Episode 1 - Luck of the Black Cat

Day 1 – The Warmth (~2:30)

· Scene opens: busy Tokyo office, camera pans over rows of desks → fluorescent buzz, papers stacked.

· At the boss’s desk; paperwork stacks on the corners of his desk almost black his vision: his kohai is getting scolded as she is attempting to formally apologize.

· Boss snarls: “Pathetic. Can’t you even do this right? Worthless!” She is visually distraught.

· “Kazuha! Get your ass over here!” Boss shouts. Kazuha rushes up to the boss’s desk standing next to his colleague.

· We don’t hear the rest of the complaint — cut away.

Next shot:

· Kazuha walks her back to her desk. She’s trying to hold it in, on the verge of tears, sniffling. She sits down and grabs a tissue.

· He sits the in the chair next to her attempting to comfort her: “Don’t let him get to you. Everyone makes mistakes, hell even me! You’re doing fine.”

· Quick montage of computer typing and paperwork filing.

· Kazuha offers to help stack her files, but she waves him off with a giggle.

· She relaxes a little, her smile soft but fragile. They are conversating in the break room, smoke can be seen from a lit cigarette that has been left in the tray by the window.

· “Wanna catch dinner or something? My treat,” he offers. Her smile grows a little bit more as she nods. “Sure I’d like that,” responding happily.

After work:

· Small restaurant scene, warm lights, bowls of ramen steaming being plated.

· She thanks him softly: “You honestly don’t have to treat me, senpai. It’s just nice to do more than just go home afterwork.”

· He grins with his hand behind his head: “Nah, you earned it. You’re doing great.”

· After the meal, Kazuha offers “I had fun, do you want me to walk you home?”

· She blushes: “No thank you, but I’ll see you at work tomorrow. Thank you again for the meal.”

· He mutters awkwardly, “…Yeah. Can’t wait.”

· Camera follows as they split at the crosswalk. She giggles, turns, walking into the neon-lit street. He lingers, watching her with a small smile as she faded into the distance.

Day 2 – The Break (~2:00)

· Morning: she’s at the boss’s desk again, trembling, holding a coffee cup.

· Boss slams it down: “Cold! Do you even think before you act?”

· She winces, nods quickly.

· Kazuha’s fists tighten under his desk, jaw clenched. He looks like he’s about to stand up—

· Boss’s glare shoots across the office → Kazuha freezes.

· She glances back at him, almost pleading. He lowers his eyes; Pathetic.

· Later: she packs up, pale, shaken and completely discouraged, “I… I’m not feeling well.” She leaves early.

· Kazuha sits in the empty office at night, moping.

· Papers piled high, clock ticks past 9, then 10.

· He finishes her workload and his own. Exhausted, he drops the last file on his desk.

· Silence. He sighs, stands, drags himself toward the train station.

Death (~0:30)

1. Station is empty, fluorescent hum, vending machine buzz.

2. He stumbles forward on the platform, eyelids heavy, hallucinating flashes of standing up to the boss.

3. Suddenly → headlights bear down, horn screams.

4. Silhouette of Kazuha in front of the blinding train light.

5. Screen cuts to black.

6. Golden D20 rolls across the screen. Lands on 1.

7. Visceral blood splatters across the dice.

[5:00 – 6:00 | Overworld Exposition]

· Kazuha/Darin’s voiceover, slightly detached, like waking from a dream:

· Quick montage: statless beaten in the streets, guild abuses, waitstaff mistreated.

· Tone: “This world feels just the same as mine old one… only here, the cruelty wears no mask.”

· Narration over visuals of fantasy city, adventurers, and statless porters being shoved aside in the streets.

Kazuha (V.O.):

“This world runs on numbers. Strength, speed, luck… all given at birth, displayed on your chest. You can improve your stats but that takes months and even years to do. Death oddly enough is a weird subject. You CAN be resurrected. However, your corpse has limited time to do so. The price? You lose a piece of yourself, you become weaker or dumber or frailer, the system chooses that. And if a stat hits zero? That's it, basically its game-over for your freedom. They become what is called ‘statless’. Treated less than human. Slaves. Tools. Garbage. Death is permanent, you're now property with no will of your own.”

