The exchange with the noble spirit of Minkai touches Marten deeply. He finds himself saddened that such a man of duty and honour should end his days in a filthy cavern like this. His own people make a home in caves to watch the sun rise over the sea and be part of the earth - but this place has been left to ruin and has the taint of undeath.
We should bury them. Or honour them somehow. he says simply, less concerns with the items in the chest.
Haru tries to remember if her parents have ever told her of Minkaian burial customs.
"I don't have any idea what burial customs are like in Minkai, I'm afraid. One thing I might suggest would be to burn them, but they're already just bones. I think with the fulfillment of their duty, their souls have passed on now, so I'm not sure anything else is necessary."
Haru goes over to the standing pool of water to examine it.
The energy Valeria had been building up died off as the skeleton - Tsutamu, she mentally corrected herself - told his story. While she wasn't particularly religious, she did spare the fallen samurai a prayer that the gods of Minkai would see him to a peaceful rest. Even Xel remained respectfully quiet, his own sense of decency (shrivelled and borderline non-existent, that it was) staying his tongue.
"I'd offer to help carry it, but I didn't prep floating disc this morning." Valeria apologised.
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It's a long, long walk back to Sandpoint, trekking through the Brinestump Marsh. But with high spirits and rest, the party makes it back to the town by the next day.
---------------------
9th of Gozran, 4715 AR
As the party approaches the town of Sandpoint, their reappearance causes a stir. Carrying an elaborate wooden chest of fine make (albeit smudged somewhat by water, mud and sand), and with the pungent odour of goblin ears & the swamp lingering on their clothes and effects, the party soon finds themselves approached by all sorts of people as they make their way through town.
Quite a few children are mobbing them as well.
"Did ya kill lots of goblins?"
"Where'd ya get that chest?"
"Wow! Is that a real goblin head?!"
"Oh wow, this is so cool!"
"I coulda taken a few of them! My Dad knows the blacksmith--I coulda gotten something to whack a few of 'em!"
And so on.
@At the cave.
Gryf smiles Haru "Friday and I will be able to carry it." He moves to start filling the chest more as his brother talks of a burial. "This cave will be their tomb."
@Through the swamp.
"This took quite a turn, I didn't expect anything more than Goblins." He rubs the back of his head, looking around at the group most he didn't know before all this but now he considers them friends. "It was an honour to fight with you all."
@town
Gryf holds up the string of goblin ears and the chefs head, triumphantly. "We have all returned! We defeated the goblin village and return with some spoils from an old haunted cave!" He adds the last part to spice up the story.
"An honour as well, I enjoyed our time together." Friday responds as his eyes move about the group, finally resting on Haru for a moment longer than the others.
Friday kept to himself as he carried the chest and let the others deal with the excited public. This much attention was making him uncomfortable.
We went looking for goblins and found so much more. I never expected any of this was hidden in the swamp. Marten says as the wander back in to town.
A smile spreads across his face as the children rush up to them.
Oh we found all sorts. Hidden treasure, adventure, monsters! he twists his face into a scowl and his hands into faux claws as he chases this children around to delighted squeals.
He had always wanted children of his own and laughed at their antics.
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"And there's all sorts of cool magical stuff in the treasure! Lik-AAAAAAGGHHH!" Valeria screamed as one over-excited kid stepped on her tail. "CAYDEN ON A CART, that hurt!"
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"You can sit on the chest if you'd like, Miss Valeria." Friday offers in an attempt to spare her tail from further assaults.
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"Thanks, I'll be fine," she said as she coiled her tail around her waist like a belt. "One of the benefits of it being prehensile."
"Very much so." he says as he watches the useful tail with interest.
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Haru gets into the kids questioning and starts telling them the story of their heroic deeds, with suitable embellishments.
A few highlights:
"...And then Friday took his spear, and cried, 'This one's for Sandpoint, you bastard!' and thrust it into Chief Gutwad's eye, all the way through his skull! All the other goblins died of sheer fright when they saw that!
