The party says its goodbyes to Spivey before making its way back to Brinewall Castle . Despite their best efforts, the heroes are less than stealthy in their approach, stumbling over roots and stepping on fallen twigs. Fortunately, no one seems to be watching the walls as they arrive on the battlements, leaving them free to go wherever they feel they ought to.
Not seeing any obvious sigbs of danger Riftun will wordlessly make his way towards the shrine and begin his investigation for the sacred artifact.
Riftun's search of the shrine doesn't turn anything up, but he does discover that one of the doors in the room leads to a small cell that likely used to house the priest who tended this shrine when it was still dedicated to Desna.
Unlike the shrine itself, the cell is in relatively good order - apparently the priestess didn't bother desecrating this area. There's a small bed, and a puny desk - though the chair is missing.
"Hm. I'll just assume they turned this into a cell after they took over, rather than prior. Or this priest's taste for room interior would leave something to be desired. No offense intended to the Goddess or any of her servants, of course," Andochtuir mutters dryly, then begins searching the room, tapping the wall and floor periodically with the rear end of his polearm and carefully listening for any hints of unusual hollow spaces.
Yuto looks at the arrangement of the room and at Andochtuir checking the walls with soft knocks. The young man does not seem to know what to do and just stands there "Y-you think the box might be hidden here?"
Not seeing anything resembling a box but having reasons to think it is here, Yuto will help Andochtuir and Riftun to thoroughly search the shrine and this small adjacent room, looking for loosen blocks that might hide a small box behind.
Suddenly, the warrior stops his prodding and goes bck to a prior position, looking under the bed. "I think I heard something. Yuto, can you help lift the bed?" he asks the helpful samurai.
Once he can reach, Andochtuir removes a loose floor tile and finds a locker hidden beneath. He inspects it momentarily but soon goes to open it. "What have we here? A few arrows, three scrolls, and a box with leather straps running through it? Hm... I can't feel magic, but at least the scrolls must be... right? Lady Teruko? Riftun? Am I correct in assuming these other items are also magical?"
Hurrying over to Andochtuir as the half-elf makes his discovery Riftun smiles weakly at his new ally and holds out his hands to take the items. "Th-That's a great find Andochtuir, this may just be what Spivey wanted us to find."
With that Riftun sits down on the floor and mutters some arcane words bringing a slight blue shimmer to his eyes as he looks over the items intently.
Sighing heavily, Riftun spreads the items out and waves his hands over the scrolls dismissively. "I'm afraid I've failed once again to identify the scrolls here... I'll have to take some measures to better identify these in the future... B-But box is very likely what Spivey wanted us to find, it is a relic that keeps the wearer faithful to his or her goddess, n-not via force, more like just letting them know if an action would cause offense."
He touches the arrows next, "These may prove useful to us, however, th-they are enchanted to slay creatures of pure evil s-such as devils, demons, and daemons. Perhaps Yuto could put them to good use." The young man offers them up to Yuto though he can still not stomach making eye contact with his companion and instead stares at the scrolls which continue to vex him.
Yuto nods to Andochtuir and helps him to move the bed.
"Ooooh, that very well can be the box Spivey is looking for. D-do we want to return to him now? I-I guess we can have a bit more exploration still" if no one else can use the arrows, Yuto will place them on his quiver.
The young man then looks for where to continue their exploration "I-I guess we should be ready for mo-more ambushes, but we need to continue and save the Kaijitsu's Legacy"
Opening the northern door from where the corbies appeared, Yuto has a look forward, asking Teruko to light his blade once more, if possible.
Teruko is distracted by her own thoughts, but still notes Andochtuir's formal tone. Not that she's particularly surprised by it. Most people in Sandpoint treated her with similar deference. "Thank you, Andochtuir. I'll also be certain to keep an eye on situations so I'm prepared to stabilize anyone who needs it."