"You lose your memories, your titles, your belongings, but even worse... your name."

· You see a person being revived but one of their stats fade from the pentagram on their chest as the lines disconnect from the stat.

· Shot of a beaten porter being dragged away by guards, a tavern waitress slapped for dropping a plate.

Kazuha (V.O.):

“In my old world, I was a coward. Now I was given another chance… this time I swore I’d be different. I swore to be better. I swore it... but even after 10 years, the same principle applies, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.”

[6:00 – 11:30 | Dungeon Party Build-Up]

· New adventurer team, cocky leader boasting as you see the team taking out some common enemies. They look seasoned with their communication and actions, but they have practiced a lot before actually facing the reality of the dungeons.

~Newbie adventurers 4 with 1 Stateless girl with zero Dex (cannot fight). She is carrying the loot that has been obtained thus far, and they are doing well. She also is carrying potions and tools the party had purchased for the run. The leader walking forward turns his head to glance at his party while boasting about their run so far not paying attention to the path ahead of him. ~

· The Porter trudging silently, black aura flickers (only visible to the audience). A Black 20-sided dice in the bottom left corner is rolled. The dice is of a void of color shell with red numbering.

~While the camera is fixated on the company behind the leader you see a blackish aura glimmer then fade away from the porter. (This aura will always be unnoticeable by people in this world but always shown to the audience) ~

“I don’t understand why everyone calls you ‘Black Cat’. You’re more like a good luck charm with all the treasure we found so far!” “And cheap,” you hear the fighter chimed in “you’re stronger than you look that’s for sure.” The hunter is glancing around surveying their surroundings. The mage is also quiet but the furthest back of the party. The porter is in the back in case they get ambushed.

· Quick character sketches of the party showing their inexperience.

· Trap triggered → floor collapse.

~He doesn’t pay attention and steps a loose stone which causes their group to fall though a fault in the floor. The group only falls one story. Their hunter tumbles to avoid hitting the ground as hard. The fighter lands on his feet, he catches the mage before she hits the ground. The warrior is picking himself up as he was the only one to have a rough landing.~

· Dust clears → they’ve fallen into a Minotaur’s lair.

~As they begin to gather themselves, rubbing out aches and pains. They seem to have fallen upon a minotaur which can be seen picking itself up from the rubble that fell on top of it. It looks enraged~

[11:30 – 12:30 | Cliffhanger Before Commercial Break]

· The party is separated from the porter girl by the rubble and monster unironically guarding the path. The corridor looks like this
[Party ----------- Minotaur—Rubble (which almost black the path) -------Porter Girl]

· The warrior tries to charge, yelling a war cry with his sword prepped to lunge at the beast. The minotaur raises its massive arm and backhands the armored plated warrior. He slams into the wall dazed and staggered. He falls on his face dropping his sword.

· Party freezes with an inaudible gasp, paralyzed with fear.

· Minotaur stomps toward him, hovering over his body. You can see the cruelly breaking his arms underneath its mighty hooves. Shrieking cries echo the halls. Blood curdling screams pierce the silence. His arms mangled and metal sleeves dented and flattened.

· The minotaur picks up the dropped sword and stabs the warrior, impaling him to the cobbled floor.

~The minotaur picks up the warrior's sword, as he lay there screaming for help is impaled by his own blade through the upper back. Blood pools and drips from his mouth. ~

· The Party members scream in disbelief for their inaction, trembling. The mage stumbles on her robe falling backwards dropping her staff. She pees herself in sheer fear, as it pools underneath her. The fighter has his daggers pulls his daggers out slowly as attempts to draw them into a defensive stance. He is in front of the other two as the hunter begins to draw an arrow from his quiver.

~The other 3 members panic with tears streaming down their fear and distraught extremely visible. ~

· Close-up: Minotaur’s single eye → contracts into vertical catlike slit fixates on the remaining party members.

[Commercial break.]

[14:00 – 19:00 | Dice of Fate & Collision]

· Brutality continues as the party collapses.

~The remaining party members cannot avoid the minotaur's wrath as all three members end up falling to its raw strength and gore. Splattered and ripped apart you can see the carnage of their bodies being beaten and dismembered. ~

· Porter girl separated, fleeing in panic.

