standstill with their Katanas]
Oshikabe (upset): Kiro, you only believe what you have seen from your childhood of which was taught to you as truth and the way of life as was to you in that dojo
YOUR PARENTS NEVER DIED OF A FUCKING ILLNESS, THEY DIED BECAUSE OF THE MONSTROSITY THAT YOUR CLAN ENFORCED WHEN THEY CAME HERE, YOU WERE A CHILD OF WAR AND YOU WERE INDUCTED TO FIGHT FOR THEM.
BUSHIDO IS JUST A CODE OF CONDUCT ALL YOUR CLAN USES TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T HAVE AS MUCH AUTHORITY AS YOUR MASTER. BUSHIDO IS NOTHING BUT A MEANS TO CONTROL YOUR MIND AND THE POWER YOU HAVE OVER YOURSELF.
Kiro (Angry): STOP YOUR LIES!
Oshikabe (exasperated): Sure, you will not understand this right now, BUT ONE DAY WHEN YOUR LOVED ONES ARE A VICTIM OF THE VERY SYSTEM YOU ARE FIGHTING FOR, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN, YOUR ACTIONS WILL BE YOUR GHOST SOMEDAY KIRO, MARK MY FUCKING WORDS!!!
After those words of exchange Kiro felt uneasy of what he just heard and struggles to fight but since his rival was far too injured to continue fighting, Kiro defeats him in the end.
Oshikabe doesn’t mutter a single word and is almost ready to accept and meet his maker. The story can diverge quite a bit on the choice given to the player of either sparing or beheading their rival.
Either ways, Kiro is far too injured to fight himself and remnants of the rival clan try to find and capture Kiro to which he escapes the quarters and rests out in the woods till morning and tries to make a way to their home to pick up their old battle armour but the words of his rivals deeply hurt his soul and heart for him to have any other thoughts.
This marks the END FOR ACT I, Proceed to Calamity for ACT II