Once they find the scrolls, Teruko's eye narrow as she looks over the first one. "This seems familiar somehow. Perhaps I saw it once in a book?" The other scroll though gets a shake of her head. "I know there's a cantrip that allows one to easily identify scrolls, but I've never learned it. I'll have to go over my notes; see if I can remedy that. As for the phylactery, perhaps you should wear it for now, Riftun? It might aid you in figuring out how Desna would like us to reconsecrate her shrine."
Once they're ready to move forward, she lights Yuto's sword as requested and takes her usual spot near the middle of the group.
Lonjiku speaks for the first time all day. "You're wasting time with this foolishness. That flighty goddess won't spare a second glance at this puny shrine. Besides, it's more important that you finish cleaning out these halls and find my legacy."
Looking up at Teruko with his big blue eyes, Riftun nods and swiftly ties the box around his forehead. He blushes as he looks to her. "R-Right...ummm... h-how do I look? I-I feel like I look a little silly."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Torra snorts with laughter at the sight of Riftun. "You look like you have a box tied on your head. Are you sure that's how you're supposed to wear it? Can you imagine Spivey trying to put it on her head like this?" The dwarf almost doubles over laughing at the mental image.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Riftun goes red as a tomato with embarrassment at Torra's laughter even though he realizes it isn't directed at him so much as the box. The bard quickly removes the artifact and stashes it away in his seemingly bottomless bag whilst rambling. "Y-Youknow,Ifeellikewewon'tactuallybeneedingthisintheimmediatefuturesoI'mju stgonnaputitawayinherefornowwhereit'sniceandsafeyupniceandsafe!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yuto laughs lightly, enjoying how Torra's quip cut the tension "Y-you might make a trend out of it..."
As the moment passes, he thanks Teruko for the light, and puts it to break the darkness towards the west. Probably going to open the door to the next room to the left.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Andochtuir grins at the antics of Torra and Riftun, and is happy to see Teruko an the bard had more of an idea what these items exactly were or did. Perhaps he should take studying magic more thoroughly, even if he knew that was an approach often used at the Tanglebriar yet which hadn't done much more than contain the spread, if even that.
"Have you ever been to Oppara, Riftun?" The half-elf asks, as he takes up position next to Yuto when the exploration continued. "The nobles there have this habit of trying to outdo the other in the most extravagent and expensive fashion imaginable. Perhaps werable boxes are the next best thing, indeed! I'd pay good money to see one of the famed gala's where everyone carries one and tries to be serious about it - well, if I had that much," he adds ruefully. "Alchemy can be an expensive hobby."
Riftun cocks his head over in Andochtuir's direction as the half-elf man questions him. "Hmm, Oppara?" He hums rubbing at his chin thoughtfully as his eyes angle upwards towards the ceiling as though that's where he'll find the memory he seeks. "No, can't say I've ever had the pleasure of visiting Taldor b-but perhaps one day! I'd love to see it myself."
He giggles imagining the gala Andochtuir suggested. "Well, maybe someday I'll see it. I-I intend on traveling as far as my feet can carry me after we've cured Ameiko. S-So it's certainly within the realm of possibility." The bard sighs wistfully.
"O-oppara..." Yuto's eyes seem to light up for a moment evoking colorful visions "Rhynshinn Povalli, the tailor I worked for back in Sandpoint was always describing the gatherings as full of color and imaginative dress creations. Ca-can you imagine the floating sleeves... the cord and leafleted fringes... the chest hoops and long necks..." the young man smiles his eyes dreamy "Y-you can imagine the high ladies and noblemen showing the creations of the best tailors in the realm... Even Rhynshinn Povalli sold dresses and costumes to a couple of clients back there in Taldor"
"I-I can only imagine how those balls are in Minkai, mom's books described a lively society back there... I am curious if I will ever experience such a think or we will all perish in the dirt of a ruined fortress like this one..." Yuto gets his attention back to the exploration ahead.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Teruko tries to hide her own smile, but does a poor job of it. "I'd like to say I wouldn't join in the box-wearing, but I probably would if it were fashionable. There was a trend a few years back of having pads on your shoulders that practically made you look like a box. Yuto, do you remember?" She gestures to her own shoulders. "Those wide, bulky things that made every outfit drape down in almost perfectly straight lines. Very silly in retrospect, but I wore them. I wonder what fashion trends common today will seem ridiculous in the future?"
