Lucius has been turned into a donkey after using the wrong body lotion. Then, he was kidnapped by bandits. Things are about to get a whole lot worse for Lucius.

The creature is the Korori (虎狼狸), who offers a new way to feel better after you get sick.

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Links!

Shop: https://shop.bardic.fm

Source one for creature of the week: https://yokai.com/korouri/

Source two for creature of the week: https://uncannyjapan.com/podcast/korori/

Music:

"Taoudella" by Blue Dot Sessions

"Watercool Quiet" by Blue Dot Sessions

"Capilla" by Blue Dot Sessions

"Galaxy Shard" by Blue Dot Sessions

Disclaimer

Oh my. Well, first, I had to...massage the story a bit at the end. If you want a summary of what happened, check out the wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Ass

Anyway, onto the actual content of the episode.

There's a lot of death and animal abuse. Bandits cut the tendons of a donkey and throw him over the edge. They threaten characters with torture. Many characters die. There's an implied threat of rape when a young woman asks for a weapon and it's implied she's going to use it to kill herself (she doesn't). A child is an actual psychopath, enjoying torturing an animal for fun (before he's eaten by a she-bear 'off-camera'). There's nothing overly graphic or lurid, but death and just people being terrible is omnipresent in the story. It's kind of the point, but still, there's a lot this week.