...But the leader of the skeleton warriors was a noble soul, an honorable soldier from across the seas, from far Minkai, and seeing in us the same honor that sustained his duty even past death itself, he charged us with returning this treasure to his master's last remaining heir, and then peacefully sank into oblivion, the river of souls finally taking him to his rest."
Walking along and listening to Haru's grand retelling of their exploits Friday can't help but crane his head up in thought? I said that?
The fight in the goblin village was more than a little hazy for him in no small part due to his blood loss so he couldn't be sure if he had or not said that. If he had he just chalked it up to people doing weird things when the blood wasn't all in their head, let alone their body.
He'd ask one of the others later about what all he did when he wasn't all that aware of his actions.
The children listen raptly to Haru's recounting of the party's adventures in the marsh, from the destruction of the Licktoads to the meeting with a samurai from an age since past. When she's done, they chatter even more excitedly among themselves.
"Let's offload these icky goblin ears and get the bounty first, then go tell Ameiko what we found!"
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The party's trip through town to the garrison is dogged by adoring children, all eager to hear more of Haru's story of their marsh expedition. The militia let them in, leaving the now disappointed children behind.
Sheriff Hemlock is sitting in his office, his mood looking much better than when you saw him last. Perhaps he's been getting more sleep, or perhaps the complaints about goblin attacks have stopped.
"Ah--you've returned. Am I correct in assuming your hunt was successful?"
"Let's just say it was worth the mud and insect bites." Valeria answered.
"Speak for yourself," Xel remarked, using one claw to scratch the back of his head.
"Where'd they bite you; the inside of your stomach?"
"Was it now?" Sheriff Hemlock folds his hands on his desk. "How many did you kill?"
Gryf strides along Valeria, wanting to hand off their prices before they truly start to rot and stink. "They shouldn't be a threat for a long time, the village was wiped clean." He then pulls out the string of ears and the chiefs head. He attempts to count the ear. "We got 12 i believe and the goblin chief head." He piles them on Hemlocks desk.
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Sheriff Hemlock's face brightens even more when Gryf produces the requested goblin ears and head. Any other man on any other day likely would have recoiled in shock and disgust.
"Excellent. Excellent." He stands up and starts scooping the ears and head up into a bag. "That ought to teach those little pests to turn their attentions elsewhere, at least for a while." Once the body parts are put away (though their blood and stench still lingers on his desk where they lay), he digs out a coffer of maple wood and opens it, sorting out 420 gold pieces.
"Here you go--a reward well-earned, I say." He hands over the money with a relieved look on his face before closing the coffer and putting it away.
Figuring the Sheriff would rather not have his desk reeking of goblin blood, Valeria casually passed a hand over it, her magic quickly cleaning it away.
The sheriff looks down at his desk as Valeria's magic scrubs the blood and odour from it. "Ah--thank you, Valeria."
"Well if I learnt one good thing out of what happened a few years back, it's that blood's hell to shift." she turned to the others. "My family's place got hit dead-on with arterial spray from a giant when they attacked, even with that spell it took us a week to get the smell out of the wood."
With the bounty collected, the party departs from the garrison, moving through throngs of people milling about on their business between them and the Rusty Dragon.
Stepping through the doors, the party is greeted by the Rusty Dragon's usual lively atmosphere. Patrons are eating, drinking & talking over many things, and from the snatches of conversation some of the more observant party members pick up, the latest bit of gossip going around is how the goblin attacks have been put to an end. Ameiko is sitting in a chair on the floor of the tavern, filling the air with her samisen music.
She waves to you as you enter, not pausing in her playing. "Hey guys! How'd the trip go?"
"We also took care of a little undead infestation at the same time. A bunch of skeletons wandering around. Turned out they were guarding something that belongs to Ameiko Kaijitsu. We've got to go tell her about it!"
Haru looks around to see if Shalelu is there.
Shalelu is indeed at the Rusty Dragon--she's sitting in a corner, finishing off a salad of some description.
