Captain,

Many enemies surround us, and only through courage and resolve can the Lion survive. I know that you see darkness. I know that your heart seeks the truth of bushido even as it is attacked by fear. Stand beside me, brother, and we will fight as one. Remember Akodo One-Eye's wisdom, and fill your heart with steel. Battles ravage our Empire as surely as the locusts destroy crane fields. Our steel is needed - no, our steel is begged.

In the halls of the Kitsu, Toju whispers into the darkness. He hisses warnings, claiming that the ancestors we revere have gone mad with pain. I see the truth in his eyes, behind the veil of pain. Prayers for guidance are answered with screams of annihilation.

Somewhere, in some shadowed place in the accursed south, their souls are dying.

My samurai speak of dreams, of unknown places covered in filth and darkness. They mutter of a bloody hand crushing our honored dead, drawing their life into nothingness. There is only one way we can fight these horrors: we must unite the Lion despite all that has transpired, and strike first against the thing that destroys our ancestors' souls.

Toju says there is one place upon this earth where Jigoku stands close beside our homeland. It is a place of shadow , a dark spot within the wastes of the Shadowlands. Already, Tsanuri has given orders that we will march beside Crab legions, aiming our spear directly into the heart of the evil. If we are going to save the souls of our ancestors, then we must join their fight. Whatever this thing is that silences the voices of the dead, we must crush it beneath our feet and drive it into darkness.

Watch for the ONI, who even now threaten our provinces to the north. They rampage and destroy with no guidance; their hatred consumes them. I am told that one among them bears Okura's name.

With our forces stretched so thinly here, I cannot issue detailed orders. You must seize the opportunities that present themselves and uphold the honor of the Lion Clan.

I know I can trust you to make the right decisions.

-Kitsu Motso