#Chapter 1, Act 1 - "A Morning with No Smoke Yet"

Contents

Session 1 details. Domain-internal orientation. PC 1st dan. Do not go outside the barrier. Tutorial density.

Core References

- Required: Dice System · Non-Combat Checks · Three Ways and Six Hearts

- Reference: Squads · Yoma Bestiary: lesser yoma

References in This Supplement

- Required: Premise · Barrier System · Core Economy

- Required: Young Lord · Retired Onmyoji · 6 Retainers

- Required: Domain Geography · Squad Limits

- Same chapter: Chapter Overview · Act 2 · Chapter NPCs

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#Scent - The Feel of This Session

#Opening Read-Aloud (for the GM to read at session start)

"You fell last night. When you opened your eyes, the outside of the domain was already no longer Japan."

"Morning has come. But no smoke rises. No households (家家) have lit their stoves. No one made breakfast. No one can make anything."

"The lord's messenger knocks on the door. The lord's council is being held - all of you have been summoned."

"Through the shoji of the council room, the barrier's blue light seeps in faintly. The cherry tree in the yard has shed about half its flowers, but the fallen petals tremble slightly on the floor. Because the barrier is breathing."

#Sense Card - The Air of Act 1

• Sound: none. No wind blows. There are no crows. No sound comes from outside the domain.
• Smell: the iron smell is still faint. Only the remains of incense someone burned last night.
• Light: malign qi (邪氣) has not yet stained the sky. The light is ordinary, but two moons hang low in the western sky.
• Touch: the air is a little heavy. Air inside the barrier moves 0.1 koku slower than air outside the barrier.

#Sense Density

This act overlaps the sense that "things still seem normal" with the sense that "something has gone decisively wrong." The GM should cross-cut the two axes in description. One sentence is an ordinary morning; the next sentence is the grain of that morning.

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#Law - Rules Used in This Session

#Rules That Appear in This Session

#Rules That Do Not Appear in This Session (intentional)

• Spirit Realm Exposure (03-02) - from Act 2 onward
• emergency maintenance for ritual barrier checks - from Act 4 onward
• Three Ways and Six Hearts confirmation - this whole chapter only accumulates tendencies
• onmyoji weakening increase - kept at 0 in this session

#Target Number Guide (Act 1 only)

Lesser-yoma cores are defined as unharvestable by rule (01-03). This scene is an educational failure meant to make players directly feel that limit.

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#Main Encounters - Act 1 Structure

#Encounter 1 · Domain Council Room (60~75 minutes)

• Location: council room in the central domain residence. A 10-tatami room.
• Appearing: Akihisa, Gensho, 6 retainers (Yamaguchi, Ino, Sakurai, Tsukahara, Mori, Hajiya), 1~2 outsider observers (Lorenzo or Myoen)
• Purpose: share the situation with PCs + decide the Slot B expedition-team composition
• Key line (Akihisa):

"Until today, this was a place where you heard orders. From today, it is a place where you decide. I will make decisions. But I ask you to complete those decisions."

#Encounter 2 · Barrier-Interior Patrol (45~60 minutes)

• Location: southern boundary of the domain → eastern shrine → northern gate → inner side of the barrier edge
• Appearing: PCs, 2~3 Slot A squad members (accompanying), a few residents (passing by)
• Purpose: first see the barrier "as a number." Check the state of retainers and residents.
• Key event: sense a faint tremor at the barrier edge → find traces of a lesser yoma that seeped inside the barrier

#Encounter 3 · First Lesser Yoma in the Shrine Back Yard (30~45 minutes)

• Location: back yard of Gensho's shrine. Beneath an old zelkova.
• Appearing: 1 lesser yoma (mechanically Wounds 0 · dies as soon as an attack is declared), Elder Gensho (remote support)
• Purpose: first spiritual encounter. First demonstration of a harvest check (as a failure).
• Result: lesser yoma destroyed + core harvest fails + the lord says, "Starting tomorrow, we must go outside."

#Encounter 4 · Quiet Night Time (optional · 30 minutes)

• Location: each character's quarters. PC personal time.
• Appearing: each PC freely. Private conversation with 1 choice among Akihisa, Gensho, retainers, residents, and outsiders.
• Purpose: first wedge of character motivation. Starting point for Three Ways and Six Hearts tendencies.