Sheriff Hemlock arches an eyebrow in surprise at Haru. "Really? The reports I received never mentioned skeletons... and you say they had something that belongs to Ameiko?"
"Hmm... I imagine Ameiko would indeed like to hear that."
"Well, to her ancestor, but she's the only remaining Kaijitsu. The skeletons were roused by the goblins, when they stole one of the things from the ship." She tells the Sheriff an abbreviated version of the story, leaving out the flamboyant hyperbole of the story she told the crowd of children.
Haru waves vigorously at Shalelu, beckoning her over so she can tell Ameiko and her mentor the story.
The sheriff's face doesn't change, but his tone still reveals his amusement. "Hmm. Serves them right, taking what doesn't belong to them."
"Well, if whatever those skeletons were guarding belongs to Ameiko, she should get whatever you found."
Shalelu looks over and notices Haru's waving, finishing off her meal and getting up from her seat.
"Well, you look much better than I saw you last. How many goblins did you kill?" She asks, folding her arms as she approaches with a smirk.
Haru grins at Shalelu, feeling more confident in herself after her successful expedition without her teacher.
"Two or three, I forget exactly how many. Friday spitted Gutwad, though, and... well, let me take it from the top."
Haru tells Ameiko and the elf about the faceless stalker they defeated at Walthus Proudstump's house, the goblin village, the prolonged fight against Gutwad, the following of the skeleton tracks through the swamp, and finally the discovery of the wrecked Kaijitsu ships and the treasure that was apparently Ameiko's by inheritance.
Having guessed (rightly) that Haru would tell the whole tale, Valeria took the time to set something up.
Just as Haru brought up the treasure, Valeria called in the disc of force she'd had the boys set the chest on, letting it push through the door before guiding it over to Ameiko.
As Haru and Valeria went about bringing Shalelu and Ameiko up to date on their experiences and discoveries in the swamp Friday quietly slinks off to his usual corner in the inn's dining room.
Gryf lumbers up to the bar. "Beer for me Ameiko and whatever these lot want." Sitting on a bar stool he takes a long drink. He then listening along with the others as Haru tells the tale.
"It was an adventure, we saw a lot killed a lot." He says to no one in particular as he downs his drink.
Ameiko arches an eyebrow at Friday as he wanders over to his corner. "Hey, where are you going? Come on--you're as much a part of this as the rest of us! Come on back--we'd like to hear from ya!"
"Beer for me Ameiko and whatever these lot want."
"Right-o!" Ameiko heads off to the bar to start filling up flagons.
She looks up briefly to note Valeria bringing in the treasure chest on a floating magic disc. "Well, well, well. Tribute for me? You shouldn't have."
Shalelu gives the party an approving nod. "Gotta hand it to ya--Gutwad's given lots of prior bounty hunters trouble. Glad to hear the lot of you finally took him down."
She glances over at Friday. "Especially you--geez, you look like life swallowed you and spat you out." She takes note of the warrior's many wounds.
"Still... this treasure belonged to my family?" Ameiko moves from behind the bar, bearing a flagon of beer for Gryf and holding a couple more as she examines the treasure chest. Some of the other patrons are looking on as well.
"It was very strange. First we found a ship called the Kaijitsu Star, then another called the Kaijitsu Blossom. Following the skeleton prints, we came to a cave, where we were met by one of the skeleton warriors, but he wasn't mindless like I've heard most such undead are. He spoke to us. Said that in life his name was Tsutamu, and he served," Haru pauses for emphasis, "Rokuro Kaijitsu."
After waiting for any reaction from Ameiko, she will add, "Tsutamu's spirit asked us, before he finally passed on, to deliver a letter hidden in the hilt of his blade, from Rokuro to his son. He wanted us to deliver it, and the treasure, to Rokuro's living heir."
"It'll be missing a few fireworks, though, which would've made the next birthday here a lot cooler." Valeria joked.
