Ameiko slowly climbs down from the wagon she's been driving ready to make the final journey to Brinewall. "I'm fine Kaz. Just feeling tired. I may have eaten something that didn't agree with me. I"m so excited to see the castle and get to exploring."
She smiles excitedly at Kiko. We're getting close. I can't wait to see what we find out about our family history. What do you think we will find? Treasure, documents, family paintings?" Even though she is pale and not her usual self Ameiko starts down the path toward the castle with a spring in her step. She suddenly stumbles, and collapses unconscious on the ground right next to Kiko and Derric.
Daichi rushes to Ameiko's side in an instant as she falls to the ground. "My lady! My lady, can you hear me?" He carefully rolls her over. "Derric, please. I'm not strong enough to lift her. Please help me get her somewhere comfortable."
Kaz dashes over to Ameiko and lays a hand on her head.
Then she checks to see if she can determine if anything else is wrong with her.
The cure spell Kaz casts doesn't seem to have any effect, and you can't tell what else might be wrong with her.
Derric carefully lifts her and moves her to the back of one of the wagons.
The cure spell Kaz casts doesn't seem to have any effect, and you can't tell what else might be wrong with her.
Derric carefully lifts her and carefully moves her to the back of one of the wagons.
Looking concerned, Leo watches as Ameiko is taken back to one of the wagons. He says, "She's the whole reason we're here. Now what? I don't think we should give up, but if we can't wake her up, what do we do if we discover something important?"
He sighs. "We really just... have to carry on, I suppose."
Carry on? We need to find out what is wrong with her and solve it. We're not savages, forced to allow people to die. We live in an enlightened age where magic can heal almost anything. Let's find out what's going on.
Leo raises one eyebrow as Kazariah completely misunderstands him and mischaracterizes him as some kind of unfeeling monster, but shrugs and says nothing.
"It must be an illness of some kind if standard healing magic cannot rouse her. Or something that afflicts her mind. But I'm not certain where she could have contracted such a disease. A curse perhaps? If something truly evil befell Brinewall, perhaps it still lurks in this region." Daichi talks while he gathers some extra bedding to make sure Ameiko is warm and comfortable. He silently curses himself for not having many skills to help identify the cause.
While seeing her sister smile had put a smile upon Kiko's face and she was about to answer her when Ameiko collapsed.
She stands in stunned silence as the others try to help Ameiko and Derric carries her sister back to the wagon"I think Daichi is right. If it's a curse the cause and it's cure probably lay within those walls. I think we should look for it and whatever we can find about our family. After we know for sure that my sister is stable we can safely leave her in Koya's care. I at least know none who could take better care of her. I can't"
The moment she is done talking Kiko begins to cast a spell to try to figure out what is going on with her sister.
Koya comes bustling up with Shalelu and Sandru close behind. "What happened?" After hearing the story she checks Ameiko. "I do not know what this is, but she's been more listless the closer we get to Brinewall. I think her state has something to do with that."
She looks at all of you, and says, "Go find out what you can in the castle. I'm certain the answer can be found there. We'll watch over her."
Koya puts a hand on Kiko's shoulder. "Little one. I know this is hard. We don't know what is going on with Ameiko, but Shalelu, Sandru and I will watch over her like she is our own because she is. Do you think you can go to the castle and do as your sister wanted? Find the family legacy."
A... curse?
When she finds out that they do need to "carry on," she flashes an apologetic look to Leo, and readies her stuff for a journey to the castle to find the cause of the curse and stop it.
Kiko nods at Koya's words, "I will Koya, I will. And we'll find out what's happening on to Ameiko while we are there."
"I don't like leaving her here," Daichi says quietly. "But I fear you're right. Whatever caused this place's fall is likely the source of whatever afflicts her. If we can stop it, we should be able to heal her."
Derric nearly had a heart attack when Ameiko stumbled and fell.
"Oh goddesses please don't let anything happen to her! I....I can't live without her!"
