"What you can do to help is come and help! Nobody's asking you to solve the whole thing on your own with however much of your precious power you do or do not have. You stop being a petty, self-centred know-it-all and help a fellow sentient being who's never done anything bad to you except in your own little imagination!"
"Sandru! What's the hold up getting these last wagons moving...oh, it's my cart. Never mind!"
Gilfroy dashes to his cart and starts hauling on the reins to get Umbral turned around.
"What you can do to help is come and help! Nobody's asking you to solve the whole thing on your own with however much of your precious power you do or do not have. You stop being a petty, self-centred know-it-all and help a fellow sentient being who's never done anything bad to you except in your own little imagination!"
"Sandru! What's the hold up getting these last wagons moving...oh, it's my cart. Never mind!"
Gilfroy dashes to his cart and starts hauling on the reins to get Umbral turned around.
"What you can do to help is come and help! Nobody's asking you to solve the whole thing on your own with however much of your precious power you do or do not have. You stop being a petty, self-centred know-it-all and help a fellow sentient being who's never done anything bad to you except in your own little imagination!"
"Sandru! What's the hold up getting these last wagons moving...oh, it's my cart. Never mind!"
Gilfroy dashes to his cart and starts hauling on the reins to get Umbral turned around.
Gilfroy looks helplessly down the path for the moment, then back to the others. "The question is, do we need to bring her with us? If whatever is doing this is down this path, do we need to bring her along? I know, Corinna, you're going to tell us that we can't possibly know that...and you're probably right. Damn! No way of knowing one way or the other, best thing is to leave her here then."
Gilfroy, his public private strategy session over, slips off to his cart to fetch his gear.
Gilfroy looks helplessly down the path for the moment, then back to the others. "The question is, do we need to bring her with us? If whatever is doing this is down this path, do we need to bring her along? I know, Corinna, you're going to tell us that we can't possibly know that...and you're probably right. Damn! No way of knowing one way or the other, best thing is to leave her here then."
Tevyn nods. "At the very least, we should do a quick reconnaissance. After that we can return and check on her status and perhaps make a more informed decision."
"Rokuro, that's her grandfather, the man who died to keep her from ever coming here," Corinna murmurs. "Lonjiku was her father, but she wouldn't have called him that. The rest of them, Tien names, except ... Pitivo. That's Varisian," she frowns and glances up at Sandru.
Sandru notices Corinna's glance and shrugs, a perplexed look on his face. He edges over to her. "That's certainly odd,"[b] he says quietly. [b]"It could just be a coincidence, I suppose. Maybe it's a Tien name too."
Tevyn nods. "At the very least, we should do a quick reconnaissance. After that we can return and check on her status and perhaps make a more informed decision."
Koya leans back against one of the crates in her wagon and nods at Tevyn. "That's really our only choice at this point," she says. "There's little doubt the source of her affliction is in Brinewall. Perhaps you can locate it and learn more about it. Maybe we can then figure out a way to deal with it."
She stands back up straight again, a look of determination on her face. "Ameiko will have to stay here, of course, so I'll stay to look after her. Shalelu and Sandru can look after the caravan while the five of you scout around Brinewall and find out what's there."
Tevyn takes a deep breath, looking one last time at Ameiko. Moving slowly, almost tentatively, he touches her hand a moment and closes his eyes. Then he nods and backs away.
Climbing from the wagon, he straightens as his feet touch the ground and reaches for his bow. "Right. Who's coming with me?"
"I am," Gilfroy says. "Right behind you."
He holds his loaded crossbow at the ready, though he's still unused to the thing and continuously has it pointing at horses and people instead of the ground. Currently, it's pointing at Tevyn's rear end.
"There are about five to five and a half hours left till nightfall," Shalelu says to Tevyn. "That should be enough time for you to scout the general layout of Brinewall and get a feel for what's living there, if anything. I wouldn't advise staying there overnight. Return to the caravan to sleep. I'll keep a watch on the caravan and Ameiko. It would be good if we had a way to signal one another if either group is in trouble. I wish I'd brought along some fireworks or something. Any ideas?"
"I'll join!" Melon jumps to attention and firmly nods at Tevyn and Gilfroy. "If it's just scouting, then the three of us should be enough. Or does anybody else want to come along too?" As an afterthought to Shalelu's question, she adds, "Is there some magic that could do that? Fezzi's magic always grabs attention - just don't know if it works over a couple of miles."