Friday stops with a start as the proprietor and the warden call out to him. Sheepishly he'll walk back over to the group, bowing apologetically as he does so. "I'll be fine... they're not as bad they look." he murmurs as Shalelu inspects him.
As Haru recounts the tale he'll now once again bow as he remembers the note and, removing it from the hilt of the old sword, offer it up to Ameiko.
Ameiko steps back in surprise as Haru reveals who Tsutamu served. "Grandfather? Are you kidding me?"
She nervously takes the hilt of the wakizashi Friday offers and tentatively opens it, revealing a small scroll tube. She pops it open and dumps its contents out into her hand.
The yellowed parchment contained in the scroll tube has been weathered by time, but the elegant Tien characters on the page are still as inked black as it first was. Ameiko's eyes widen and she looks over at the party. "Um... do you mind if we take this somewhere more private?" She asks, looking up the stairs to the Rusty Dragon's guest rooms.
"Oh... of course not... I guess this maybe wasn't something you wanted to be all over town..." Haru blushes, realizing her thirst for an audience may have compromised her friend's private life.
Ameiko gives the party a grateful nod and leads them upstairs, past several disappointed patrons who promptly turn back to their meals and conversations.
The room Ameiko leads the party to is clearly the most expensive room in the establishment--it's more of a suite than anything else. A queen-sized double bed dominates one side of the room, facing a cold, empty hearth. A small table and several chairs are in one corner of the room, near a portrait of a serpentine dragon coiling around a sword. Ameiko pulls up a chair and sits down, unrolling the yellowed letter and beginning to read.
"My son, my heir. You know now that I have kept secrets from you. You were always a perceptive son, and while you may not understand my reasons for secrecy, I hope that you realize it was necessary. Know that I was not angry with you for opening the warding box--I was angry with myself for withholding the truth from you and forcing you to seek out what I should have given to you. The words I spoke to you were from anger with myself, and it shames me to think of them now. I write this note as an apology, and to beg you to leave these secrets to history.
The next few days will be the most important I have faced in many years. If our family's enemies have, as I hope, forgotten us, I shall reunite with you and your wife, and your mother and I shall reveal the truth to you. But if they still seek the contents of the warding box, I fear that I may not speak to you again. The box holds our family's greatest treasure, so I have returned it to Kortun's care, and it shall remain hidden in the secret third vault under Brinewall Castle--obscured from our enemies, I hope and pray. I will not grant our foes the satisfaction of killing me themselves--if it comes to it, let my death, by my own hand, be my final act to protect you, so that our enemies believe our line ended.
I have instructed Tsutamu to keep this letter from you, delivering it to you only should I fail to return as I hope to. If I can, I will reveal all this to you myself. If I cannot, this final missive from a father to a son must suffice as an apology in place of an explanation, and you must destroy this letter, flee to the south, and never return to Brinewall. If our enemies find what I have hidden, there will be nothing here for you. If they do not, they will lie in wait forever for your return.
I hope to see you again soon, my son. But my heart tells me I will not. I am sorry to have failed you. But I am proud of you, and I know you will survive this old man's shame. You are strong, and you must remain so. For if you are reading this and I am gone, know that our enemies will never stop searching for us, and that is why I cannot reveal the truth to you until I know there is no chance of them finding us again.
Rokuro Kaijitsu,
Sunday, 29 Desnus, 4687."
She's quiet for a while after she finishes reading. She blinks back a tear.
Unfortunately, the name Brinewall is unfamiliar to you...
"Brinewall... Brinewall... never heard of it. Have you, Ameiko?"
Ameiko looks up at Haru and nods. "Yeah, I've heard of the place. Never thought it was that important--it's a castle and a ghost town far to the north."
"And this... this Tsutamu was keeping all these treasures safe for my family?" She gestures to the treasure chest still sitting on the disc Valeria conjured. "All of this came from there?"
Valeria tried to think of it herself.
"Yeah; this chest was in the same cave as Tsutamu. We tried identifying some of the magical stuff on the way back, but I think we drew a blank on a few things."