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#Step-by-Step Progression Guide

#Step 1 - From Opening to Entering the Council Room

#Step 2 - Domain Council (75 minutes)

#Akihisa's Three Questions (council 10~25 minutes)

Akihisa asks the PCs three things in order. PCs answer individually or by consensus.

1. "Can you say in one sentence why we have gathered today?" - one phrase from each PC. This answer fixes the character's point of view.
2. "What do you think is outside?" - only guesses. The facts are still unknown. This answer sets the direction of fear.
3. "Which of you is most dangerous in this room - to yourself and to each other?" - this question brings party tension to the front.

The answers are not checks. However, the GM records them. They become seeds for Heart tendencies and party dynamics.

#Three Ways and Six Hearts Branch 1 - Choosing the First Scouting Target

Akihisa asks, "Tomorrow morning, who should be the first to go out?"

Tendencies are only recorded, not confirmed. They accumulate across the whole campaign.

#Step 3 - Barrier-Interior Patrol (60 minutes)

#3 Resident Encounter Scenes During Patrol (3~5 minutes each)

The GM inserts 1~3 of the following 3 scenes along the patrol route.

1. A mother soothing a child - "When will the barrier clear?" - if answered, each answer implies a Heart tendency (忠/慈/眞/虛 each leads to a different answer).
2. Old artisan at the smithy - "Next, do we need daggers or spears?" - a test of 覇/魔 tendencies.
3. Grandmother physician - nursing a groaning resident. "This person no longer has memory." - 慈/虛 tendency.

Each scene only asks for PC reactions. No check.

#Step 4 - First Lesser Yoma in the Shrine Back Yard (45 minutes)

#Meaning of the Harvest Failure

In this scene, it is important to actually roll the harvest check and fail. The GM should guide players into rolling the check, then reveal after the fact that automatic failure is the rule. The experience of failure teaches the value of harvest.

#Step 5 - Quiet Night Time (optional, 30 minutes)

#Night Conversation Partner Options

Each PC gets 1 choice and chooses 1. Conversation has no check, but Heart tendency +1 is possible.

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#Success / Failure Branches

#Shape of "Success"

What counts as "success" in this act?

#Response on Failure

"Failure" in Act 1 is not a real threat; it is slower entry. The GM does not treat failure as lethal.

• Situation-understanding failure → at the start of Act 2, Gensho gives a short review (3 minutes).
• Party-integration failure → in Act 2, old soldier Yamaguchi accompanies the group for part of the act, externalizing the conflict.
• Emotional-entry failure → when entering Reviving Hell in Act 2, strengthen "the first shock of iron smell" to force emotional entry.
• NPC-recognition failure → in Act 3, the relevant NPC appears again and gives a 2nd chance.

#Barrier HP Change (Act 1 settlement)

#Onmyoji Weakening Change

#Resident Morale Change (domain morale baseline 5/10)

Act 1 ending morale range: 3~7/10. Standard is holding at 5.

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#GM Control - Pacing and Tone Adjustment

#Speed Adjustment

This session is a tutorial. It can be slow. Do not try to end quickly.

#Avoiding Tone Traps

• Do not let the council room become a long speech. Akihisa speaks briefly. If the GM speaks as Akihisa for 3 or more sentences in a row, stop and ask the PCs a question.
• Do not over-mystify Gensho. He is old and exhausted. He is an experienced elder, not a transcendent being.
• Do not let the lesser-yoma fight become comedy. Even if it dies instantly, present the fear that "there is a yoma inside the barrier."
• Do not treat Three Ways and Six Hearts branches like a report card. Record tendencies quietly; do not announce to players, "You just got X Heart +1."

#Emergency Response If Underprepared

If the GM is short on preparation:

1. Shorten the council-room scene to "Akihisa's long silence + Gensho's short situation report."
2. Compress the patrol into "one point at the barrier edge."
3. Use the lesser-yoma encounter as the only combat of this session.
4. Skip the night scene.

This compressed version can finish in 2 hours.