She gently pats Yuto on the shoulder. "No one's going to perish here. I won't let you." There's a ring of confidence behind the words; while the statement is clearly meant to be reassuring it's also an order from a noble used to being obeyed.
Yuto's words seem to shake the poor bard as he quickly seems to withdraw within himself, becoming much more reserved at the prospect of the very real possibility of meeting his untimely demise in this place.
His lower lip begins to tremble with fear until Teruko's voice pierces his anxiety and he looks up at her wide-eyed. There was something about Teruko, the way she held herself, part of her father's strict training no doubt, but there was something more to her, something almost regal somehow. She speaks with such confidence that Riftun can't help but believe her.
"Th-Thank you Teruko... A-And for what it's worth, I'm sure you would have somehow found a way to make even that boxy shoulder look poised and dignified." He giggles. "I think that the head-box may still just best you though."
Upon exiting the shrine, Yuto sees the corridors split off in two directions. To his left, there are a pair of doors in the southern wall before the corridor curves away to the north. Straight ahead, he sees a large table set with chairs - all in various states of disrepair. The faint smell of rotting food is coming from the north - it's probably a feasting hall. Also in that direction is a set of stairs leading downwards - presumably into the throne room, based on where they are in the castle.
Yuto smiles remembering the boxing shoulders "Oh yes! I remember that time! It seemed like everyone was dressing space suites! A bit silly seen now but it seemed modern back then"
The young man is automatically reassured by Teruko's words and starts walking towards the table and chairs "Za-zaiobe pointed out this east area was cu-cu-cursed... perhaps we are getting closer to what we are lo-ooking for..."
Andochtuir tries to picture the younger Kaijitsu dressed in said outfit, which sounded like it would hide her entire form except for the head. "Objectively a waste - she is an undeniably handsome woman," he thinks, though would never state such to someone so regal and far above his station. "It sounds like whoever tried to pass off said pads for fashion was likely so bad at making clothes that they had to sell *other* clothes to hide them from view. I suppose it's a somewhat devious marketing strategy, though, perhaps?"
He looks at Yuto as the stalwart yet shy samurai explained the situation. "Cursed you say? Hm..." the half elf thinks a moment, then reaches into his backpack where he rummages for something. "Teruko Kaijitsu, I have a request. This is a scroll that makes a weapon magical. Should we encounter ghosts or such beings normal weapons cannot harm, I won't be able to help unless it is used on me. Unfortunately, I cannot cast this spell myself. Would you be willing to carry it and cast it if the situation calls for it?"
Teruko takes the scroll, turning it over in her hands as she studies the writing. "Magic weapon...yes I can see how this spell works." She places the scroll into her belt pouch. "If we run into any such creatures, I will cast it on you. Which reminds me, I forgot to tell everyone I was able to decipher one of the other scrolls we found. It's a powerful healing spell, significantly more so than the ones stored in our wands."
"The cursed area might hold some clues as to what we're looking for. However..." She's clearly considering her words carefully. "It occurs to me that while going slowly and clearing out the place room by room is the safest option, Kelda is apparently being held in the basement. I don't want to have to retreat for another day without first rescuing her, and we've seen how quickly one difficult fight can exhaust our resources."
She shifts slightly from one foot to the other. "I'm no strategist. What does everyone think is the best plan?"
