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"I don't know how I haven't run out of bolts yet," Kenmei comments. He looks at the doors to the north. "It's up to you guys," he says as he flies closer to his sisters. "Maybe we should go heal up and make a plan in the room that lizard came out of? At the very least we'd have a doorway to defend if something comes looking for us."
Kenmei sinks two bolts into the ogrekin's back, leaving him swaying on his feet! "Almost there, Sisters!"
Kenmei thinks for a second and then winces. "Sorry, Yume!" He drops down into the corner and lets loose another blast of lightning, across both giants and his sister!
The more wounded brother's skeleton lights up briefly as the electricity arcs through him, and he falls over dead.
Kenmei hits the wounded brother with a couple of crossbow bolts while he builds his lightning breath back up for another go.
Kenmei flies up and breathes lighting down on to the ogrekin, but they both dodge the weak blast. He coughs a bit, looking embarrassed.
Kenmei finally slips free of the webbing. "Stay back from that Ettercap, he can't throw that web very far."
Kenmei flies higher up and behind Yume. "Just great...Those are Ogrekin if I don't miss the mark. Man, all those hours studying our dads' bestiaries are really paying off! Who would have thought a friendless childhood was such a great investment?" He laughs at his own joke.
Kenmei struggles to escape the webbing, but remains caught in it.
Kenmei flies towards the ettercap and fires another couple of bolts at it.
He misses twice. "Sorry, guys! This was always a lot easier in training!"
"Yeah, I see him Zunzun. One thing at a time!" He raises his alchemical crossbow and fires off another volley at the spider.
The two bolts fly true, straight into the center of the poison coated-shrapnel shredded eye cluster on the spider's face, sinking to the fletching. The massive arachnid twitches a few times as it falls and curls into a ball, clearly dead.
Kenmei floats forward a bit, and bathes the spider in his lightning breath.
Kenmei shrugs and figures enough poison will eventually kill anything, and chucks another poison flashbang.
Kenmei flies laterally a ways to get a clear shot, and whips another belladonna bomb at the spider.
Another deafening burst of light leaves more poison coating the bedazzled spider's face.
Kenmei flies forward and flings one of his bombs at the spider.
The bottle explodes right over the spider's eyes, showering it in venomous powder and temporarily dazzling it.
"There's a cliff behind this place, remember? I didn't see any back doors. The corbies who came from further inside to help their friends came through there," Kenmei says pointing to the five foot wide door at the west end of the room. "I'd say Momo should go take a peek through that, with us right behind ready to run out if something sees her."
"Yes, but perhaps this time we should attempt a little more subtlety. If there are more things living in there, we are extremely lucky they didn't hear our battle yesterday and intervene after we were weakened. If we keep charging forward recklessly, we will be dead before we restore honor to the Jade Throne."
"Yeah, let's get out of here for now."
"I'm fine...just... Killing undead and monsters is one thing, these were like, people." Kenmei drifts slowly back into the gatehouse, looking forlorn. "Wonder why they just kept attacking us like that? He begins looking around to see if there are any clues as to what was going on here.
Kenmei coughs, looking a bit green at the sight of all the gore. He flies outside just in time to puke into the fresh air.
Kenmei flies over to target the corby which Yume challenged. He flings another belladonna grenade at it, hoping to weaken the monstrous birdman.
He hits the thing, but the small explosion does little damage. The poison seems to have been ineffective as well. Kenmei looks down at his explosives in dismay, wondering why they aren't working properly on these beasts.
"Sorry, Yume!" Kenmei cries out as he flies behind Momo and unleashes a column of electricity across three of the birds - and his sister!
One of the birdmen drops, smoking, while the two others are brought near to death's door by the lightning blast.
Kenmei flies back and whips a bottle-thing from one of his bandoliers. He twists some part of it and throws it at one of the birds assaulting Yume.
The grenado explodes on the bird, shredding it with shrapnel and covering it in belladonna powder.
Kenmei flies back away from their foes and unleashes another volley on to the most wounded birdman.
Kenmei moves closer in case he needs to heal someone, and breathes his own elemental destruction on to the birds, finishing the most wounded.
Kenmei tries his best to add more damage to corby that Yume is attacking, keeping up the steady stream of small bolts from his alchemibow.
Kenmei swoops past his sisters and into the room, his image blurring as he flies.
Pulling up at the far end of the room, his hands blur as his alchemical crossbow spews forth another two bolts.
One of the missiles spears through the brain of the wounded corby next to Yume, dropping it instantly.
Seeing how badly Shizun is wounded, Kenmei calls out to his sister, "Step back! I'll heal you!" He grabs a salve from his belt and readies to apply it to her.
"I could fly over the wall of course..." Kenmei frowns. "But if there is anything waiting in there, that could end badly for me. I'm still wary after my experience getting near that leech."
"I think we could try. If there is something hostile lurking in the town, it would be very difficult to mask our approach with the keep being on a rise. But, we could go strait to the castle, yes."
"Yeah, I can do some scouting. Be right back," he says, before zipping off into the air, leaving afterimages flickering in his wake. A while later he returns. "The village is in ruins, just like we thought. There is a cemetary and a ring of buildings around a lagoon. Then up on a rise, there is a castle. I didn't want to get too close in case something down there spotted me, so I didn't see much more than that."
"She's alive...her vitals are normal. It's almost like she's just asleep... I guess it's a coma, but I can't tell what happened to her. I'm sorry."
