I travel further west, on a treacherous mountain pass until I see a small town in the distance. The townsfolk seem nice at first sight. They asked me if I strayed from the mountain path, or what reason I had to be in their town. They seem nice, but something about the way they act seems fake. As if they try to get me to leave as fast as possible. In the late evening, as the sun disappears between the mountains, I lay down in an abandoned building which the townsfolk lended me for the night. I woke up to the sound of marching. At first I thought it was an army, the sound of hundreds of people walking to one general direction from all over the town. When I spied through one of the wood slits of my ruined sleeping area, I saw the townsfolk, nearly all of them walking out of their houses and following a path out of the town. I snuck after them, my weapon in my hand and followed them to a small lake. I saw them taking one of the people, a young woman and pulling her roughly through the masses. She was pulled by two men, one on each of her side. They pulled her to a wooden platform, where another man in a creepy cape was waiting for her, with a dagger in his hand. He shouted something to the rest of them, a speech about how they needed to make sacrifices to appease the Yokai.

I wanted to help the woman, I truly wanted to, but there were hundreds of people. Men, women, even a few children were there. They cut the throat of the woman, and let the blood flow into the lake, mixing the colour of the water with the dark crimson. I wanted to wait until they are finished with the ceremony to sneak up on the leader of this cult, or whatever this is. But then, I saw how they pulled a young girl to her death. I saw her crying, looking to her parents, begging for help and fighting against it, even though she had no hope. I couldn't wait anymore, I took my intricately designed Naginata and ran across the open field. Most of the people were too shocked by the sudden appearance of an armoured and armed samurai to react, I just pushed past them. But four men readied their weapons, simple wooden clubs and rusty katanas against me. Behind them was the cult leader, with the girl in his claw-like hand. They were no match for me, I dodged their attacks, only to swiftly answer with my own far more lethal attacks. One by one, I separated them from the group, and knocked them down with the non-lethal part of my weapon. Sure, I could have killed them all, but as I was fighting them, I thought they were all just controlled by their leader and these innocent people would find back to the right path if the cult leader was dealt with. 

Their leader was more experienced in the art of the blade. He drew a Katana and readied it, pushing the child to the side. We crossed our blades in the light of the moon, in front of hundreds. No one dared to intervene as the cult leader duelled me. My movements were fluid, my Naginata danced as I attacked from the distance, keeping the cult leader at a distance with my better reach. But the unnamed cult leader was swift and agile, his Katana a deadly force as he dodged each of my strikes only to counter with his own attacks. After what felt like an eternity, the cult leader made a mistake which I could use to muy advantage and after a swift attack, he felt the blade of my weapon in his chest. He fell on his knees and died quickly. I looked around for the girl, took it on my arm and ran with it, as far as possible before any of the people could change their opinion about leaving me alone during the fight.

Prompt:

Chart: Route

Nothing happened.

Chart: Location

You have arrived in a town. If you have a Reputation of 5 or more, you will be approached by 2 Soldiers. Here you get 1 Reputation and have an Urban Encounter.

Chart: Urban Encounter

The people of this place are strange. In addition to treating you strangely, their expressions seem false. You can ignore and go your way or try to find out what’s going on. If you want to investigate you discover that they are under the control of a weird cult and their Leader is a madman who sacrifices humans on every new moon. If you try to face the leader, 1d6 Innocent People will protect him with their lives.