So one of my players is Ameiko's rather arrogant younger brother (a Samurai), and he's decided not to tell Ameiko about the note he found in the hilt of the whispering shrike (He's also not showed it to any of the other party members - just invited them to come to Brinewall with him to claim a family treasure).
Obviously this will bring up some issues with assembling a caravan (I don't think any of the PCs are particularly good friends with Sandru) but I think it could still be done.
When the party recovers the Amatatsu seal I was planning on still having it show Ameiko on the throne (and possibly having her dream about it), but I'm wondering about changing some of the adventure leading up to that, especially with regards to the Kami.
As the younger brother is technically an heir to the Amatatsu throne, I was thinking the Kami should attempt to possess him in the same way it does with Ameiko. Because I don't want to rule one of my party out of several sessions (and deprive the party of its only front line fighter) I think that making him comatose isn't really going to work. Does anyone have any clever ideas for an alternative?
My current plan is to start making him make progressively harder will saves every morning as they near Brinewall until he eventually succumbs, at which point he will wake up either fatigued or exhausted from a terrible dream. Eventually he'll start speaking in his sleep too.
There's no real need to take the caravan to Brinewall if the party don't want it. They can always go back for it at the end of the book. (You can replace random caravan events with random party events - I never found much use for the caravan rules.)
I liked the concept of the Kami trying to possess Ameiko. Unfortunately there was no obvious way to communicate what was going on to the party. Having it possess a PC might work out better.
I think the game-reason why the Kami makes Ameiko go into a coma is to give an excuse for the majority of the NPCs to stay with the caravan while the party explore. If the NPCs stayed at home, you could replace the coma / sleep effects with confusing attempts at communication, hallucinations, visions of the past (glimpses of the attack on Brinewall), Will saves to go anywhere the Kami doesn't want to go, etc.
That seems like a better idea, I don't actually want the effects of the Kami to seem like a punishment, more of a guide.
As for the caravan, I think they still want to go there that way, it's just sibling rivalry that wants to keep Ameiko at bay.
If they want to bring along other the NPCs (and the other NPCs can be persuaded to go, since they don't have Ameiko to motivate them), you'll need to think of something for them to do while the players are adventuring, to replace "looking after Ameiko" - even if it's just "guarding the wagons against the strange creatures they've seen in the forests".