He then realized that he had said that out loud.
Not sure what to say, he said in reply about the curse hoping to divert attention away from what he had just blurted out, "If Brinewall is indeed the source of whatever is afflicting Ameiko, then it is best we hurry and find the cure to this curse."
Derric soon began to make his way towards the abandoned ruins, his katana at ready.
He then called out to the others, "Well, come on!"
One could easily tell that the kitsune was determined to save Ameiko.
Kazariah and Drake follow Derric. It seemed like a strange way to save someone, but they were determined to help in whatever way they could.
Kiko can see a magical aura surrounding Ameiko.
Leo pauses to rest a hand on Ameiko's forehead and says softly, "We'll figure this out." Then he hefts his gear and calls to Sandru, "Don't go anywhere without us! And stay out of sight, no telling what might come out of that castle if we rustle it up!"
"All right," he says in a normal tone as he turns back to the team, "let's go get to the bottom of this." He hefts his shield and moves up to the front of the group to put his armor to good use.
The group approaches Brinewall from the East Leo on the lead.
Updated Map They see an abandoned village to the weast and a large castle on top of a cliff . There is a ruined lighthouse in front of the group.
"Shall we secure the lighthouse first?" asks Leo. "Then work our way south along the cliffside and check the buildings as we go."
Surveying the remains of the village, he says, "It doesn't seem like anyone lives here anymore. We should be prepared for this place to be overrun with... I dunno, centipedes and other animals that have crept in."
He draws his sword, just in case.
"That seems to be a logical method of approach. I'll be right behind you."
Kazariah follows.
This stone lighthouse is now little more than an empty shell after its roof caved in many years ago. You search the rubble of the lighthouse, and don't find much of value.
around the structure locates a partially crushed strongbox
containing 93 gp and a single rusty key.
Leo turns over bits of rubble and stone with his toe, all the while keeping sword and shield at hand.
"Hey, what's this?" he says, and steps back. "A box?" He gestures with his sword to an old strongbox in the ruins.
"Perhaps something left by the last lighthouse keeper." Daichi kneels down and after a moment of fiddling is able to pry the dented lid open. "Hmmm, some coins and a key. I wonder what it fits."
Kazariah and Drake continue to follow, keeping watch for any movement. This place seems a little creepy. What happened to everyone?
Derric was curious about the key as well.
"Maybe it's a master key or something that might prove useful within the abandoned keep."
"I'm sure we'll find some trace of what it goes to and what happened here as we continue. I just hope that whatever is responsible isn't still here. Otherwise we might be in for quite the fight." He puts the key and the coins in his bag for later. "But if they're not here, perhaps we should keep moving."
The group follows the path to the village. At the come to a fork in the road they find ruined buildings. Among the ruined buildings that once composed Brinewall Village, you can find barracks, a smithy, several homes, a glassworks (with several architectural designs similar to those of the larger glassworks in Sandpoint owned by Ameiko Kaijitsu), a trading post, and a stable.
The two largest ruins are located in the eastern part of town, and consist of a town hall to the north and an almost completely collapsed temple of Desna to the south, near the entrance to the cemetery.
"I suggest we check both, starting with the town hall. There might be surviving records or signs of what happened there. They're the most likely buildings to have important things other than the keep itself."
"Sounds good to me," says Leo, before proceeding cautiously to the town hall's front door. He takes a moment to peek in the windows in case of any obvious threats.
As Kazariah follows, she switches the animal aspect on Drake to Falcon, and applies it to herself as well.
She then looks around to see if there are any clues to recent travel or disturbances in the area.
Drake takes the time to evaluate if there are any recent scent trails in the area.
The group doesn't see anything of interest in the abandoned Town Hall. It is just full of rubble, and partially collapsed.
