Intro
Earth has been plagued by demons since the dawn of creation, but the average person remains completely unaware. Ley lines throughout the Earth connect our world to the demon plane. For thousands of years the Archmagi have protected humanity from being overrun by demons. They are a group of academics who study ways to defend against the fiends. The Archmagi hire bounty hunters to seek and destroy the worst of these demons. These academics are the brains and the bounty hunters are the brawn. In the present day there are many sanctuaries across the world that act as operating bases for both the archmagi and the bounty hunters. The primary sanctuaries are located in Tokyo, New York, London, Vienna, Toronto, Mexico City, Cape Town, Rome, Buenos Aires, and New Delhi.
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Episode 1: The First Hunt
Osian has been training to be a demon bounty hunter under the tutelage of the archmagi and Master Typhon Bando, a 15th level bounty hunter. After going through basic training Osian was sent on his first demon hunt with Master Typhon. Statistically, less than 20% of new recruits survive their first hunt. If he returns alive Osian will qualify to continue his apprenticeship with the archmagi. Otherwise he will be like so many other dead recruits.
In recent months many demon bounty hunters have been dying mysteriously and the archmagi have narrowed down the cause to a demon snow witch named Yuki-Onna. This demon was thought to have been defeated many years ago, but she has recently re-entered Earth from the demon plane. The hunt has led the team to northern Japan near the base of the Daisetsuzan mountains.
Objective: Find and defeat Yuki-Onna, the demon snow witch. Obtain apprentice level 2.
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Location: Daisetsuzan Mountains, Japan
Temperature: -5 C/23 F
The snow came down steady from the heavens. Young Osian stood next to Typhon, Tayla, and Chimon. They had been caught in a sudden unexpected blizzard.
Typhon knelt over the corpse of a dead bounty hunter. It was a young woman whom Osian had seen at the sanctuary a few weeks earlier. She had the audacity to think that she would be able to find and kill the demon Yuki-Onna by herself.
Now she lay dead in the snow; frozen stiff like a mannequin. One of her arms was raised up to the sky, as if she was grasping towards the heavens.
Osian thought that she must have frozen rapidly at the point of her death. He knew that she was foolish to have ventured out here by herself. He didn’t know her, but she didn’t seem experienced enough to take on the snow witch by herself.
“She’s very young to die alone out here like this,” said Tayla.
“Yes, young and foolish," replied Typhon. "She died by the hands of the snow witch!”
“I can sense that we are close to her lair!” said Chimon.
The wind whipped up and rustled Osian’s cloak. The ice crystals stung his face and made him feel more alive than ever. He was anticipating an epic fight with Yuki-Onna, and as such his nerves were on edgee. The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint master Typhon, but he also didn’t want to die.
Typhon rummaged through the clothing of the dead bounty hunter and pulled out a vial of purple liquid.
“An unused vial of astral essence,” he said. “This could be useful in the upcoming fight. Osian, you take it and put it in your tunic.”
Osian didn’t really want to take the dead woman’s vial, but he had sworn an oath to follow Typhon’s orders as part of his training. He felt guilty taking something off another dead bounty hunter, but knew the potion would give him a boost of power if he needed it.
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He took the vial and tucked it into his vestments.
Typhon tried closing the bounty hunter’s eyes lids, but her corpse was frozen solid. Instead he tore a piece of fabric from under his forearm bracers and covered her face.
“Rest young one; know that we shall avenge you!”
Chimon walked away from the group. He held out his hand and bowed his head in concentration. Osian knew that he was trying to sense the direction of the snow witches’ lair. He was a good tracker with a fine reputation for hunting. The bounty hunters used trackers to find demon lairs. They were a specialized niche of the Archmagi that Osian didn’t really understand much about. Their craft was very secretive and only young recruits that showed an aptitude for tracking were inducted into their fold.
“The witch is in this direction,” he said as he pointed west towards the mountain.
Chimon stood there peering hawk-like through the snow. Osian didn’t know how he could sense a demon's direction, but with time and practice he thought maybe he could learn.
“Don’t go wasting that vial for no reason,” Tayla whispered in his ear.
Tayla was another young bounty hunter in training. She was older than Osian and treated him like a child. She was more experienced and had completed two years of training. Tayla was set to become a full fledged bounty hunter at the end of the hunt.
“Give it to me if you’re just going to get yourself killed!”
He looked at her and frowned. He had hoped that Tayla would help him on his first hunt, but it was obvious that she just expected him to die. He was determined that this was not going to happen.
Typhon rose up from the corpse and began marching through the snow towards the witches’ lair.
Osian followed him closely, not wanting to get left behind in the blizzard.
The young apprentice fixed his cloak around his torso as he tried to stay warm in the violent weather conditions. As they walked he kept his right hand on his katana sword at all times. He wanted to be prepared for whatever would come next.
“Where did this snow storm come from?” Osian asked.
“Don’t you know anything?” Tayla replied. “Why do you think they call Yuki-Onna the Snow Witch?”
“She has the ability to control the weather around her lair,” said Chimon.
“Oh,” retorted Osian.
“Didn’t you read about demons at the sanctuary’s library as part of your training?” Tayla asked.
“Yes, but I didn’t think demons could control the weather!”
“You really are a rookie. Demons have all kinds of abilities. Basic demons only have exceptional physical strength, but more powerful demons have all kinds of special abilities. Some can control fire, dominate your mind, or even suck the life essence from your body. One of the books I read said that there was once a demon that could control time.”
“If you make it back alive I’ll show you where the books are in the library!” said Tayla.
“Thanks… I think,” he replied.
“But you gotta make it back first, junior!”
Osian hated being treated like a raw rookie by Tayla, but he also knew that he had lots to learn. She was one of the top apprentices at the Tokyo sanctuary and had already survived several hunts. Her reputation for being belligerent and domineering was the only aspect of her personality that he disliked. Otherwise he wanted to learn from her just as much as from master Typhon.
“Whisper voices only from now on!” stated Master Typhon. “We are approaching the Snow Witches temple.”
Osian could see a dark object ahead through the blizzard. The storm made it impossible to make out the details of the building. He knew that many demon temples had guards; or at least this is what Typhon had told him before they left.
The group cautiously continued their approach to the demon lair.
The snowstorm blew a large gust of wind that swirled in a fanciful eddy. This allowed Osian to see the building in better detail as they approached.
The temple of the Snow Witch looked like a giant stone pagoda with steps that rose up onto a platform. There was no door visible on the pagoda. The building had a set of four levels with traditional Japanese curved rooftops. At the end of each ridgeline there was a demon head carving of various shapes and sizes. The wind howled around the building as it seemed to have a life of its own. The temple seemed ancient, like it had been there for thousands of years.