OATHDAY, 10 ARODUS, 4711 A.R.
The night passes without incident, and come morning, the adventurers break camp and decide to head southwest, to the nearer of the two remaining spots circled on the fan-map. With Molido growing more confident in his survivalist skills and familiarity with Brinestump Marsh, they have little difficulty navigating the swamp's waterways until they reach the spot.They find another shipwreck, though unlike the flame-gutted remains of the first ship, this one seems to have been broken in half and stripped down to its skeleton. (The group suspects that the Licktoad goblins used wood salvaged from the wreck to build their village.) Submerged in the mud, they find a bronze nameplate naming the ship Kaijutsu's Blossom, and carved in a nearby tree--apparently by survivors of the vessel--is a rough map showing a path to a spot along the southern cliffs corresponding to the final "X" on the fan. Hanzo, recognizing the name "Kaijutsu," decides to dig the nameplate out of the mud and carries it to Proudstump's rowboat, intending to offer the piece to Ameiko as a gift. As he begins digging, however, three creatures rise from the sticky mud around the ruined ship: a trio a human skeletons, encrusted with filth, their jaws hanging loosely open in a silent shriek of challenge.
In a brief and bloodless battle, the adventurers easily dispatch their undead foes, then proceed southward to their final destination.
At the base of the cliffs, here rising nearly 60 feet, they find a small cave entrance nearly concealed by overgrown vines and shrubs. They push in, Molido leading with his darkvision, and find that the cave is fairly large and labyrinthine, with passages leading in various directions. Molido chooses to turn right and begin exploring in that direction first, and soon comes across a chamber covered in large amounts of webbing. The group finds a giant spider, nearly as tall as a man, clung fast to some sort of figure cocooned in webs. They approach as closely as they can before striking, and the combat is brief--the spider is easily cut down. A search of the room finds a few web-wrapped pouches containing handfuls of coin and gems, a pair of magic scrolls, and--upon checking the cocoon the spider was feasting on--a shriveled and very dead giant gecko.
The next chamber the group finds contains a small underground lake, with an island filled with shimmering rock crystals growing from its center. Though Zaphkael senses no magic from the crystals, the group decides to investigate more closely, only to find that they have stumbled into the lair of a giant amoeba. The slime-like creature proves a more substantial foe than the spider, especially given the close confines of the room, but Hanzo is able to bring the creature down with a well-placed shot to the organism's nucleus.
Continuing on, the group finds a large chamber, filled with water on one side, almost an underground beach. Four human skeletons lie or slump in various spots around the room. Each of them wears tattered and rusted armor of Minkai origin, and each bears a rusted wakizashi at their side. Hanzo, curious to see the maker's mark on these blades, moves to one of the skeletons and tries to pull the wakizashi from its grasp. The skeleton awakens, as do five others--three more on the beach, and two more rising from the shallow waters beyond.
The group fights largely back-to-back, supporting each other as best they can. These skeletons, unlike the others they met earlier, are armed, and prove surprisingly deadly with their blades. Hanzo in particular tastes his fair share of rusted steel, though between the healing powers of Brixton and Zaphkael, he manages to survive the fight. When all six skeletons are finally laid low, the adventurers take a moment to recuperate before moving on to the next chamber.
This room is significantly smaller. A pool of water fills the eastern side in a crescent shape, while stalactites hang just low enough to prove annoying to Molido and Brixton. A beautiful chest made of cherry wood and jade, seemingly untouched by the ravages of time, rests against the far wall. Sitting atop that chest, in full samurai regalia, a beautiful wakizashi resting across its lap, is another skeleton. As the group approaches, it draws its blade and stands, but does not move to attack. Instead, it points its sword at Molido in a silent challenge.
The half-orc accepts, though the others stand ready to back him up should he need it. Fortunately, while the skeletal warrior does land two significant blows, Molido's massive axe and massive strength prove superior. The skeleton's helm is knocked from its head as its sternum and spine are shattered in a horrifically powerful blow.
While Zaphkael tends to Molido's wounds, Hanzo inspects the chest for traps and finds none, though he does find it locked. Fortunately, a search of the area reveals a bronze key on a severed leather band, perhaps cut loose from the skeleton in his duel. Within the chest is a veritable fortune: mounds of silver and gold coins, jewels, magical potions and scrolls, a wand, a ring, and some non-magical but expertly made weapons and armor. On the skeletal samurai's wakizashi, Hanzo recognizes a small maker's mark--that of his famous ancestor, a swordsmith of great reknown. He claims the blade and the samurai's helmet, while the rest of the group takes the heavy chest out and back to the rowboat. (After a cursory exploration of the remainder of the cave simply reveals that they took the long way to the skeletons.)
