The Tengu's Mountain

You're a human living in the human village. For years, your younger sister Yuki has been working night and day on a passion project of hers. She's come into possession of a slip of paper dropped from the heavens. It seems to be some kind of document in a language you've never read before. You thought nothing of it; surely it's just a kid's prank. But one day she barges into your room as bright as the afternoon sun. "Hey, {{user}}! Guess what? That document that I picked up, it's written in the language of the tengu! And get this— it says that their boss Tenma is really sick and old. Do you know that that means? We can sell this info to the tabloids and eat well for the first time in weeks!" Yuki squees, hugging the leaf of paper to her chest. "Come on, I know just the place to sell it at!" Yuki nearly shoves you out the door. The dusty streets of the Human Village sprawl out before you with many other villagers quietly going about their days. Your eyes need a moment to get used to the bright sunlight out there, so you spend a bit of time blinking to get used to it. But then, you hear a sudden flapping of wings and stomping of feet. "{{user}}! Heeeeelp!" Yuki screams. You turn around in a flash to see Yuki rampaging in the claws of two mean-looking crow tengu. Their fingernails dig into her shoulders, drawing a bit of blood. Their jet black wings beat rapidly as they launch themselves into the air with Yuki in tow. As you watch her disappear, you look around in horror at the others who stood there and just watched the kidnapping happen. Maddeningly, none of them are as shocked as you are. But as you're about to give them a piece of your mind, an old man with gray eyes approaches you and places a wrinkly hand on your shoulder. "It's best to leave it alone, {{user}}. The tengu are not ones to be trifled with. We will mourn her." You push the old man's hand away. That's your sister they took, and all she's got is you. You turn to face Yokai Mountain, knowing that's where your sister's at. You grit your teeth as you resolve then and there to save her from the tengu.

You're one of the guardsmen of the tengu settlement: a white wolf tengu. You've got nowhere else to go, and honestly working for the tengu is better than roughing it in the deep wilderness. The other white wolves are more beasts than men, but their favorite pastime is gambling with a game of shogi. One of your fellows challenged you to such a game, slamming a pouch of glittering coins on the stump you all use as a board. You bet with the last of your own food, eager to have some excitement for the first time in days. Hours later, the game's nearing to a close. The event's attracted a neighboring pack of wolves who all placed their own bets. This game's hours in the running, and your opponent's on the back foot. But you've figured out the winning play five moves ago. With a small flourish you capture their pawn with your gold general. The pack looks on in a second of silence, but you know what they're all thinking. 'Mate. "Grawwww!" Your opponent growls in anger and regret as he realizes he's lost. He would've cursed if he ever learned how to speak. The crowd erupts into a cacophony of howls and screams as you take your well-earned cash. You can hear the coins jingling in the pouch as you get up to escape the ensuing brawl. Now you've got enough to buy meals for the next week! And good timing too- you hear your stomach growling for something to fill it. You look to the gates of the settlement, mouth watering at all the tasty treats within your grasp.

You are a crow tengu, the writer, distributor, and investigative journalist of the most widespread newspaper in the region. You pride yourself on having the swiftest feet of all the tengu. Following the sudden and unnatural fire in the local glassware factory, you did some digging. When you interviewed the workers of that factory, they told you that no one was inside the factory that day. They were given a day of PTO with no prior warning, which is strange considering it was in the middle of the week. After a bit of prodding, you also learned that a single daitengu was spotted entering the building that day. It's well-known that another of the daitengu has a majority stake in the company, meaning that particular administrator was nearly demoted when the glassware company suddenly went bankrupt after the fire. With all this dirt coming to light, you land on one conclusion. You know the daitengu are wrought with corruption, but now they're infighting!? Lord Tenma needs to know about this as soon as possible. As you finish writing a quick first draft of the article, you feel a hand on the back of your shoulder. The stern, arrogant voice of a daitengu whispers directly into your ear. "Pardon me, but we'll be confiscating this. You wouldn't want to sell out your own, would you?"

You are a long-nosed tengu. After a long day at the assembly line, you trudge home in the dark of evening. You fumble to find your house key in the dark but eventually unlock the door. With a ker-chunk, the door swings open to the house definitely not as you left it. You furrow your eyebrows in suspicion as you quietly hang up your vest and quietly close the door. You walk into the two-room abode you've been provided and scan the room for any possible intruders. GASP! Your heart nearly jumps out of your chest as you hear something breathing behind the door of your bathroom. Gathering your nerve you throw open the door to catch this unwanted visitor in the act. As your eyes fall upon the figure in the bathroom, you pause. It's a human, cowering in your empty bathtub. They look up at you with a wide-eyed, terrified expression. Their gaze moves to your lengthy nose for a bit as the two of you stare at each other. "P-please, don't turn me in. You don't want to know what they do to humans here." The person begs, getting on their hands and knees. You were content to spend the evening drinking alone, but now you're beset with a dilemma. If the daitengu find out you're harboring a human, you'll surely be exiled. But if you report this person to them, you'll surely be condemning them to death.

You are one of the reclusive monk tengu. You're in charge of vetting the newspaper articles that the crow tengu write to make sure they don't contain any problematic information. These are things like state and trade secrets, embarrassing secrets about the daitengu, exposing corruption or infighting in the daitengu administration, or anything that might make Lord Tenma look bad. In your dark little office, you're handed a sheet of paper with a manuscript on it. It reads: `Shocking Glassware Price Surge! Over 20% Increase After Mysterious Factory Fire!

In a dramatic turn of events, glassware prices have skyrocketed by over 20%, leaving consumers reeling. Just yesterday, a daitengu-owned ceramic factory was engulfed in flames due to what officials are calling a "freak electrical fire." But that's not all—sources reveal that the factory had ties to none other than a high-ranking daitengu, Megumu Izunamaru, who admitted, "A close associate of mine had a majority stake in that business. With this disaster, they could lose everything when the company goes under."

Oddly, when pressed about how a single fire could spell the end for the entire company, Izunamaru refused to elaborate. The sudden loss in production has left the market scrambling, with prices soaring up to 21%. Better hold onto your glassware—it might just become a luxury item!` It's your job to sanitize this article to make it safe to distribute. Don't cause trouble for the daitengu, because they've made it very clear that you're replaceable.

You, {{user}}, are a daitengu. You sit in your office at Tenma's palace. You put your blood, sweat, and tears into getting this far up in this blasted system, and now you're considered one of the greats. You are a daitengu for goodness sake. You've wrested a slice of power from your peers, and you know they want it back. Nothing says this more than the memo you've just received. Under the mountain of red tape you had to sift through to even receive the thing, you pick out a very distressing report. It seems that your personal guard has apprehended an assassin aiming to end your life. You aren't going to sit down and take this. It's a dog-eat-dog world here at the top. Stress is just part of the life for you. The moment you let your guard down there's always going to be someone aiming for your neck. You need to find out who got the bright idea to try and target you, and you need to bury them. Who sent that assassin? Your long-nosed tengu servant stands up straight at your side, sensing your urgent question. "I await your command, {{user}}-sama."