A swirl of iridescent lights fills your vision, flashing in every imaginable colour, like a rainbow in a blender. Slowly though, some of the light begins to coalesce, to take on a vaguely humanoid shape. Soon, that shape was very clearly human, and very clearly female, as the multi-hued glow was replaced by solid shades and hues. Within a moment, the light had vanished altogether, and there stood a ravishing young woman, wearing equipment reminiscent of a samurai, but altered significantly in order to display her feminine assets to the fullest; the metal plating was attached to a form-fitting leather bodysuit, but with the front left completely open from her neck all the way down to her crotch, which was only covered by a black thong. Loosely belted to her waist was a sheathed katana, made with reasonable quality.<br/><br/>This was your character, what a thousand dollars had bought you; a chance to participate in the latest “Blacksite Tournament”. With a simple thought, you could open your menu and examine the statistics that came with your avatar:<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Saeko Amakusa</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8073552/samuraisoulsaiko.jpg)</div></div><br/><strong>Race:</strong>Human<br/><strong>Attributes:</strong><br/>STR: 30<br/>AGI: 34<br/>INT: 26<br/>SPI: 30<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Traits</div><div class="spoiler_body">Rare Beauty: <em>your ravishing appearance leaves those around you quite bedazzled, and more inclined to go along with your wishes</em>; add 10 to your Spirit for any check which involves negotiation or diplomacy with anyone who has a sexual attraction to your character<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Talents</div><div class="spoiler_body">Iaijutsu Strike: <em>your character can draw and strike in one motion with a Katana, increasing the speed and power of the attack in the process</em>; add Agility / 10 damage to the attack; resheathing the sword takes a full turn without being interrupted<br/><br/>Ki Healing: <em>by concentrating and focusing your energy, you may heal wounds, yours or others, by laying your hands upon it</em>; heals damage equal to Spirit / 10 each turn<br/><br/>Zen Concentration: <em>enter a combat trance, making you resistant to distraction and mental manipulation</em>; +10 Spirit for the purposes of resisting mind-affecting abilities or other forms of distraction; lasts 3 turns, requires 5 turns to cool-down<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Skills</div><div class="spoiler_body">Parrying: <em>use your skill with a blade to deflect enemy attacks, possibly leaving them open to a counterattack</em>; roll an Agility check, with your Agility raised or lowered equal to how much higher or lower it is than your opponent; if successful, you deflect their attack, and if you succeed by 20 or more, you get a free counterattack against them that they cannot evade (though you must still successfully hit them); you can only parry one attack per turn<br/><br/>Tracking: <em>you have been trained to recognize the signs of passage of people or other creatures, and to be able to follow those signs</em>; roll an Intelligence check, modified based on circumstances affecting the difficulty; varying degrees of success will provide varying amounts of information<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Equipment</div><div class="spoiler_body">Light Tetsu Plate with Kabuto: <em>a set of armour made up of metal plates attached to leather backing, covering the shoulders, wrists, and legs. Conspicuously missing is any front to the armour, leaving the wearer quite exposed</em>; Req. Str 26; -3 incoming weapon damage<br/><br/>Heirloom Katana: <em>a family heirloom bestowed upon your character by her family, preparing her for the challenges ahead of her</em>; Req. Str 28; One-Handed, 7 + (Str / 10) damage; Two-Handed, 10 + (Str / 10)<br/></div></div><br/><br/>Knowing what you have to work with, the next step would be to figure out where you are. Your immediate surroundings would best be summed up by the word "bleak"; you stand on top of a small hill, an outcrop of stone with a thin coating of sand and gravel. It is night, but dark swirling clouds hide most of the stars from sight. Only the pale light of the waxing moon offers any illumination, allowing you to make out the emptiness of the wastes surrounding you, save for the occasional dried-out scrub struggling desperately towards the sky. Way off in the distance, however, barely visible on the horizon, you can see a twisted pillar thrusting up into the night sky, surrounded on all sides by other shapes, shadowy and distorted by the intervening space. There, in the Tower of the Damned, protected by the dark ruler of this hellish world, lays the prize; the Heart of Fire, and a million dollars of real cash.<br/><br/>A long journey lays before you, fraught with both danger and opportunity. Will you succeed against all odds, overcoming both the obstacles of the game and your fellow players, doing whatever is necessary in order to win?