They keep moving north and see a naturally deep harbor has formed where the waters of the Steam River flow into Bunyip Bay to the west. Two ruined piers extend into the only relatively shallow portion of the harbor here, and once served all of Brinewall as moorings for visiting ships. While both piers are now mostly collapsed, the westernmost one has what appears to be a relatively recent visitor: a Linnorm Kingdoms longship is tied to the pier.
The longship seems relatively new, but the vessel is partially destroyed and half-sunken.
"I don't see any catapults or other defenses here in the ruins. What could've wrecked the ship like that?" Leo wonders aloud.
"A beast perhaps?" Daichi suggests. "It certainly doesn't belong here. Perhaps it was damaged somewhere else and they pulled ashore to try to make repairs. But then where are the people from the ship..." He closes his eyes and thinks for a moment. "Let's keep our eyes open. I fear whatever did this is still nearby."
Kazariah and Drake follow, ready to lend help as needed.
Daichi notices significant damage to the ship in the form of tremendous
claw marks and what appear to be scorch marks from a powerful electrical attack. You do not find anything of value on the ship.
"Let's keep moving. I don't think it wise to linger here," the kitsune said.
"Yes. Let's not wait for whatever did this to come back. Let's head back into town and finish our search."
As they head through the town to the South, Kazariah and Drake both look for anything unusual or out of place, or indicators of recent passage.
Derric assisted Kazariah in keeping an eye out for danger.
Jayna points to the cemetery. "Let's check that out before we head up toward the castle."
A rickety wooden fence surrounds the clearing beyond, but the gates here are made of iron and flanked on either side by statues of a beautiful woman with butterfly wings.
This clearing consists of a low hill containing nearly two dozen graves. A stone crypt sits atop the hill to the east. The entire graveyard is unusually well tended—the grass appears to be weeded and the gravestones are quite clean.
Exploring the crypt you discover it contains only one body, that of Admiral Mercatio Kiameleu, Brinewall’s founder. What appears to be a gravestone set apart from the rest of the graves near the northern edge of the cemetery is in fact a small, well-tended shrine to Desna that consists of a marble statue of the deity holding aloft a small copper bowl that is currently full. The bowl radiates a magical aura.
Leo says, "This is a sacred site sanctified to Desna, the dream-goddess. This is odd... it's very well-kept, while the rest of the town is in ruins."
"Not an uncommon religion in Varisia, but you're right, it shouldn't be this well kept. Someone must be using it. Perhaps a stop for travelers. Or perhaps there's still someone who lives in the ruins who's less hostile than whatever causes the mess on the beach." He walks over to the bowl and examines the waters within. "It seems clean, but I'm hardly one to tell if there's anything else about it."
"Wait wait..." says Leo at Daichi's mention of the bowl. "Hang on, this is a ceremonial bowl, it's not just decorative. It's here as um... what's the word... a font. For holy water, I think."
Kazariah prays briefly at the shrine to her goddess.
It's too bad I don't have any empty flasks to take some of the holy water with us, after having it provided to us so kindly. I wonder... do you think this is an indication that we will need it? I could empty out my extra waterskin and put holy water in it instead.
Leo and Daichi look around the shrine but don't see anyone who might be cleaning the cemtary.
The group continues on to the Lagoon.
Once used mostly for fishing, this algae-choked lagoon is only 10 feet deep at its deepest point. On the lagoon’s northwestern shore, the rotting carcass of a sea drake lies half submerged in the water.
Larger than a horse, this bright green aquatic reptile has finned, winglike arms and a draconic visage.
Daichi sighs as they find no sign of the church's inhabitants. A friendly face might be just what they needed to uncover the secrets of the town. Or at least find a good starting point. He stops at the altar before they leave and murmurs a quick prayer to Lady Desna. "Lady Starsong, please grant us safe passage on our way and grant us luck this day."
The area is still disturbingly abandoned as they make their way through the town. "Well, there's a fair chance that might be what attacked the boat. And whatever was on the boat fought back," Daichi says dryly as the massive carcass comes into sight. "It seems like the area is more lively than we first anticipated. Let's be on guard, shall we?"