#Session-End Declaration

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#First Disaster Inside the Barrier - Structural Analysis

The core event of this act is the shock that there is a yoma inside the barrier. This reveals that the Drift is not simple "movement," but a process in which the Spirit Realm is swallowing the domain.

#Why Is There a Lesser Yoma Inside the Barrier?

At the moment of the Drift, the domain's phase shifted into the Spirit Realm, and the malign qi (邪氣) inside the domain materialized. In other words, the domain itself gave birth to a yoma. This lesser yoma is not an "outside intruder," but "the shell the domain shed."

Gensho's after-action explanation (late in the session):

"This lesser yoma did not come from outside. It was hiding inside the domain. The domain's shadows, the residents' dark memories, the retainers' old grudges - such things fell into the Spirit Realm and gained shape. We will see this a few more times."

#Meaning to Convey to Players

Do not explain this interpretation directly during the session. Hint at it through Gensho's brief words and the faceless appearance of the lesser yoma. Players may reach this interpretation late in the session or at the start of Act 2.

#What This First Disaster Opens

1. Worthlessness of the harvest check: Mob-grade cores cannot be harvested. This first failure teaches "we need Minion-grade or higher" → must go outside → to Act 2.
2. The lord's decision: right after the lesser yoma is seen, Akihisa's declaration of "Tomorrow, outside" gains weight.
3. Resident morale change: if residents see this encounter, morale -1. Whether it was witnessed becomes a narrative branch.

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#In-Act Options - Player Action Space

#Things Players Are Likely to Want to Do

1. Draw the domain map themselves → the GM shares a simplified map. Mark retainer and facility positions.
2. Ask about each retainer's background → the GM uses the 02-03 6 Retainers summary.
3. Touch the barrier → the barrier gently pushes the hand back. On a successful Target Number 10 check, the character senses the barrier's "pulse cycle."
4. Speak privately with Gensho → share barrier details, core details, and weakening. Gensho does not hide numbers.
5. Swear loyalty to Akihisa → narrative event. Heart tendency 忠 +1.
6. Conduct a full census of domain residents → consumes 4 rounds. Resident morale +1 or discover a hidden illness.

#"Unreasonable" Actions Players Might Try

1. Break through the barrier alone and leave → the GM discourages this. If discouragement fails, Barrier HP -3, resident morale -2. This forced action affects play through Session 3.
2. Forcefully scrape together the lesser-yoma core → meaningless. Mob-grade cores scatter when they touch the floor.
3. Rebel against Akihisa → narrative adjustment required. The GM consults players, then rebuilds the branch.

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#Narrative Seeds in This Act - Foreshadowing for the Next Session

#Seeds to Plant (visible to players)

1. Akihisa placed his brother's wakizashi on the council-room table - foreshadows the Act 4 decision.
2. Gensho's right hand stayed inside his sleeve throughout the council - sign of weakening.
3. During patrol, retainer Yamaguchi looked outside the barrier for a long time - Yamaguchi's "nostalgia for old battlefields."
4. A faint "ㅇ" mark sat where the lesser yoma's face should have been inside the barrier - omen of the Reviving Hell mirror.

#Seeds to Plant (GM awareness only)

1. The Barrier HP decrease formula has been revealed. Players will watch the number from now on.
2. The failed harvest of a lesser-yoma core is designed to contrast with the successful Minion-grade harvest in Act 2.
3. When Akihisa says "Tomorrow, outside," it means he had already decided before the council. The council is a ritual for drawing the PCs in.
4. The possibility that Gensho "guided" the lesser yoma into the shrine back yard - an intentional setup to show the players.

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#Safety Techniques - Safety Signals to Check in This Act

#Signals Before Session Start

#Signals During the Session

#Signals After Session End

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#Next

• Session 2 (Act 2): 10-02 Act 2 - The First Step Across the Threshold
• NPC Details: 10-05 Chapter NPCs
• Reviving Hell GM Guide: 03-06 Hell Guide
• Barrier System: 01-02 Barrier

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"Until today, this was a place where you heard orders. From today, it is a place where you decide." — Kamijo Akihisa, at the morning council on the day after the Drift.

"There was a yoma inside the barrier. It is something we brought with us." — Hoshino Gensho, after driving off the first lesser yoma.