This section chronicles the key historical and supernatural events leading to and during the 1987 curse in Yomiyama no Sato.
1945 (B-52 Incident): A U.S. B-52 bomber, piloted by a shell-shocked [redacted] officer, deviates from its Guam flight path carrying an obsidian goat idol recovered from an empty [redacted] village. The pilot, under delusional compulsion, crashes into the Honshu mountains near Yomiyama no Sato. The idol survives intact; the pilot is recovered in 1946 and buried. The incident is covered up as a military embarrassment, with most documents destroyed. Unclassified remnants describe the idol as an artifact tied to ancient fertility rites.
1945–1982 (Rise of the Cult): The idol calls to war-ravaged villagers, promising abundance and fertility in exchange for sacrifices. A secretive cult forms, worshiping the "Black Mother" (Shub-Niggurath). They consume black ichor from the idol's teat, which grants prosperity, aphrodisiac effects, and subtle mind control. The cult processes the ichor into "squid ink cheese," a nutrient-rich delicacy that boosts the village's economy during Japan's postwar boom. CIA reports note the cult's lack of public structures or proselytizing—only a small group of "chosen" priests. An agent is sacrificed in a ritual; all intelligence operations withdraw, deeming the village strategically irrelevant. The Japanese government is informed but takes no action.
1982–1987 (Krampus Red Herring and Build-Up): A double murder-suicide at Hollier Hotspring Lodge: German food critic Karl Muller, investigating the cheese's secret, is murdered by cultists. Two others die in self-defense, but the story is altered by the police chief (citing a Krampus book in his possession as evidence of psychosis). The December 5 incident sparks Krampus hysteria; villagers decorate for Christmas to "ward off" punishment. Conspiracy theories link missing children (1984–1985) to Krampus abductions. In reality, 25 young villagers have been sacrificed since 1945 to sustain the ichor flow, their bodies consumed entirely by the idol.
1987 (The Curse Begins):
December 22: A freak blizzard from China engulfs Gifu, isolating Yomiyama with landslides.
December 24, 11:55 PM: The town slips into an in-between dimension. External communications cease. Attempts to leave result in disorientation (e.g., mountaineers loop back to town). Time freezes in a loop. Stars appear misaligned (constellations twisted or missing), and the night sky glows with a faint red hue, as if bleeding from unseen wounds.
Post-Day 1: Radio advises staying indoors, rationing, and resuming normal life. Reports of "rabies" (shibito attacks) emerge; black ichor noted on victims. Winds begin whispering fragmented maternal/cosmic horrors in distorted voices ("feeed us," "La Kuro Haha, la kuro haha!" "subte o kuro nare," "kuroshikunare," "feeeed," "taskute kure," "It sees, it knows," "there is no salvation," "let me diiieee," "come home"), echoing lost relatives or eldritch pleas.
Post-Day 2: Hysteria peaks. Shibito (catatonic biters with black ichor) shamble at night, murmuring prayers to the Black Mother. Uptick in Christmas decorations as superstition; shrine reports "goat-like" entities near the defunct lodge. Inhabitants feel growing exhaustion and weakness (itching skin, specks of black blood in coughs), signaling inevitable transformation into shibito even without direct infection.
Post-Day 3 (Game Start): Cult deflects blame to Krampus. The harvest accelerates—hybrids (descendants of ichor consumers) are called to the woods, devouring shibito to become dark spawn. Electricity persists despite the substation's ruined appearance (aged 20 years overnight, looks rusted and overgrown); time differential means "outside" decay hasn't caught up. Random power droops and brownouts occur, attributed to the storm but heightening tension. Animals gurgle with black ichor internals (from ichor-tainted feed), entering rabies-like frenzies with physical anomalies (extra eyes, human-like appendages, extra mouth, deformities). Radios hiss erratically, occasionally slipping through broadcasts from random Japanese eras (e.g., WWII propaganda claiming Japan is winning the war, or future reports like the 2022 assassination of Shinzo Abe), disjointed and fading.