~The porter witnessing it all instilled with the same fear, however this isn’t the first time she’s watched that kind of brutality. When the last member falls the contract is void and she is no longer bound to help them. She dashes off into the opposite direction of the defeated party. ~

· Dice appears on screen: zoomed in on the black 20 sided dice rolls a 2.

~As the minotaur closes the gap, blood and part of the mages robe torn, hanging off of its horn. Her black aura sparkles around her frame again (2) she immediately turned left at the next opportunity and wound up crashing into another adventurer. ~

· They physically collide at the bottom of the screen as she crashes into Darin. Items from the bag fall out and scatter on the floor as the pack remains on her back.

· A black 20-sided dice sits on the screen. Suddenly a golden bloodstained D20 rolls across the screen colliding into the black dice (2). The gold dice reveals a 17.

· The porter girl and Darin look deep into each other’s eyes, one filled with panic the other with confusion → You can hear the roars as the minotaur rounds corner.

~ As she was carrying the pack of her former clients, she was filthy, small, and her clothing barely covered anything at all was just as dirty and torn. Feelings of remorse swept her as she is looking at the adventurer almost as to apologize with her eyes. Darin pushes the girl off him as he stands up getting ready to embrace combat with the beast. She was taken back by the force used to remove her from his lap. The porter noticed a strength vial was one of the items that fell from the sack she was carrying. She scrambled over to the vial gripping it tightly. ~

· Bad toss of potion → tension.

~ She tossed the vial towards the adventurer however the vial fell ridiculously short of the target and began rolling towards him. The adventurer began stepping back to attempt to pick it up, but the minotaur began his charge. With a loud bellow it thrusted its horns at the porter girl as Darin, abandoning the vial, lunged forward and shoulder blocked it into the wall. Pinning the minotaur the best he can he is eventually shoved to the ground. His hand falls on top of the vial; he quickly picks it up and consumes the contents. These vials aren’t cheap…

· Darin protects her → full fight against Minotaur.

~Darin pulls out a short sword ~

He can mount his own offense finally, cutting the rough exterior of the minotaur. The minotaur stumbles backwards but regains its composure. Rears back and lowers its head. With a loud snort and ear shattering bellow it charges at Darin. He also begins running towards the beast.

[19:00 – 22:00 | Aftermath & Connection] Darin kills Minotaur (dagger scene).

~ Darin pulls out a dagger and slides on the ground, dagger thrusted into the chest of the rampaging beast dragging down the minotaur’s torso. Opening up the chest cavity you hear a wet splatter as the minotaur’s inside flop out onto the dungeon floor. ~

· Groaning murmurs turn into thoughts in his head, "10 years... 10 years and this shit still doesn't get easy." (I've always been a loner. Have had too many close encounters with death but thankfully enough never died... well there was that one time... never mind.)

· Exhausted, bloodied. Porter girl feet gave out from her as she fell, sitting in awe, silent.

~ Bloodied and out of breath he lays there attempting to collect himself. The porter is in awe. A few moments go by and he picks himself off the ground. Introducing himself, Darin notices the broken pentagram. ~

Dialogue exchange: He notices her broken stat crest → “Statless… what are you doing here alone?” A pause “Oh the minotaur split you from your party… are they alive? Do you know?” She doesn’t respond, just shakes her head. He quips, “You don’t know? Or are they gone?” She softly confirm, “Yes sir, they are deceased.” “How bout that, you do talk,” with an affirming smile. Darin: “Then come with me. I’ll get you back home.” [22:00 – 23:00 | Ending Beat / Stinger] They begin the trek back out of the dungeon. The porter’s footsteps are quiet. They walk together down a quieter corridor. Darin begins asking questions. Darin: “How long have you been a porter?” Porter (faintly, distant): “…Ever since I can remember.” Her voice fades, you see her black aura flickers as camera pans upward toward the cavern ceiling, torchlight flickering.

Ending Hook (23:00 – 23:30)

*Final shot: Porter’s black die rolls across the screen. It lands on 1. A faint crack forms in its shell, glowing gold from within. Fade to black.