They return to Walthus Proudstump's shack, seeing as they have need to return the halfling's boat and inform him of Old Megus' apparent demise. The snake-loving warden is happy to see them, though sad to hear about his neighbor, and congratulates them on their victory against the Licktoads. He has a request of them, however; in the few days since he last saw them, he's encountered signs of the Soggy River Monster near his shack, and it's beginning to worry him. As he has a rough idea where the monster makes its lair, he asks the heroes to do him one last favor and see if they can deal with the creature before it comes after him. He offers to watch their hard-earned treasure and prepare some food for their trip back to Sandpoint.
Though Hanzo is skeptical about leaving the group's newfound wealth with the halfling, the others have decided to trust Proudstump and agree to leave their winnings with him. They set off to where the warden believes the Soggy River Monster makes its lair, and, with some expert tracking by Molido, soon come across its "home:" a mass of leaves and mud and vines mounded together and hollowed out between three trees in a clearing.
Seeing no sign of the creature nearby, Brixton volunteers to scout the mound's interior. Within, he finds a crude sort of altar with eight muddy spheres resting on it, a crude sleeping area, and an unconscious goblin with two large lumps on its head, hanging helplessly from the ceiling.
This is Bob the Twice-Thumped, the last survivor of the Licktoad goblin tribe. Having been spared twice by the adventurers but lacking anywhere else to go, he has been wandering the swamps these last two days, drinking filthy water and eating whatever he can catch. The severe head trauma he had endured, combined with the might and mercy of the heroes he had twice been thumped by, had inspired him, and the seed of an idea was beginning to germinate in his oblong head: he would follow the adventurers to Sandpoint and beg to become their servant, learning their ways and becoming a powerful and noble hero himself. Before the idea could come to fruition, however, he stumbled into the lair of the Soggy River Monster, freshly returned from a hunt. Not being hungry at the moment, the creature stopped just short of killing the goblin, instead tying him up in his crude home and saving him for later. As darkness claimed him, poor Bob could only hope that the heroes would find him once again. He would repay them by serving them loyally and as capable as any brain damaged goblin ever could.
Lord Brixton, seeing only an unconscious goblin, a threat to the people of Sandpoint and a creature with a legal bounty on its head, stabs Bob and cuts off his ears.
((... Well, okay then.))
The group decides to ambush the Soggy River Monster by setting fresh bait (in the form of a freshly-hunted squirrel) nearby and waiting to jump it. It takes nearly two hours, but, eventually, the creature does show up. Zaphkael's suspicions as to the creature's nature--that it is one of the Sinspawn that escaped from beneath Sandpoint during the events three years prior. Leaping into action, the adventurers cut the creature down before it has a chance to retaliate or flee, and claim its strange, skull-like head as a trophy.
Closer examination of the mud-covered orbs in the monster's lair reveal them to be poorly-preserved humanoid heads, likely of the creature's victims. The group stitches together a few makeshift bags from the filthy bits of cloth and clothing scattered about, collect the heads, return to Proudstump for their (untouched) treasure, and set off for Sandpoint. The mysteries of Brinestump Marsh have been revealed (mostly), and the time to enjoy a large chest full of money is nigh.
Sheriff Hemlock is relieved to hear that the skeletons are dealt with, recognizes the Soggy River Monster as a Sinspawn, and refuses to pay for Bob the Twice-Thumped's severed ears because the bounty was already closed with the death of Chief Gutwad.
The group reconvenes at the Rusty Dragon, divvying up their loot and telling Ameiko about what they found. She's very interested to learn that, apparently, some retainers of her old family survived the shipwrecking storm that brought her father to Sandpoint; she's confused why they never found their way to the town, instead choosing to die in a cave just a few hours south. She asks to look at Hanzo's newly-acquired magical wakizashi, and, noticing something odd with the hilt, untwists it to find a letter hidden inside, written in Tian.
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 you realize that 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 beneath 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 shall 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 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.
Rokuru Kaijutsu
Sunday, 29 Desnus, 4687
Ameiko's eyes burn with curiosity and excitement. She looks at the adventurers, newly-formed but proven in battle, and smiles. "I'm going to Brinewall Castle. You coming with me?"
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