During the flooded crossing, Kenmei's ability to fly was invaluable. He patrolled above as everyone floated over, ready with a rope to catch anyone washed away in the current. Thanks to the dragon brother, one of the drovers is still alive now. When Ameiko suddenly collapses Kenmei rushes over. "Let me check her vitals!"
Kenmei clears his throat loudly. "Mhmm! We actually grew up in a remote monastery. Our family's enemies are many, and our father had to hide us to keep us safe. So, while we did grow up in Tian-Xia, we haven't really spent any time outside our home until a couple days ago. Please forgive our eccentricities."
Why didn't we get a cover story straight before we started interacting with people? I'm going to have to talk to them after this and make sure everyone remembers our past and the Shiroi are supposed to be secrets!
"It is to the north, is it not?" Kenmei asks, pleased that Ameiko seems to be caught up in the adventure. With her so into this, we don't have to speculate about whether or not the Kaijitsus were Sakura Shiroi in front of Ameiko yet. Clearly Yume wasn't paying attention during our history lessons. What the hell is a Kaijitsu Seal? Ameiko doesn't seem to have noticed her slip up. If the Kaijitsu were the Shiroi protecting the Amatatsu Seal, the fewer who know about it for now, the better. Based on lady Kailani's divination, I can't think of anything else that would be hidden in the 'warding box' mentioned by the letter. Once we find the seal, we can use it to find the lost heir before the Oni murder Emperor Higashiyama! "How should we get there? My sisters and I are new to Avistan. We aren't quite familiar with the best routes yet."
Kenmei bows his head to Ameiko in the style of Minkai. "Greetings, Miss Ameiko. I am Kenmei Higashiyama. These are my siblings. We are the children of Thrassk and Titanicus." Kenmei pauses to let that sink in.
"She is the proprietor of the Golden Dragon is she not?"
"I'm pretty sure I know where Brinewall is. I remember seeing it on a map once. It's in north-western Varisia, near the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. I think talking to Ameiko is a good idea though."
"May I see the blade please?" Kenmei asks, taking his turn to look over the wakazashi. "Hmm, fascinating..."
"What's this then?" he asks, discovering a hidden compartment in the blade's hilt. Inside is a small rolled up piece of paper. He unrolls it and reads it aloud. Note written in Tian-Min:
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 neccessary. Know that I was not anfry 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 aopology, and to beg you to leave these secrets to history.
The next few days will ne the most important I have faced in many years. If our family's enemies have, as I hope, forgotten us, I shall reuinte with you and your wife, and you 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 fores 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 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 readin 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 Kaijutsu
A DC 20 Knowledge (history or local) check:
You can confirm that the paper itself was likely made in the now-deserted settlement of Brinewall, far to the north.
[spoiler=A DC 14 Knowledge (history) check]You recall that an unknown scourge destroyed the colony of Brinewall on the first day of Sarenith in 4687, just a few days after the date on the letter. A DC 18 Knowledge (history) check:
Brinewall’s last commander at the time the colony was destroyed was a man named Andril Kortun. A DC 15 Knowledge (nobility) check:
You know that Rokuro Kaijitsu was Ameiko’s grandfather, which would make the letter’s unnamed and intended recipient her father, the now-deceased Lonjiku Kaijitsu. A DC 25 Knowledge (nobility) check: Tsutamu was Rokuro Kaijitsu’s devoted bodyguard. Wielder of the wakazashi known as Whispering Shrike.
"The samurai came from around the corner," Kenmei points out.
Kenmei fires two more bolts, flying past his sisters to maintain the blurred afterimages behind him. One of the bolts manages to shatter bones as it passes through the undead ronin.
Kenmei fires two more bolts at the resilient skeleton.
Kenmei flies over and unleashes another blast of lightning breath.
"Sorry, that didn't do much. Momo, give Yume a flank, why don't you? Distract him for her," the lone brother suggests.
Kenmei flies over behind Shizun and fires two more bolts at the ronin.
Kenmei flies over to Yume and says, "Not yet you haven't. Hang in there, sis." He pulls a wobbly bubble of alchemical goo from one of his pouches, and breaks it on to Yume's wounds. The goo sinks in, and begins to knit her back together.
Seeing an opening, Kenmei and his afterimages streak across the cavern into position. Then he takes a deep breath and unleashes his lightning breath on to the undead!
The column of lightning blasts the two remaining warriors into bone fragments, and crackles across the samurai's armor. Now the undead ronin stands alone.
Kenmei moves again and fires two more shots at one of the skeletons, but he misses them both!
"Yeah, I can fly it over. No problem," he says, accepting the rope. He flies across the water tying the rope off in two places. "Looks like that other passage back at the beginning probably comes out here," he observes. He holds his crossbow ready while he waits for the others to cross.
"Maybe any survivors from the wreck fled here at the time. That would explain the old trail, and why it ends here. Should we go inside and check it out?"
Kenmei patches himself up as best he can with his medical equipment and alchemy. "Well, that was unpleasant. Getting into a real fight is much different than our training. We're all going to have to be more careful from now on." He turns to Yume. "Don't take it so hard Yume, you were great from what I saw." He looks to his other sister. "Thank you too, Shizun, for the healing." He looks down at his bandage covered torso. "Do you think it's safe to continue? It seems like Shizun already cast a lot of her spells."
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