[@lugubrious]
For the rest of the worldbuilding I was going to try and keep it simple for the time being - I have ideas for the expanded world and for some stuff that may be going on back in the towns and capital, but to answer two questions in one, I was hoping to start the group off having already reached a point at the start of the North Road, and they'd have already left the towns behind.

This is partly due to wanting to jump right into what the premise is actually about, and not spending too much time noodling about in an area where the bulk of the story won't even take place... and partly because I don't want to have to roleplay fifteen random throwaway NPCs plus innkeeper(s) right from the get-go.

Characters would begin with whatever gear they brought with them (within reason, and I've yet to work out some reasonable limitations) The story would begin at late noon, with the beast rumoured to be more active at night.

(Edit, because I forgot: I guess I'll play it by ear - I'll try and decide whether or not I'll play a character before it begins, but I guess I can always duck 'em out later once things are rolling...)

And thank you! It's nice to meet you :^)