"You don't know what you may encounter there," Shalelu says. "I'd recommend larger numbers. The three of you plus Malan and Corinna should work well."
Tevyn nods to Gilfroy, even as he reaches out and gently guides the crossbow down so that it's pointing at the ground. "I appreciate your help," he says with a small smile, "but please don't point that at my back." He nods a thanks to Melon as well. "Glad to have you."
"It would be good if we had a way to signal one another if either group is in trouble. I wish I'd brought along some fireworks or something. Any ideas?"
To Shalelu he says, "Over such a distance? I'm not sure. Gilfroy, do you have any tricks up your sleeve that could be useful?"
"Not sure. Let me look."
He swings his crossbow up onto his shoulder as he rummages through his pockets. The bolt goes off, hundreds of feet up into the air before coming down somewhere in the forest.
"Oops."
"I haven't a thing," Corinna shakes her head. "Not that could be seen in daylight, anyway, and I have no plans to stay separated from the caravan after dark."
"Let us be off then. We have so little time as it is."
Tevyn spreads his hands, palms up. "We'll just have to hope for the best. If something goes wrong and we're kept after dark I suppose there's always fire."
"Take care of her, Koya. We'll be back as soon as we can." He begins to make his way toward Brinewall without looking back.
"If we're there after dark, I've dancing lights," Corinna corrects him. "Actually," she turns back to Sandru with a nervous grimace, "if we're not back by dark and you don't see dancing lights, it will be a sign of trouble. Lights at least mean I'm still in a condition to cast. If the sky stays dark ... send Shalelu."
"You're actually coming? Without a fight?" Gilfroy looks genuinely surprised, and maybe even a little ashamed of some of what he said earlier.
Tevyn keeps his bow out and an arrow loosely in place as he walks, straining with eyes and ears for any sign of trouble.
"Hah! Don't underestimate Corinna," Melon tells Gilfroy, and adds explanatory, "It's nobless obligay."
"'O-bleezh,'" Corinna corrects automatically and then blushes as she realizes she was speaking aloud.
Malan moves to keep up with Tevyn.
The trail leading to Brinewall quickly fades away as it enters the forest, becoming overgrown with bushes and weeds. Tevyn is able to keep track of where the trail used to be, however, so you are able to keep moving in the right direction.
It's only about half a mile (although it feels longer because of the foliage) before you burst out of the forest onto an old cobblestone road. Although there are many weeds sticking out from between the stones, the road is nowhere near as overgrown as the trail was and is still quite recognizable as a road. It extends to the north (right) and south (left), curving to the west in both directions. As there are still trees and undergrowth on both sides of the road, you still can't see anything of Brinewall yet.
Gilfroy, once nothing immediately jumps out to attack them, carefully has a look through some of the bushes, looking for another sign.
Perception:
He also casts message on everybody. He has to cast a separate spell on everybody, but it should let Gilfroy play radioman/telephone operator. Those spells have to be renewed every ten minutes.
He's also refreshing guidance spells on himself every minute.
Tevyn looks up and down both ways on the road before kneeling and taking a closer look at the road itself.
Tevyn looks up and down both ways on the road before kneeling and taking a closer look at the road itself.
1d20 + 10
Tevyn looks up and down both ways on the road before kneeling and taking a closer look at the road itself.
1d20 + 10
Tevyn does actually find evidence of passage along this road. Not surprisingly, there have been small animals, but Tevyn also finds evidence of the passage of humanoid creatures. The tracks are a few days old now, and at least one of the individuals wore boots and was travelling northwards. He can't be sure how many individuals there were since weather in the intervening days has erased most of the evidence.
Tevyn considers the tracks he's found for a moment before looking up. "There are some tracks here left by people of some sort heading north. It's been a few days, though, so I can't say much more."
He stands and looks both ways. "Any guesses about which way we should go?"
In a rare moment of sensible thinking, Gilfroy says, "Follow the tracks. Either they lead to Brinewall, or they lead to somebody coming from Brinewall. Either way, we find somebody who knows something about Brinewall, and lower the chances of having foes come up on us from behind."
Tevyn considers the gnome's comment and nods. "Very well. North it is then." He begins striding northward, bow ready and alert.
Melon follows suite, her facial expression is resolute - but the microexpressions change frequently. A testament to her worry about Ameiko.
You follow the road north and around the bend where it turns to the west. Just past the bend, there is a brief gap in the trees to the left. Still water (presumably originating from the Steam River to the north) stretches out to the southwest. Across the water, you can see ruined, crumbling buildings, indicating that heading south on the road might have been the way into the village.