"I-I think this door to the west is the one Ziobe was referring to" Yuto points towards the room west of the large table "B-but what you say... you are to-totally right Teruko Sama. Let's go down to the ba-basement"
"To-torra San discovered those stairs down in the ball room. We can try that path" offers the Tian.
"Kelda? Ah, that's Riftun's friend, isn't she? Regardless, I wouldn't leave anyone in the clutches of monsters any longer than necessary. Lead on, I say."
About to take place behing Yuto, the half-elf then pauses. "Hm... perhaps I should take the back row in case we are flanked while on these narrow stairs," he suggests, and does whatever the group is most comfortable with.
Riftun nods eagerly in agreement with Teruko as she suggests hurrying to rescue his friend. "Y-Yes, I would appreciate going straight to Kelda if we can. I-I'm uncomfortable with how long she's been kept already, if I'm being honest."
He dips his head gratefully at the woman. "Thank you for prioritizing my friend, I promise I will do everything I can for your sister after she's safe."
Turning to Andochtuir Riftun explains, "Yes Kelda is a friend of mine who was supposed to meet me here in order to take me... somewhere. A-Anyways, she's quite strong and came here with a band of raider-adventurers so I... I have faith that she'll be okay but still the sooner we rescue her from this horrible situation, the better."
The thought of the basement is oddly comforting to Torra, although the dwarf keeps a lookout for the Phantom.
Following Yuto's proposed plan leads the party back through the ballroom, down the stairs into its mutilated first floor, and yet deeper down as they pass through another stairway into the darkness of the basement.
Yuto, his sword lit by Teruko's magic, leads the way into a room with stone pillars supporting the ceiling. A kitchen, by the looks of it, though the fire pits, tables, and pantries look like they haven't been used in decades - thick layers of dust cover every surface.
There are five sets of doors other than the ones that the heroes just entered through - a pair to their southwest, a single one to the west, one to the north, one made of strong, heavy wood, and a pair to their right as they enter.
Yuto trembles, it is not too clear if due to the strange shadows the columns and webs cast on the walls or due to the dampened coldness of the basement.
Only when he sees Andochtuir stepping forward, he gulps and finds his own guts to approach the center of the room and observe all the doors "Th-this is much larger than I expected... it might take us weeks..."
"W-well, we need to start somewhere..." he approaches the southwest doors and inspects them for traps and to hear anyone at the other side.
Riftun too is taken aback by the sheer scale of the basement level of the fort so far as he can witness it, and there is an immediate sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as Yuto suggests it could take a very long period of time for them to make their way through the fort. What if they didn't make it in time? What horrors was his friend being subjected to every moment they delayed?
He shoves these thoughts to the back of his mind knowing that their is no point letting such doubts plague him as they would only serve to further delay the rescue of his friend Kelda.
The bard draws his small dagger and, following Yuto's example, casts a simple cantrip on the blade lighting it up and holding it before him like a torch as he begins looking through the pantry for anything potentially useful. "W-Well, I suppose there's no point worrying about it. We just have to get to it, one room at a time as safely as possible. R-Rushing things would be dangerous and I don't want to see any of you getting hurt."
Yuto doesn't see any traps on the doors, and opens them up even as Riftun searches out anything inside the pantries. In what is likely a stroke of good fortune, they are empty of everything except dust - no twenty-odd year old food remains.
Opening the southwestern doors reveals a hall full of long benches in various states of disrepair, and several battered tables. The stone pillars in the room have something of a martial feel to them, and the sour stench of the lizards they fought above stifles the air. There are also a few scraps of food here and there, presumably left behind by the xulgath when they marched out.
There are two doors inside this new room - one to the samurai's right and the other to his left , though both are fairly deep into the room - he can only see the latter on the edges of the steady light of his sword.
Teruko stays close to Yuto as he explores, both so she can renew the light on his sword if necessary and because she finds his presence comforting. She sees the Phantom in every shifting shadow.
