Winsome scratches his neck and looks uneasy. "Apart from her magic items, she's g-g-got some sort of Necromantic spell surrounding her. Surrounding her ent-t-tire body. It's not the most p-p-powerful aura I've seen, but it's a level of magic that I couldn't cast. Or dispel."
Aiko crouches down next to Ameiko and wraps an arm around the prone woman. She presses her cheek to Ameiko's and simply waits there for a short time.
Finally she sits back up, struggling to keep her composure. She turns to face Brinewall and says, "Then if we must go in, we must go in. Before she... gets worse."
"We're with you all the way. Are you sneaking ahead or are we simply marching into town?"
"I can be hard to spot as well if we want to send some up to scout. But what do we know of this town and this ten handed one?" Byron says.
Looking grimly down at the unconscious body of Ameiko, he nodded at Aiko's suggestion. "There isn't much of a point. The castle has been abandoned for a while. Still, it's likely we'll have to face other people who may already know about this awakening. I hold barely sleep last night. I say we check to make sure no one else beat us there, but after that? We're going in."
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You push through the brush leaving the NPCs and the caravan at the point where the trail disappeared. After about an hour of trailblazing you arrive at the town of Brinewall.
As you approach from the south side of the village, you notice a cemetery to the east. The clearing consists of a low hill containing around two dozen graves.
Around a lagoon in the middle of town you see many ruined buildings. All of them appear to have roofs, but many are in disrepair and may not provide much protection from weather.
After a brief scan of the buildings, you can see that some of them were homes, others businesses (a smithy, glassworks, trading post and a stable). There are two larger ruins north of the cemetery one appears to be a town hall and the other some sort of temple. The temple is nearly completely collapsed.
A large castle rests on a hill to the northwest part of the village.
Aiko shields her eyes from the sun and surveys the area, looking for smoke from hearth-fires or signs of any habitation at all.
"If we don't see anyone... we should see if any of these buildings are stable enough for us to set up camp near them. Would be nice to use them for extra shelter while we have the caravan stopped here," she says.
"You want some of us to sneak up and take a closer look, or should we go as a group?"
"I think we should go forward together unless we think this place is filled with enemies." Byron says and then adds, "If they see scouts from a caravan skulking around it might make it hard to get any aid we need here."
"Half of these buildings look ruined. I'm not sure what kind of aid we can expect to find," Aiko says dubiously. "Whatever happened here, the town didn't survive. There might be a few scavengers still alive... but there are no signs of fire, no movement that I can see."
"Still, we should check... see what we can discover. Maybe we can find a little extra shelter before we tackle the castle itself."
"I think the sneaky ones should sneak sneakily forward. They may prevent an ambush for those of us that find every twig to step on. If they don't, we can run up and rescue them."
Zaraleva loads her crossbow "menacingly."
Adrian takes a good look at the area and notices that there isn't much of a sign of anything in it. If anything, it seemed to have made him more unnerved.
"I don't think we should have the caravan near that place. It'd be better to hid just us than all of them. We can look for a place to stay before we sweep the area together. You can scout ahead just in case."
"I can go with Hattori to scout out the area then. It might be good if Ameiko was out of the weather while we figure out what is happening to her." Byron says with obvious concern as he thought that Ameiko was attacked while he was supposed to be on watch.
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As Bryon looks over the town, he notices a graveyard to the east. The graveyard looks unusually well-tended. There are several buildings that appear in various states of ruin.
A lagoon fills the middle of the town. It is choked with algae.
"Looks like someone's keeping up the graveyard. Should we give it a closer look?"
"We can, there seems to also be a rotting creature on the northwestern shore." Byron says with a look of distaste as he looks off into the distance. "Perhaps whoever is tending the graveyard is performing foul experiments."
Aiko squints. "Can you point it out?"
Adrian felt more relieved to have another person watch Aiko's back. "Alright, but don't make a move until we can all face it together."
"I think he meant those areas." Adrian directed the ninja to where Byron was pointing.
Byron nods and prepares to head down to check on the graveyard with Aiko. "We will check it out and then we can talk and decide what to do."
Byron stops and will wait for a time in hiding to see if he can see who is tending to the graveyard.
Aiko moves cautiously, from bush to bush, ruin to cover, as she makes her way to the graveyard. When Byron points out something flitting, she puts a hand on the hilt of her wakizashi and moves to the edge of the graveyard proper, using the gravestones themselves as cover against anyone watching from the keep.
Aiko stays crouched, then pops up just long enough to wave Byron over.
"Shrine to Desna," she says to Byron. "Someone's been caretaking this place."
"Yeah, but who. Most worshipers of Desna I have met are pretty kind though. So maybe we get the others and go see who is tending this place." Byron says as he continues to scan the area for any sign of who is caring for the graveyard. "But then again, why tend this and let the buildings all be destroyed?"
"I doubt one person alone could keep up this whole village. Also, you saw that rotting thing over by the shoreline. Why attract more attention than necessary? This might be the only little act of rebellion that one of the faithful can accomplish."
"Let's get the team and see if anyone else has any more insights."
Byron nods and tries to move away unnoticed.
"The graveyard is well tended, and some tiny creatures were moving about. But they were too fast and small for me to get a good look. They might be the caretakers." Byron tells the others.
After receiving a signal, Adrian quickly yet quietly joined the others in the graveyard.
"If they're caretakers, at least it's good they don't seem to mind us walking around," Adrian replied. "Do you know which deity this is dedicated to?"
"Hattori recognized the symbol of Desna." Byron offers up as he watches for more of the flittering forms.