Continuing on down the road, you round another small bend and come out on the western tip of a small peninsula, where an old lighthouse stands. To the north, the Steam River rushes from the east to Bunyip Bay some distance to the west. To the south, a small inlet branches off the river and across the inlet, you can see more of the village of Brinewall, filled with old, ruined buildings.
Just across the inlet, directly to the south, two old piers extend into the water. Tied to the western one is a damaged, half-sunk longship of the style used in the Linnorm Kingdoms. What is surprising about it, however, is that, despite its damage, it looks fairly new. You would need to go closer (which means either swimming or going back along the road and taking the south route) in order to be more certain about the ship.
Across the water to the west, you can just make out the walls and towers of a castle rising above the treetops.
The lighthouse in front of you is made of stone. It looks like its roof caved in ages ago, so now it is little more than some walls and rubble.
"Tevyn, are the tracks still here? Where did they go?"
"Let us reconnoiter this ruin before going into the town proper. If we are fortnate, we will be able to solve the mystery around Ameiko's past as well as her current condition."
"Well, being unfortunate isn't really an option."
Tevyn looks back the way they came, thinking of the village that they had caught sight of, but nods at Malan's suggestion. "It will not hurt to learn what we can of those who had recently been here." He returns to examining the ground more closely, trying to learn what he can of the tracks that had led them there.
Amidst the crumbling ruins, it's easier for Tevyn to locate the tracks again--one of them at any rate. Two or three days ago, a booted humanoid definitely wandered through here in a rather haphazard manner, probably exploring. The individual then wandered back out again and into the patch of woods to the south. Tevyn can find no sign of any additional tracks here. It's possible the others were just too old and have faded completely in this area.
A search through the ruins of the lighthouse does turn up something whoever wandered through here must have missed: Tevyn finds an old, partially crushed strongbox. It practically falls apart as Tevyn pries it loose. Inside, there are a bunch of gold coins (93 in total) and an old, rusty key.
"It's been two or three days," Tevyn mutters as he looks over the tracks. "Someone wearing boots...it looks like he was exploring. Then he went into those woods." He points off to the south.
In the ruins of the lighthouse, Tevyn holds up a handful of coins and the rusty key. He drops the gold into a pouch and tucks the key away as well. When he finds the others he tells them, "I found some coins and a key. The gold is of no use to us at the moment but perhaps the key will come in handy later. Let's head back to the village ruins."
The key is in bad shape. If Tevyn examines it more closely (or gives it to someone else to examine), he can determine that it is liable to break after only a few uses unless it's somehow repaired (either through an appropriate Craft skill, or a mending or make whole spell).
Tevyn holds up the key for the others to see.
"hmmmm... can anybody fix this?" Melon wonders, "This key doesn't look like it will survive much use."
"Unless we find some call to use it, what does it matter?" Corinna asks. "It's only an old key; without a lock, it serves no purpose."
Tevyn shrugs and returns it to his pocket. "I'm not concerned about it. Corinna's right...it may be of no use whatsoever. I'll hold on to it, just in case. The gold we can deal with later. Let's move on."
He begins making his way back the way they'd come, intending to continue to where they'd spotted the ruins.
"What? So we go into this little town, likely lots of doors all over, then when we find one that happens to have a lock we then risk the key?"
"From the looks of those buildings, we can probably just push the walls down, if they're not already crumbled enough for animals to hop through," Corinna points out, nodding toward the decrepit state of Brinewall. "Why assume the key goes to a lock anywhere in the vicinity anyway? If you find a broken arrow in a field, do you presume you'll find the bow it was shot from nearby if you just look hard enough?"
"No, but keys tend to travel less distances from their locks than arrows from their bows. Melon has at least given us a plan if we do come upon a building that isn't crumbling enough for us to push down."
"Though it probably doesn't matter when we fix it," Melon brings in, "its unlikely that our lives will depend on the key being fixed now."
"There doesn't appear to be anything else to open right here," Tevyn says. "If we find a lock that might work we can try it. If it works, great. If not, then we'll find another option. Right now I'm more concerned about finding the source of Ameiko's predicament than the nebulous existence of a lock. If someone else wants to take it and try to find a way to fix it, then do so. But let's keep moving."
Tevyn holds up the key for a minute. If someone takes it he allows it; otherwise he tucks it back away and continues down the path.