"So many options..." She frowns, considering. "Hedge mazes never became popular in Sandpoint but apparently are quite the common pastime for Taldane nobility. I remember reading about them. The standard practice is to put one's left hand on the wall and keep it there."
"This isn't precisely a maze, but we could use the same strategy here. It would ensure we explore every room in a consistent pattern, without skipping any or doing unnecessary backtracking."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"I agree, let's handle this methodically," Andochtuir says, holding the back as per his word, and facing the stairs behind them since it was clear the rest of the room was safe. "And... I do hope you're wrong in that assessment, Yuto," he says over his shoulder "*Weeks* of searching with Ameiko in a coma? That would be very bad for her muscles. Not to mention very exhausting for those currently occupied with feeding her and, ah, keeping her clean."
It was a pet peeve he had, with many of these fantasy stories he sometimes read, of people going unconscious for weeks, if not months, then magically get back up and go about business like they were fine. Privately, he couldn't help but wonder who'd kept them fed and hydrated, where all the... excrament had gone, why the muscles hadn't gone into atrophy like they were prone to after just days of immobility, among other issues.
Faced with empty air in the stairway, he shook his head, and allowed his mind to wander.
It was almost, but not quite, as egregious and common as injuries being obtained 'in the shoulder', or worse 'through the shoulder'. These writers had never dissected a body, seen an amputated arm, or probably even just felt their own joint!
To start, the shoulder was a relatively fragile joint by design, as it logically had to be, given how it had to provide full range of motion to the arm. The cost of that was stability. As anyone could clearly grasp, the shoulder consisted mostly of a solid mass of hard bone of the upper arm. This was inserted into a round, bony roof and kept in plate by and mobile by relatively small muscles strecthed over said bone. There was almost zero depth and empty space in the shoulder before reaching the bone. Certainly not enough to hold a large arrow, or worse, a hit *through the shoulder*. Since that meant it had, somehow, penetrated through like three inches of solid bone -shattering it- or somehow miraculously wedged itself in between bone and joint roof, meaning your arm was now hanging limply and most likely completely unusable.
Yet, every single time , in every book, when the hero got hit, it's in the shoulder, because it's convernient, and surely that wouldn't impact their fighting ability at all, right? Sigh. It was like these writers never bothered to fact check anything, and when magic made medicine arguably obsolete, why would they?
And the worst part of it all, was that all of it could be avoided, if people just wrote 'it glanced the shoulder' insyead, or some variation. But dozens of books later, he'd never seen that even once!
He sighed and kept watching the empty stairway, listening for disturbances.
Yuto nods, agreeing with Teruko and Andochtuir. Tense, he starts advancing slowly towards the middle of the room, expecting for some monster to just jump over him, the light of the sword trembling with his hand shaking.
Ultimately he convinces himself the ghost is not here, nor any other beast "I-it seems the li-lizard were here..."
Then, he will go to the south-east door and opens it.
Torra follows Yuto closely, glancing over her shoulder every now and then, in case they got ambushed again. She nods at Teruko's advice - dwarves had a similar system when exploring a new cave system, plus a number of elaborate signs scratched into the rock to give directions, warn of danger or draw attention to something in particular. Just in case the inhabitants of this place, past or present, had used a similar notation, Torra examines the walls and door frames closely.
The new door that Yuto opens reveals a hallway - it splits into two paths about fifteen feet ahead of him - one curves beyond his line of sight, but the other leads to a door that he can barely make out at the edge of his sword's light.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Riftun makes to follow the others. Teruko's logic seemed sound and besides, there was just something comforting about following along with what Ameiko's younger sister had planned for the group. She just had a certain air of confidence around her that it just felt natural to follow along with whatever she said.
In the meantime he sets about thinking how he's going to continue writing his story for the group going forward. Andochtuir had already proven himself a useful member of the the group and Riftun had to figure out how to best immortalize his contributions.
First of all he needed an interesting hero name, one that would do the man justice. Maybe something also to show his strength and perseverance in the face of adversity.
Ah! An injury to the shoulder that the man can immediately shrug off and continue on with the fight. People would love that. The bard thinks to himself, rather pleased.
"Th-there are more doors he-here." Yuto explains while blinking for a few seconds, then slowly approaching to the cross of corridors to have a look on the first room. If there is a door, he opens it, shield up at the ready.
Nodding, Andochtuir moves up to the front and stands ready to provide assistance. It was perhaps a better idea to lend assistance to the front instead of waiting for a ghost that didn't seem inclined to reveal itself yet.
Riftun raises his glowing dagger and steels himself for whatever they might find in the next room.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When Yuto advances, he finds that the tunnel extends a bit further down, but then there is, in fact, a door. Checking the door, he doesn't notice any traps, and thus opens it. The cold light of his sword reveals what appears to be an armory, though most of the armor stands, weapon racks, and shelves stand empty.
There are a few, however, that remain. On one shelf lies a finely crafted shield with the heraldry of Brinewall , four heavy crossbows and a handful of bolts for each , as well as a dusty case that looks mostly intact. One armor stand remains occupied, by a set of half-plate armor.
Andochtuir walks into the room, nodding approvingly. "A good find. Even if not for us, I'm sure the caravan could make good use of it. Is there anything magical here?" he asks no one in particular as he goes around searching for anything hidden.
However, too occupied looking at the floor he walks headfirst into a collection of spider webs and sneezes from it, thoroughly distracted.
For a second, Yuto forgets the dangers of Brinewall and looks admired at the sturdy piece of armor "Magnificent. Th-this does not deserve to remain here rusting, w-we will take it as we get back"
The young man then approaches to the shield, his eyes shinning with emotion as he passes a hand cleaning the dust to reveal the tower wrapped with a dragon "Brinewall's heraldic... to think the loyal soldiers of the Kaijitsu used this to defend their lord until their last breath..." reverently he unhinges the fine piece and returning his wooden shield to his back, he places the masterwork shield strapped to his arm "Fe-feels a perfect grab despite being that heavy it is s-so comfortable, a masterful smith work"
Carefully, he opens the dusty case as well to see what is in there.
Guessing people is replenishing quivers with bolts as well.
Teruko lifts one of the heavy crossbows before shaking her head. "I might could manage one of these, and it would do more damage than my current crossbow, but my aim would suffer for it. I'd rather have the better chance of actually hitting any enemies we come across." So far the basement has been quiet, (perhaps the inhabitants fled after Kikonu's death), but Teruko doubts that luck will last. If nothing else the Phantom is still lurking somewhere.
At Andochtuir's question, she nods and quickly scans the contents of the armory with Detect Magic active. "Even if the weapons and armor aren't magical, perhaps the contents of the case?"
Within the case, the group finds no less than ten flasks of what is quite clearly alchemist's fire. While not magical, they are superbly dangerous. They might be safe for use. Maybe.
"Would you tell that moron that we weren't in charge here? We were wealthy, yes, but this wasn't my inheritance. Not the castle, anyways." Lonjiku grumbles. He doesn't seem as vicious as usual, though - perhaps he approves of the investigation, even if he doesn't care about its goal.
Riftun giggles as Andochtuir runs headlong into the cobwebs and starts sneezing up a storm, he quickly covers his mouth to stifle his giggle fit.
Glancing over at the heraldry, Riftun is in awe, almost as much as Yuto. The artwork is stunning, truly a gift to Shelyn. Riftun could imagine the soldiers being inspired by the symbology.
"Truly stunning Yuto. I-I think it suits you." Riftun admires the shield whilst opening his azure blue bag and holding it wide for collection. "I-If anyone wants to stash some things away, this bag of mine can hold waaaay more than it appears it should be able to. I-It also always weights the exact same amount so... if you find any of that helpful I'm happy to be of service."